And so, at the serious risk of treading on precious toes and being accused of being ungracious or munching soar grapes:
I feel that many, not all, of the Photography and Art Contests I see here on Steemit are woefully lacking and I wonder about the required qualifications that entitle one to run a competition and set oneself up as judge.
For surely, one cannot put oneself forward as mechanic unless one has the necessary skills and qualifications either formally procured or hard won through experience.
I realise what I have just written is highly inflammatory and unlikely to win me friends but I have been sitting on this, my truth, for a while now and feel compelled to step out from the shadows.
I also realise that these competitions are created for fun and encouragement to allow folks to share their creations in a safe and nurturing environment but, as a professional artist and ex-tutor at a top London Art School, I take my metier seriously and am perturbed.
~
Art in all it’s many forms is glorious and should be for everyone but, because of this non-elitist notion of inclusion, I observe huge discrepancies in the level of competence in work entered into contests. This is normal - fine and dandy! And whilst appreciation of art is subjective, and a highly contentious hot potato, there are inevitably differences in level of understanding and competence, use of materials, colour, composition etc as each of us is at a different stage of our creative development.
We each have the potential to be great but to be great we have to be open to constructive criticism and be honest about where we stand on the evolutionary timeline. I include myself here and happily acknowledge that I have far to travel to truly master my own art. In truth any artists final destination is never fully attained.
And so, I have been pondering this issue for many weeks now and feel that I have identified the main weakness in the competitions I see here – lack, and possible misunderstanding, of the classification of entrants.
Any competition is flawed if entrants are not competing on a level playing field and It is unfair to ALL participants to have amateurs/hobbyists, students and professionals competing against one another and, to my mind, a recipe for disgruntlement.
(I should state here that whilst rare, it is not unheard of, for an amateur or student to be at the same level of mastering of their craft as a professional. Lines can be blurry!)
All creative endeavours at all levels are of great worth and should be encouraged but by lumping all levels together I feel no one category of artist is able to fully shine.
~
ART DEGREES.
Hence, I intend to run an Art Contest here with 3 categories of entrant:
Amateur/Hobbyist.
Student.
Professional.
ART DEGREES will also have a twist – As a tutor I used to write briefs for my students and crit their work; through constructive criticism and guidance a person can grow. And so, it is my intention to offer the option for entrants to solicite my help if they so desire.
To date I am unsure of the details and funding of ART DEGREES as I wish to offer prizes and, as a minnow, am unsure as to how I will be able to achieve this.
I guess I will be reaching out to a few movers and shakers asking for their support: @jerrybanfield @aggroed @riverhead @alice @fulltimegeek @jamesc
If you have any ideas or wish to support ART DEGREES please get in contact.
With Love.
xox
http://www.lindadacey-laforge.com
I invite you to check out my recent posts. I'd sure love to hear your thoughts :)
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