22nd July: The CPSA Artists' Reception

Saturday evening saw us all at the CPSA Artists' Reception to see the exhibition and, in particular, Nicole Caulfield's piece ( 'Diner Reflections' 18" x 13" coloured pencil $1,100. A fine art print of this is available - for further details see www.nicolecaufield.com ).

Nicole had been to see the 2005 exhibition in Chicago and, in comparison to that, was very impressed by the size of the gallery and the space it afforded for hanging the 152 drawings (from the 781 submitted).

However, I personally found that the lighting in situ could have been better as not all works were well lit - including Nicole's. I couldn't quite work out whether it was a case of more spots were needed or they needed better adjustment but the lighting from the nearest spots hit the blank wall to the side of Nicole's work - which made it much more difficult to appreciate the subtleties of her colour mixing! We're always reminded of the importance of the quality of presentation when exhibiting work - the same might be said for the importance of the quality of lighting in a gallery so that work can be properly appreciated! I hope that having said that it doesn't scupper my chances for next year as, having now seen for myself 'up close and personal' the calibre of the work accepted, I may have a go at producing something for next year's exhibition.

Here we all are next to Nicole's work - check the spotlight! We had a pact to decide which were the three works we liked best (without saying until we'd left the exhibition) and proved yet again that judgement about art is all essentially down to the individual eye. While we all agreed on the merit of 3-4 works, we also all differed as to what we would have given first prize to and why! It makes it so much easier to understand and accept the reasons why work that you believe has merit sometimes gets rejected and why a piece might win a first prize in one exhibition but won'necessarily win so much as a sausage at another.

Cindy Brunk won one of the top prizes 'the Airfloat Strongbox award for outstanding recognition' for "Annabel Revisited" and is on the left in her husband's photo of her with Gordon and Kathy. I personally think Gordon's shirt should also have won a prize!

Links:

• Cynthia Brunck - website
• Nicole Caulfield - website
• CPSA - 14th international exhibition award winners

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art , colored pencils , coloured pencils , CPSA , drawing