I got an e-mail from the OPTIONS 2005 people about the previous post. Here it is -
Martin,
Thanks for your email and giving me an opportunity to clear up any confusion with the OPTION's curatorial process. The process involves two concerted parallel efforts: one is the call for entries which is open to anyone who wishes to apply, no fee, no membership required in the WPA\C, and the second effort involves visiting all graduate schools that have an MFA program in the greater DC area to view graduate student's work. Neither approach is new and both have been used with past OPTIONS shows. Libby will be making her second trip to D.C. this week and she will be finishing her graduate school visits and continuing to review calls for entry; so not everyone's entry has been reviewed and not every grad school has been visited, we are still continuing to work through the process.
Hopefully, all entries and graduate school programs will be thoroughly examined after this visit and her next visit will be concentrated on studio visits of her choice. I spoke with two artists this weekend who had applied to OPTIONS and not received any communciation from WPA\C, all I could say is either their entry had not yet been reviewed or they were still in the running. After Dr. Lumpkin's visit this week, her goal will be to narrow the choices and communicate to all artists interested and involved about where they stand in the process.
Best,
Kim Ward
Ingrid Nuss
It's nice that they got back in touch but this submission process sort of reminds me of the Whitney Biennial's last call for entries - a token gesture. A grad student who doesn't apply to the show seems to have a better chance of getting into it than a person who applies. Libby Lumpkin will visit the studios, meet the students, get schmoozed by the pr guy (i mean department head) and taken out for a nice lunch. Dare I ask if she is compensated at all by the schools?
Here is a list of the fifteen artists that were included in the previous OPTIONS show, OPTIONS 2002, in which I've highlighted the names of the artists who were students at the time -
Nick Barna, Kristen Beal, James Busby, Mary Cahill, Javier Cuellar, Rachel Egenhoefer, Will Kavesh, Sandra Luckett, Thea McKenzie, Ryan Nelson, Brian Randolph, Lisa Rundstrom, Trish Tillman, Alessandra Torres, Danny Yahav-Brown
Six VCU students and two from MICA. They might very well all have been grad students at the time, the ones that aren't highlighted are artists I can't find any biographical information on. I guess I'll e-mail the OPTIONS people back and ask which of the artists included in OPTIONS 2002 were not grad students at the time.
FYI - this is not an anti-grad student post, only trying to point out that a bunch of artists are entering a show and the work is not all being considered in the same way. we deserve to know that.
Thea McKenzie, Rachel Egenhoefer and Allesandra Torres were undergrads when they were in Options 02. Nick Barna and Brian Randolph may have been as well-not sure. I do not think Trish Tillman, Mary Cahill, Javier Cuellar or Ryan Nelson were affiliated with any school when they were selected.
ReplyDeleteThe last options show was a collection of the most sociable art students from VCU and MICA, chosen in part by Kendall Buster. That art center is a mess by the way.. nearly bankrupt and totally irresponsible.
ReplyDeleteIt was a disaster...though Im not sure Kendall Buster had anything to do with it.
ReplyDeleteAnnie A.(then director) left the country without assuring funds for maintenance of exhibition space. This meant the artists had to pay and paint, light etc their own spaces. Victoria Reis (curator/now co-owner of Transformer Gallery), and others including James Huckenphaler (Fusebox) resigned from the Board of the WPA as a result.
I agree this sort of smells. If a grad studant cant get off their ass to apply they shouldnt be in the running with those of use who did.
ReplyDeletesorry - bad spelling
ReplyDeleteI understand your frustrations at not being chosen, I am wondering about a couple of your conclusions. It said in the reply letter you didn't have to pay to submit . . . if that is the case why are you so up in arms? Curators get tips from many different places when they work on shows. The show is for emerging artists so who better to tap than grad students? So what if they didn't submit? You are lucky you got to submit and have your work reviewed by the curator in the first place.
ReplyDeleteNo, the curator is lucky they got to see my incerdible masterpieces...
ReplyDeleteI disagree with you - the minimum one can do is make some slides and send them in. If you can't do that you arent emerging enough to show. They're students - they need to learn how it works - unless youre married to a gallery owner youre not going to get these lovely studio visits in the real world.
Anonymous #4 - I'm not (very) frustrated about not getting in the show - there are a LOT of good artists out there and I've been rejected and accepted enough times to deal with a legit rejection.
ReplyDeleteI'm extremely frustrated about the selection process. No mention in the original application materials is made about these two separate ways the curator is encountering this work. The curator will see the student's work FOR REAL - it's a huge advantage. Not to mention meeting the artist and all that - it is HUMAN for the curator to end up choosing mostly this work.
It isn't the rejection that rankles, it's the lack of an equal opportunity to be considered.