luigi wrote:
Art show judging info needed

My activism in this matter has resulted in my being asked to
investigate what precedent exists for adding Sculpture and/or
Woodturning to future VAA and VAL exhibits and shows. Then comes the
challenge of finding qualified local judges for a juried show.

Please let me know if you can offer any guidance, or point me to an
appropriate source.

Take a peek at the guidance that is given to entrants on other competitions,
both for woodturning and for the more graphic arts. Does your league give
guidance to entrants for graphic arts?

For example, for one competition I entered, the rules stated (amongst other
things):
The judges will consider:
- the appeal of the design and appropriateness of the materials used,
- technical excellence,
- originality and difficulty of techniques employed,
- quality of finish.

Now, you can argue about which of these represents art and which represents
craft. But one could imagine very similar criteria being applied to many
different fields.

If you want to give the appearance of objectivity in judging, then allocate a
number of points to each category that you want to consider (appeal,
excellence, etc) then mark entries in each category and total the scores. Note
that if you over-weight on originality and/or difficulty then good "plain and
simple - but extremely well executed" entries will never get a placing.