The call for entries for this year’s e-merge exhibition opened in January 2008. Entrants submitted work through an online application service until the deadline of February 22, 2008.
This year’s competition attracted almost three hundred entrants from twenty-two countries and from every continent except Antarctica. In late February, a panel of three jurors undertook the massive task of selecting a group of finalists by reviewing over 1,700 digital images. In addition to images, the jurors were able to view the entrants’ names, the titles and dimensions of their artworks and the techniques used to create the artworks.
The three jurors for this year’s competition were Jane Bruce, Dante Marioni and Richard Speer. They performed their duties with great professionalism, collegiality and care, evaluating each artist for excellence of craftsmanship, design and creativity. After selecting the group of finalists, the jurors chose one piece of artwork by each finalist to be included in the exhibition. In early May, once the selected pieces had been installed, the jurors gathered to review the assembled work and to choose the category award winners.
We wish to thank the jurors for helping to make e-merge 2008 an inspiring collection that reflects the high standards of today’s artist working in kiln-glass. And we wish to encourage entrants who did not qualify as finalists this year: to continue their efforts to make good work; to support their work with high-quality photography, display hardware and artist statements; and to keep in mind that jurors’ decisions are made in a particular context, under particular constraints, and should never be taken as absolute judgments of the work.
We also wish to thank everyone who attended the e-merge 2008 opening reception— for supporting the artists and the exhibition and for helping to select the winner of the Popular Award.
