The Jury

When I started to go public with my art, I wasn’t exactly sure where it would take me. I never imagined I’d be selling in galleries and running a website and multiple social media accounts in such a short amount of time. It has been just over a year of continuous work and growth towards my goals and I have had many great opportunities present themselves.

Two weeks ago, I submitted my first piece to a call to entry for a juried show at Artlink in my hometown of Fort Wayne, Indiana. Patiently, I have waited to hear back from the judge of the many entries submitted by artists all over the country. To my great surprise, I was contacted with the news that my piece was accepted into the show. I have the honor to show my first juried artwork in an upcoming exhibition in October 2024. The show is titled “Compact: Small Works of Art” and the focus is on pieces under 6 inches in size.

The piece that I entered is a very small bird, made out of miniature espresso spoons. I shaped and welded the spoons to achieve an aesthetic that feels natural and pleasing. This piece highlights the bending and placing of spoons in a way that creates a sense of movement and natural flow. The bird is placed on a piece of Bolivian Rosewood that I have cut, routed, sanded, and oiled to achieve a smooth and saturated appearance.

The fusion of natural wood with stainless steel echoes the sense that we are natural beings, living in a somewhat unnatural world. We have to use our instincts to survive man made challenges, but if we can overcome those obstacles and find harmony in this world, we will ourselves become natural flowing works of art and find our place in this Judged and Juried exhibition of life.