Weavers' Guild of St. Louis Annual Sale

Guild Sale Report … the view from my chair … by Jane Olson Glidden

(This article was published in the March 2006 WGSL newsletter.)

I hope everyone has read their March/April issue of Handwoven Magazine with all the helpful hints for Guild Shows, Guild Sales and for exhibiting artists! What an amazing coincidence … a case of true serendipity with this issue timed so perfectly with our recent Guild Meeting and the wonderful advice on those same subjects shared by our own members, Barbara Simon, Carlene Fullerton and Bonnie Ahrens! The truly amazing part is that our Guild Sale Jury had a meeting just before our Guild Meeting where we discussed some related subjects and wondered how we could best address them with the rest of the Guild members and then we immediately got this one-two punch from the Guild program and the Handwoven issue!

It is exciting when an artist decides to progress from “weaving as a hobby” to weaving for exhibits and shows. While the process can be intimidating it can also be a time of great personal and artistic growth if one is willing to embrace the opportunity. Through our weaving connections locally, regionally and nationally we have numerous opportunities to enter juried shows and exhibits as well as our Annual Guild Sale. An artist must simply decide when they are ready to put the effort into creating pieces on that new level of expectation … plus they must decide if they are ready to be JURIED! That word alone gives most artists an immediate twinge of anxiety. It’s so hard to open your psyche up to any critical opinion of your work. It can be painful and it is always very personal. In a strange way it’s almost like watching someone else discipline your child. Ultimately, though, it can also be very affirming … and rewarding.

The first step before you jump into any jury situation is learning to self-critique. Find a way to detach yourself from your work and look critically at the overall creativity of your piece, and then evaluate each design element, and finally, carefully examine the construction and workmanship of the finished product. Simply stated, try to look at your work through the eyes of the toughest juror you can ever imagine. You will survive … and your work will thrive … IF you try to be completely honest with yourself throughout the process.

As most people know, our Guild Sale has been a juried event since our second or third year. We initiated the jury process to ensure that our Sale items were always of a high enough quality to prevent a customer being unhappy with the purchased item, mostly because we had no way for defective items to be returned. While the jury for our Sale looks at the pieces from a much different perspective than a juror for an exhibit, there are overlapping responsibilities. Our Sale jurors look with a more critical eye at the durability of construction and care in finishing while a juror for an exhibit will be far more concerned with the overall quality of the design and creativity of a piece. In the same way, a juror for an exhibit will base their decisions on purely subjective influences … whether they “like” the piece or not, while our Sale jurors make a concerted effort to be as objective as possible, trying not to be swayed by their own personal likes and dislikes and instead are primarily concerned with the quality of workmanship and the overall construction and integrity of the piece. The overlapping element in both juries is “quality” … every juror in every jury situation will be concerned with the quality of the piece. As an artist, your best preparation for any jury situation is to raise the QUALITY of your piece to the highest standard you can achieve!

Our jurors serve a very difficult, yet very important role in our Sale. On the check-in day they look for the small flaws and imperfections that may be overlooked by artists rushing to finish that last piece just in time for the Sale! But they should NOT be expected to deal with things that should have been self critiqued by the artist themselves! Simply said … if you are worried that something may NOT be acceptable to the jury for specific reasons… then you should see that as your own “self jury” process and save those pieces for another sale venue with less stringent quality standards or decide to make the item a gift to someone who would surely enjoy and appreciate your thoughtfulness.

We want to make a concerted effort to clarify the vast difference between our Guild Sale and a Community Garage Sale that may rent the same rooms! SO … in the future when you are putting together your Sale items, take the opportunity to look critically at your work and perform a self-jury analysis! Let’s take advantage of this opportunity to raise the level of quality at our Guild Sale … remember the high quality of your work is always far more important than having a huge quantity of work! We don’t want our customers to get lost in stacks of mediocre fiber stuff while they’re searching for our finest fiber ART!

Jane Olson Glidden Guild Sale Chairman

PS … In this newsletter you will find a recently updated version of our Sale Rules and Quality Guidelines, please read them carefully! Also … here are a few light hearted warnings to keep in mind when it comes to our Guild Sale Jury …

If your hangtag is dangling precariously by sewing thread instead of pearl cotton after YEARS of explicit warnings in the Sale Rules … it will be rejected!

If the item looks like something leftover from your Great Aunt’s garage sale … it will be rejected!

If the item looks like something that could easily be bought at the local “X”-Mart … it will be rejected!

If the jury smells your work (whether pleasant or unpleasant) before they see it… it will be rejected!

Another Reminder … If you have any photos of your work you would like considered for the Sale postcard or for Sale publicity please send them to Dee Felt … she would love to have them as soon as possible!