A multi-media exhibit with objects confined to specific measurements presents artists with unusual boundaries. The juror is also challenged to remember the scale while viewing images that can seem to be much larger.

The 5 x5x 5 inches in size did not deter artists working in diverse mediums. Entries ranged from photographic and printing techniques, paintings in oils, acrylics and watercolors to ceramics, jewelry, fabric, found objects and some work that defied any familiar category. My goal was to find the very best aesthetic expressions from this variety for a unified exhibit.

I tackled this task by viewing the 624 images on three C Ds numerous times, taking notes with each review. A number of the entries offered a compelling message, an appealing use of color, a sense of humor, the unpredictable in a juxtaposition of forms, or a new approach to subject matter or technique. A group of entries dealt with rural and urban landscapes or other aspects of nature in a mixture of two-dimensional media. Many paintings and prints experimented with abstract organic forms, geometric patterns and grids. The portrait, the human figure and animals were represented realistically, stylistically, emotionally or in amusing postures. Forming a coherent exhibit was a formidable task.

The exhibit is now composed of 250 entries, the best examples of all the categories entered. To all those artists whose work was not accepted, I encourage you to continue submitting to exhibits. Very often the photography fails to illuminate important details of a complicated object or your work might be a better fit in another type of show. I enjoyed viewing all the work presented to me as a serious effort by each artist to express a multitude of ideas, personal or universal, or just as an enjoyment of a particular medium’s potential.

My thanks to Mary Cook and the Target Gallery staff for the exhausting preliminary work of organizing and listing titles, materials and dimensions, making my viewing a little easier. I much appreciate the unique opportunity to shape a show from size restrictions and diverse media submission