Knowledge You Can Build On — Est. 1998
Rejection sucks
Molly Winton
>My ego can handle it, but I still want to kick something. Just got my rejection letter from the Lake Oswego Festival of the Arts..."Our decision to not include your entry in the juried show is not a reflection of your skill or the work you submitted. Rather it reflects the difficult decision the judges had to make in considering the overwhelming number of many fine entried to the show, including your own." Horse pucky. Oh well, on to the next one.
Re: Rejection sucks
Carole in VA
>That's a shame, Molly. :( Maybe they got judges who are clueless.
Re: Rejection sucks
Pete Kekel - Kentucky
>Those snobs in Lake Oswego wouldn't know good turning if it bit them . . . oh, did I say that out loud? Sorry, Molly, it's never good to hear that, but it would certainly be more useful if they supplied you with detailed info rather than a blanket, "Sorry, but . . ." It will be interesting to see what is being accepted. I used to live pretty close to that area and I've been following the comments on this festival. Hope some of you folks get in.
my favorite rejection
Andy in Raleigh
>From another hobby - writing - I have a collection of them. But my favorite is not one of my own but one that is an urban legend of sorts, but may actually be based on a real one:
---------------------
Rejection letter from a Chinese publisher:
Most Honorable Sir,
We perused your manuscript with boundless delight. And we hurry to swear by our ancestors we have never read any other that equals its mastery. Were we to publish your work, we could never presume again on our public and name to print books of a standard not up to yours, for we cannot imagine that the next ten thousand years will offer its ectype.
We must therefore refuse your work that shines as it were in the sky and beg you a thousand times to pardon our fault, which impairs but our own offices.
Rejection letter from a Chinese publisher. Quoted from The First Five Pages, by Noah Lukeman.
Re: Rejection sucks
Ken DeMarco
>Molly,
that's almost enough to make you say a cuss word!! I can only imagine your style did not fit what they are looking for, idiots! My Family LOVES your work
Ken DeMarco
Sylvania, OH
Re: Rejection sucks
Mike Schwing from Md.
>Yup, it does. As you said - on to the next one. I have a folder full from Fine Woodworking magazine. I _will_ one day get into their "reader's work" section (based on a bet with a friend a long time ago). It just makes me do better work for the next one.
I was talking to a friend of mine about this topic a few weeks ago. She is a pretty famous portrait artist, from a long family line of famous painters. She said she still gets rejection letters and she's about the best out there.
It just makes you strive to be better, (plus a little madder)
Re: Rejection sucks
John Trant (Baltimore/DC area)
>Well that is surprising! Rejection always hurts (even if you didn't want to go to that show due to over-commitments). Next time, ask the organizers as to what the judges are looking for in the slides. For example, a well established mid-level series of crafts fair to which I apply regularly (Sugarloaf Mountain Arts and Crafts) is interested in seeing the variety of products that I have to offer. However, an upper end show (like the American Crafts Council) want to see how I explore a single theme. For the ACC, professional slides are a must and list prices must be high ($100s for your "trinkets" to $1000s for your best works). I always cringe when I look back at some of the slides I submitted when I first started. Molly, having seen you work here at WC, I would presume your rejection letter was due to you not giving them exactly what they were looking for (in exactly the way that they were looking for it) opposed to a deficeit in your exciting portfolio. Have a professional look over your slides, talk to a show organizer about the jury's desires, examine your booth's presentation, and make sure the price range is correct for the show.
Just some advice I am sure you don't need.
Good luck next time.
John
Can we help?
Thomas Skaggs, Go Illini!!
>Sorry that it did not work out for you. Do you think it would help if you posted the photos you submitted for input from this forum? While I'm sure your work is worthy of their selection my any review of your submittals by your peers here be of any help?
Tommy
Re: Rejection sucks
Mark Kauder, Phenix City, AL
>I feel so bad for you, Molly.
You should just consol yourself that the judges probably had a pre-conceived idea of what wood art looked like and what they wanted - whether way out there, or very conserative.
Better luck next time.
Mark
Re: Rejection sucks
John Lucas
>Molly
We talked about that at the Bruce Baker workshop last weekend. Most juried shows have different jurors each time so it's reallyy difficult to predict what a jury wants. couple that with different artists entering shows and it gets even harder. You might get in a show one year and not get in the next. Just depends on the jury pool. Suck but I guess until your work gets the point that it blows away all the other people (and boy is that tough to do) then entering shows is still kind of hit or miss.
Re: my favorite rejection
RonZ
>This was too funny, thanks.
Re: Rejection sucks
RonZ
>I don't know if it was mentioned but congratulations on getting into the Woodcraft magazine.
Re: Rejection sucks
RonZ
>Horse pucky? I'll have to file that one away. =o)
Molly, you know it isn't your work so let that slide.
We have a saying that I know has been around my family for generations; what happens happens for the best. There's a reason why you shouldn't be in the show and you just don't know it yet.
Last year I tried to get into the Jerusalem art festival. It just didn't work. The invite came late, they only had a one day exhibit to bring in your work for judging and I missed that, too. I gave up and went to visit the show. It was terrible, it looked like a veritable flea market and elephino [a cross between an elephant and a rhino or hell if I know] what their criterea was for letting people in.
Point is, is that you're one step closer to your big break. As someone on one of these wood forums pointed out, if life throws you a stump, turn it. =o)
Re: Rejection sucks
adrien
>Didn't something like that happen to the Author of the Harry Potter series? Sometimes the judges are not so wise.
You guys are the best!
Molly Winton
>Thanks everyone for the kind words and consolations. I subscribe to the same philosophy RonZ mentioned, that things happen for a reason, and when the time is right, so while disappointing, it's not wounding. I feel confident it's not a result of my poor workmanship, since the work has received positive critique from respected turners in the past. For whatever reason, they are just not a fit for this show. It does give me an opportunity to enter some of them into our local Edmonds Arts Festival, so I'll be giving that a try. Thanks for the support!
Re: Rejection sucks
Dick Hines
>Sorry to hear about the rejection Molly. Remember "What don't kill me will make me stronger."
The next time you will blow their socks off.
