An early start this morning to get to St Helens for 10.00 to take part in the judging of the St Helens Open Art Competition 2007.
We were in the Godfrey Pilkington Art Gallery (formerly the Rainford Gallery) above the library and we weren’t let out until 17.00. An exhausting but interesting and fun day.
Have to say the whole event was superbly organised by Jess Bowstead, the Assistant Arts Development Officer and the judging all went smoothly without any major argument.
Having reduced some 240 artworks down to a more manageable number (not sure if I’m allowed to say how many yet) to display in the gallery we then had to choose the 1st, 2nd and 3rd prizes then 1 for each of 6 categories and finally 8 highly commended prizes. This was the hardest part not just because of the difficult decisions but also the logistics of looking again at all the portraits, then all the landscapes then abstracts etc. etc.
The competition is open only to people living or working in St Helens. As with all open shows there was a great variety of media, styles and skills. There was a lot of very good work especially in the more traditional painting styles and abstracts.
The exhibition runs at the Godfrey Pilkington Gallery from June 20 to July 12 2007