The 2019 Pee Dee Regional Art Competition

Juror’s Statement

I want to thank the Florence County Museum for the opportunity to jury this fine body of work submitted by Pee Dee artists to the 2019 Pee Dee Regional Art Competition. It is a daunting and significant task to scrutinize and pour over the digital photo entries and then wean them down. So much can be lost as to scale, presence, surface, presentation, etc. when seeing them this way. Trying to see and understand the artist’s intentions and vision from one or two submissions is challenging.

Viewing the actual work for the final review demonstrated how essential it is to then inspect the work in person. This became apparent with this year’s First Place award which went to Jean Grosser Creative Credo No. 55 from Fragments of Hate series. It caught my eye the minute I walked into the room. Its six by four-foot scale and her outstanding artistic skills initially drew me in and then you are confronted with the message.

Second Place went to Alexandria Knox’s Housebroken no.13. I responded to the use of materials and the “heft” of the piece. The contradiction of the title with the construction materials hinted at both something newly built and also broken like rules, standards and customs.

Third Place went to Charles Clary’s Memento Vivere Movement #2. This piece recalled images from my grandmother’s house and Charlotte Perkins Gilman’s story The Yellow Wall-paper, where at the end the woman protagonist is essentially trapped behind the yellow wallpaper. Underneath #2’s surface is what appears to be a growth or virus, a life of unspoken rules and expectations concealed behind a beautiful design.

Honorable Mention goes to Robert Garey’s The Golden Apple, a large intricate work that initially for me was off putting because of the 3 pin-up style nudes. Revisiting this work in person and paying attention to its mythological underpinnings and the idea of judgment in contrast to our now ubiquitous digital world caused me to reconsider. I am a sucker for a good story, and he is a fine painter.

It amazed me at how many serious and committed artists there are in the Pee Dee region of South Carolina. If I have any advice to give at all it would to keep up the good work and apply to everything you can going forward.

Kristi Ryba
January 2019

Exhibit Catalog

Printed copies of the catalog are available in the exhibit. You may also view and download a PDF of the catalog.