DECISION STATEMENT
2023 POWELL LANE ARTS: IT IS WRITTEN

As most of you know, we always try to be very diligent in curating our shows.  We generally have a good amount of very strong work which requires many rounds of review to determine which work best fits the theme and which work interacts most strongly.   

This was a very strong body of submissions.  We received 85 submissions and almost 300 pieces.  From these pieces we needed to get down to around 80 (ultimately we chose 95 or 32% of pieces) and around 35 artists (we chose 43 or 51% of submissions).

At this point it is redundant to say that we choose too many artists.  We can’t help it: you are a talented group.  So talented in fact that we often need to turn away strong work.

Even after we eliminated rushed or incomplete feeling submissions, we still had a majority that were well-thought out, and of interest.  Ultimately, we had to set a rubric to determine who made the cut.  This time that largely meant, who provided the material (re: statement and images) to allow us to most completely understand their works and compare those works to the larger body of submissions. 

Unfortunately, at this time, we are not able to accept your work.  Please know this does not mean we do not value you.  We try to be very thoughtful of our considerations, and this often means we either needed a bit more information on the piece than we had at time of review, or the pieces did not fit the theme as well as those that were chosen.

Like always, we feel so lucky to have artists that trust us to view and consider their work.  And making these decisions are some of the worst moments of this job, but the artists we meet, whether they ultimately show with us or not, make a job that can be tiring and overwhelming, joyful, fun and great.  We really are trying to serve our communities and that is impossible without all of you who are taking the time to read this statement.

Our mantra with which we always leave you remains: You are brave and creative, and we feel lucky to be inundated with so much great work.

  With our warmest wishes,

Carol Taylor-Kearney & Caroline Kearney
Curators and Co-Owners of Powell Lane Arts