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Show I Utah Watercolor sOciety- host of the 26th annual exhibition 4JIJ-- The Utah Watercolor Society (UWS) was founded in 197 4, by a small but energetic group of watercolorists. An ad hoc "flrl committee was formed who researched other similar societies and formed a watercolor organization. The UWS was designed to promote the stature of watercolor as an art medium and to further educate the public as to the significance of watercolor as an important creative and permanent painting medium. Now entering its 2711 year the UWS has become a vital arts organization in Utah with over 350 members, largely because of their shared belief with their founders in the joy of painting in watercolor. As is the case in all worthwhile endeavors the Utah Watercolor Society provides more than meets the eye. In addition to its juried exhibits and invaluable workshops, it brings together those of shared beliefs: "That the real purpose of art is to serve the proximate ends of life including the pleasure composed of the awareness of being in the presence of excellence and right conduct made evident in the acts of sharing and serving. Furthermore art serves the ultimate ends of life comprised of spiritual freedom we call unselfishness and the insight into the order, harmony and unity of the cosmos". Because of these reasons it is with great pleasure and pride that the members of the Utah Watercolor Society invite you to join with us in this 26th annual exhibit of the Western Federation of Watercolor Societies. JURoR's STATEMENT- Gerald Brommer I thank the Utah Watercolor Society for asking me to jury this current exhibition of the Western Federation of Watercolor Societies. I have long considered this group to be a very important aspect of the world of watercolor, and being able to study the work from the eleven cooperating societies has only strengthened my conviction. The work is highly professional, personal in content, and broad in scope and expression. It is difficult to eliminate almost a thousand images to reduce the entries to a required 120 or so pieces. Many excellent works were therefore not selected, but this is the cost of professional competition. You must realize that we make art because we have to! We have no choice but to express ourselves visually. We share our visions, our sensitivities and our compassion. We share our agony, our wrath and our frustrations. We also share our loves, our personal insights and our deepest convictions. Through our art we lay ourselves out on paper for all the world to see, because we paint what we are. When we exhibit our work, others can explore and experience our beliefs, our reactions, our biases, our loves and our spiritual beings. It takes special people to share themselves with others in such personal ways, and such people are called artists. Of course, our products have something to do with technique, decoration, craftsmanship, design and subject matter. But these are merely tools that help us create more effective art- help us communicate more articulately. What we express visually is what is within each of us, for that is the foundation and purpose of our art. We express reactions; we help others see differently or more clearly; we assist in the recognizing of relationships. We explore visual dynamics and report on human events. We decorate surfaces and we express our unbounded joy in the very act of creating. We create because it is an essential part of our lives. We cannot help but be artists. The artists in the exhibition have chosen to use watercolor as their vehicle of expression. Possibly they could have been just as articulate had they used oils, printing presses, welded steel or plastic, but they chose to use waterbased pigments. Good art is not determined by media! Good art is not even determined by subject matter or size; nor is it determined by realism, abstraction or nonobjectivity. Regardless of media, styles, size or subject matter, g<XXi art is determined by the quality and f!!fectiwness cfsincerevisual ~- ( 2 I W~F~ononwa«rcoror~eti~ J As you study the art in this exhibition, listen to what the artists are saying- abOut their world, their lives, their work, their joys; about their personal reactions to their environment, their fellow humans and their God; about order, chaos, color or the warmth of sunshine. By their visual expressions they have communicated with rich visual and personal vocabularies and have made their visual statements (their art) for our benefit. Enjoy! Thanks to all the artists for sharing themselves and their art with me for a week It has enriched my life! ~ Gerald F. Brommer. Gerald F. Bronuner, N.W.S., A.W.S., W.C.W.S., R.M.N.W.S., is an author of numerous books and articles in art educational journals. Careers in Art and Design, was published in 1997 and his most recent book, Careers in An.· An Illustrated Guide, was published in January 1999 (both by Davis Publications, Inc.) He has juried national and regional water-media and multimedia exhibitions and has taught workshops in the United States and abroad. 1 |
