[MR] A&S Judging Question Part Two

[egeorges]

There is one thing here to add about judges comments, and about artisan's
reactions to them.

Most comment sheets are trying to cram the insights of three different
judges, including ranking and numeric information, onto a single 8 x 11
sheet of paper.

Brevity may be the soul of wit, but it isn't really conducive to sensitivity
and usefulness.  In other words, sometimes comments end up being unhelpful
because there simply isn't room to put more than a few sentences.  When all
is said and done, there may be space for only about a dozen or so words of
actual "improvement commentary" on a piece.  Even the most skilled
communicators among us would be hard pressed to put detailed, constructive,
un-misunderstand-able criticism into a dozen words or less.  

Judges are often selected last minute, and given items to judge that are
well outside of their area of expertise.  They are asked to comment in small
spaces.  And it's hard to read commentary objectively when it's about
something you've sweated over and worked on and loved for months.  And
really, who likes to be criticized in the first place?  The whole process is
just designed to generate confusion and hurt.  Not on purpose, of course,
but as purely unavoidable by-product.

I think one thing that is important for artisans to realize as they go
through this process is that part of becoming better at your craft is
learning to develop a thick skin and a keen eye when it comes to how others
view your work.  You can't take every comment personally.  Not every comment
is helpful, particularly if coming from someone who knows nothing about your
craft.  But more than that, you have to realize that A&S competitions are
not really about the judging, but the display.  Judging is an unavoidable
evil of competition, necessary primarily because someone has to be declared
a winner.  But it is not the place where you are going to get the best
feedback on your work if what you desire is improvement in your craft.
Instead of obsessing over what three judges (who may know nothing about your
art) wrote, better to use the opportunity of having your work on display in
a competition as an opening to seek out the opinions of people who you know
are involved in your craft and can offer the advice that really WILL help
you get better.  

Just my 2 farthings.

Luce Antony Venus