I again came away with a wonderful experience at this year’s ANAC Convention in Fremont.  I really encourage everyone to participate, it really gets the juices flowing.  (rumor is that in two years, the convention may be in Beatrice)  Kathy Cartier and I both took the two day mixed media workshop and had a great time.  We will possibly get a chance to pass on what we learned at a later date, but I wanted to pass on this little bit of information.

While we were at the banquet, we listened to the keynote speaker, Suzann Beck and she relayed to us the way she looked at and selected the winners of the art show.  Craft, concept and creativity.

1.  Craft – how well did the artist use their medium.  How skillful where they in using their materials, etc.?
2. Concept – did they tell a story, did they get across what they wanted to say? What was their idea and did they achieve it?
3. Creativity – novel ideas, something unusual, not seen before, just a little bit different.

Something else that came up was the framing used in the works.  Ask yourself, does the frame enhance, or detract!

Just some things to think about when you are pushing your art to the next level!