judgment day

Several months ago I was asked to be one of 4 judges at the 2010 Arts at the Gardens outdoor arts and crafts show, held on the grounds of the lovely Sonnenberg Gardens and Mansion. Today was the day....

I'm never one to hold back on giving an opinion, but today I would need to visit 100 artists, examine their booths and their work and make decisions about each:

• what was the level of creativity?


• how well did they use/handle the material?


• did they present their art well? how attractive was their booth?

10 Judges' Awards and a Best of Show Award were at stake - prestige and dollars were on the line. I hoped I was up to the task.

One of other judges and I traveled together, starting at one end of the show, while the other 2 judges worked their way toward us from the opposite end. We broke for lunch, graciously served to us on the veranda of the mansion, and chatted about what we had already seen - what we liked and what we didn't. Then it was back to work, ending about 3:30. We hunkered down again on the veranda, discussing each and every artist in the show. The four of us, having never worked as judges together before, were surprisingly cohesive in our comments, our likes and our dislikes. After 30 minutes of discussion, we had our award winners.

The show organizers were notified and the winners were announced at a lovely reception for the artists, judges and committee members, held on the veranda after the show had ended. There were smiles all around - the show was a success, the committee had done a fine job, the judges had made their decisions and the artists were pleased with their awards.

Judgment Day was over, and I, for one, was ready for a nice long rest!