2011 National Small Print Show Judge, Steve Sumner
April 22, 2011
Each year, the Board Members of the Creede Arts Council are excited to have Christmas in April as they open boxes shipped to us with the entries to the National Small Print Show inside. This year the juried competition received a record number of entries for the show with 195 separate prints submitted by artists who live across the country and in Canada. However, opening the boxes is just the beginning of a long process to get an amazing show of artwork up in time for the opening and sale, this year happening on May 28th at 4 pm at the Creede Repertory Theatre. The prints and artists must be logged into an extensive database, labeled carefully, some prints may need fixing as far as the matting or the mounting is concerned, and then the collection of prints in their entirety must travel to the judge.
This year the judge for the National Small Print Show is Stephen Sumner. Sumner is currently the Executive Director for the Center for the Arts in Evergreen,Colorado, and he has had a lifetime of experience with printmaking. The resume of Mr. Sumner is impressive. A former professor of art and university administrator for over thirty years, Sumner has degrees in Design and Photography and in Painting and Printmaking. His work has been shown over 60 national and international exhibitions, and he has juried exhibitions across the country, including the Cherry Creek Arts Festival in Denver, the Coconut Grove Arts Festival in Miami, and Mayfest in Tulsa. The Creede Arts Council is excited to gain his expertise as a contribution to the success of this year’s National Small Print Show. Sumner had this to say about the prints he judged: “Whoever coined the phrase ‘good things come in little packages’ must have juried, or at least seen, a small print show. Jurying this show was both a pleasure and a delight.”
Patrons will have to wait until the end of May to see for themselves the high quality of the work that delighted Mr. Sumner in his jurying process, while Arts Council Board Members get a sneak peak, as they log in those who made it into the show, create catalogues and labels for the prints, and hang the show at the Creede Repertory Theatre. Some Board Members may even have their eye on a particular piece they want to purchase for their collection. But they will get no preferential treatment in that regard. Even though the Creede Arts Council Board Members get to open the packages on Christmas morning, they might not get to keep their favorites. At the sale, it is left up to chance because all the names of folks who want to buy prints will go into a hat! Many of the prints are in limited editions or monotypes (meaning only one exists in the world), and the structure of the opening night sale has evolved to ensure that all is fair in art purchases at the National Small Print Show. The evening becomes an exciting race to the artwork of your dreams, as patrons wait for their name to be called so that they can be sure to secure their favorites. It should prove to be a fabulous evening with food, wine, and wonderful ‘little packages’ of art. So, be sure to mark your calendars for May 28th at 4 pm for the Art Show of the Year in Creede, on display in the CRT Lobby.
