Making quick decisions about hundreds of art works for summer open exhibition

So when the organisers of this summer’s open art exhibition at The Station in Richmond asked if I would be a guest judge, I tried to explain that a packed diary would prevent me from taking the time.

It is for the reason mentioned above, however, that I found myself, earlier this month, in an office on the edge of the Yorkshire Dales, looking at well over 100 pieces of art, deciding which should go in to the open exhibition, opening tonight, and which deserved a prize.

My fellow judges for The Station exhibition were Simon Zimmerman, editor at a York-based publisher, Sarah Brown, Curator of Exhibitions at Leeds Art Gallery and Simon Morris, writer-in-residence at Whitechapel Art Gallery.

Yes, no, yes, no, yes, yes, all afternoon. The tireless volunteers were relentless as they stacked the three easels with works of art and we were asked to make snap judgements on the quality of the work.

Curator Brown was a model of efficiency and there was clearly going to be no dawdling, no lingering over the art works, on her watch.

The quality was varying. The other judges were less forgiving of art work that might be considered traditional. Every now and then a stunning piece would leap out and we would immediately siphon it into a separate pile of possible winners – we had to choose a first, second and third prize.

At the end of the day we had around 13 separate pieces which one or more of the four of us had selected as possible winners.

The three winners – which I am allowed to announce – were Raymond Hibble’s Confused; Eva Mileusnic’s Separation, and Adele Stephenson’s Tuesdays. What was interesting about these three is that they had stepped easily and obviously out of the pack to thrust themselves into the final selection. The works of art were there on merit – it transpired later that two of the artists – Mileusnic and Stephenson were working artists familiar to all four of us judges and Hibble had been at his craft for a number of years.

While happy with the final selection, there was a definite sense that rattling through the work, we might have discarded some pieces that deserve closer attention. No matter, there is a People’s Prize that can be voted for at the exhibition, which runs from tomorrow until Sept 3 – and you can correct our mistakes. InVisible, the name of the exhibition, opens for a preview night tonight from 6.30pm when the first, second and third places, along with ten commendations, will be announced. The winner will have a a two-week solo show at The Station later this year.