Judging the Visual Arts Exhibits
- Judges have been randomly assigned to judge in the Visual Arts option
of the Graduate Exhibition. Therefore, it is likely that judges will be
evaluating presentations that are not in their areas of expertise.
- The graduate students know that the judges are randomly chosen.
- Each artist has prepared a short written statement on his/her creative
research to be included with the program. Each artist is also prepared
to give a short oral overview (no more than 5 minutes) of his/her work.
- During or immediately after visiting each artist, judges should jot
down notes about the strengths and weaknesses of the presentation, paying
careful attention to the judging criteria. After completing visits with
all the artists, judges will decide on the final scores.
- Judges should give equal time to all of the artists. After completing
judging, judges should feel free to revisit any artist.
Criteria for Judging the Visual Arts Exhibits
Content (50 points)
- Significance of the ideas, issues, and/or objectives as creative research
in the visual arts.
- Relevance of the artwork to contemporary art and visual culture.
Presentation (30 points)
- Quality of the technical execution in the artwork.
- Attention to how the artwork is displayed.
Oral Presentation (20 points)
- Presenter's ability to orally communicate the concepts written in the
artist's statement.
- Presenter's knowledge of the art discipline in which the artwork participates.
Scoring
- Judges should utilize the scoring range for each of the artists, as
they would in academic testing, and avoid "grade inflation" or assigning
similar scores to all the artists. A successful exhibitor should receive
a score of 85; a truly outstanding exhibitor should be ranked in the 90s.
Feedback to Students
After handing in final scores, judges are also asked to provide at least one comment on both the strengths and weaknesses
of the exhibit and presentation. These written comments will be extremely
useful to the student.
