Framing Competition

[Bob Shirk MCPF]

I have been surprised in the past by the low number of entrants in PPFA framing competitions. I am curious as to why people do not participate in these competitions. I think that they are a great opportunity to learn through constructive criticism. If you win or place at the national or local level it gives you great bragging rites and opportunities for press releases. Why do people not enter framing competitions?

[ 06-03-2003, 01:03 PM: Message edited by: Bob Shirk CPF ]

 

[Ron Eggers]

Good question, Bob.

I'm going to be judging a chapter competition in October because I'm one of the few available CPFs that has no interest in entering.

For me, it may be a holdover from the days when a long-time employee of mine was active in competitions and actually did pretty well. She would spend about 50 hours on a piece and we'd hang it on the wall, often with a ribbon, following the competition.

It WAS nice for bragging rights, but I could never get my mind off of the amount of paid, custom framing that could have been done in that same period.

I also was turned off by the huge quantity of truly bizarre entries in the open competitions at the national level. We're talking about 20 years ago, and I think the caliber of entries has improved considerably.

In many professional competitions, the type of work done seems to have little in common with what we actually do for customers. Those of you in photography probably know exactly what I'm talking about, but I think it's true in our business as well.

It has occurred to me that all these things are just rationalizing my own fear and laziness.

 

[BUDDY]

My answer is very similar to Ron's but with a bit of different approach. I do organize a local competition for a local PBS station. In fact I personally often stand by the entries and explain to popular choice voters how the work can be made to look completely different by the framing ,so I know very well what the displaying of a group of different framing techniques of the same work can do to generate interest in framing. I also know about the bragging rights and display my local trophys prominently even though they are years old.
However My concern differs in that i don't worry too much about the funds I donate but the work load and how far behind I get when doing these projects.
As to the huge quantities of Bizarre entries, I think that is what generates interest. I think that the worst thing is when all the entries take on the same approach.
But unless it things have changed in recent years, the judges sometimes cut the field down to just the top 10 or 20 so not all got the same consideration especially liked it when the Popular choice was seldom what the juried choice was and maybe not even in the top 3.
But back to why I don’t enter. For a small shop like mine it can create quite a logistic problem getting a Framed piece to a competition sight ,especially if you have to be judged more than once or if you don’t have a local chapter or if the chapter you participate in is some distance away(I once almost had a very large cross stitch piece lost in flight to a Needlework competition, only to have it Taxied to the convention sight a couple of days later and it wasn’t my piece).I also don’t think it is always necessary for the judges to use the critique sheet and even when they do the comments aren’t always in the form of what you can do to improve your work .I think it would be very helpful if after a judging the most knowledgeable contestants would give suggestions .But then I have experienced contestants who resented just such criticism as a put down and this was often the reason it was omitted.
But even though I don't enter for much the same reasons that Ron gave I do love competitions and viewing them.But mostly I don't enter for fear of being EMBARASSED(Which I have done a good job of already),especially when being judged on the technical aspects of my work.
BUDDY

 

[Barb Pelton]

I've only entered twice. Both times I just barreeelly got it done in time. And actually, I had a piece for the open competition that didn't make it to the finish line. Too much paying work to be done. This was the first year I felt like I could afford to schedule an afternoon to work on a competition entry, and I spent the entire 5 hours on the scrimshaw.
I'll plan better from now on, though. It was a fun learning experience.

 

[Rick Bergeron - CPF]

Our first thoughts are very similar to Ron & Buddy. At the chapter level, we have fun participating, have learned much with the competitions and the Northern Rockies Chapter always seems to have good participation. We try to use the "braggin' rights" as far as we can. Since there are only two of us, the time and money spent on design, construction and paperwork is not a show-stopping issue. Most of our suppliers make fair concessions if they know the materials are going to be utilized for a competition entry and later as a store model.

The critique or being able to talk to the judge(s) is very important to the learning process. Judging is probably not the most difficult part of a competition. I can see where talking to the entrants after the awards presentation could be the most challenging event of the evening when there are "sore losers" who want to know "Why didn't I win?" rather than "What can I do to improve my design and construction?"

The PPFA has a class for competition judging which is very enlightening, but is also the main reason that we don't send entries outside of our local competition. Judges on the national level are not required to take or participate in the Competition Judging class. Since we don't agree with that particular criteria, we choose not to enter.

[ 06-04-2003, 09:08 AM: Message edited by: Rick Bergeron - CPF ]

 

[gemsmom]

One of the reasons I re-joined the PPFA three years ago was to enter the competitions. I enjoy them and have learned frome them. They have also been a great source of added income, both in prize money and from the framing I have sold from the displayed entries.
I don't buy the "no time" excuse. I received next years print competion piece two weeks ago. It doesn't have to be done until October for the regionals, so I keep it handy and pull it out and work on it as time allows.

 

[Bob Shirk MCPF]

The few answers that I have received so far confirm some of my suspicions. I was very disapointed with the judging at the national competition this year because we got no feedback on our entry.

I think that you should aproach the piece like you would any other that comes into your shop. Do a design and then complete the job. It is just one more piece in your work schedule.

There is no need to be embarrassed. I doubt that any of us would point and laugh.

I have boxed up entries in the past and shipped them with no problems. For those without a local chapter there is the mailbox chapter where anyone can enter.

I would like to see more entries so I'm trying to figure out what we can do to improve things and encourage entrants. Our local chapter offers some big cash awards for the top three entries and the best first time entry. Any other ideas to encourage entrants would be greatly apreciated.

 

[John Ranes II CPF GCF]

Originally posted by Bob Shirk CPF:
......I was very disapointed with the judging at the national competition this year because we got no feedback on our entry.......

Bob,

Having judged a good number of regional (Chapter) and National competitions, I know that most times the judges attempt to submit a written summary of their findings/critique sheet. Typically this is done, despite the time constraints. I'm sure you realize that a qualified judge at a convention, is probably already pretty busy with seminars, teaching, etc. and that just the judging process probably takes 4-6 hours at this level with that many entries.

Personally I thought that the calibur of entries at the National Print competition this past year (Scrimshaw) was excellent! (These were all the First, Second and Third place winners from the Chapter level. It was the best I'd seen in a few years.

......I have been surprised in the past by the low number of entrants in PPFA framing competitions. I am curious as to why people do not participate in these competitions........

At the Chapter level, I've watched the number of entries diminish from 22-28 pieces to 10-15 which is a shame. As both Barb and Pamela pointed out, it is a tremendous learning experience. Having designed an entry yourself, regardless if it places or not, you examine the other pieces in a different light. You see design elements (both good and bad)

For those that think the cost expensive (time taken away from other framing work), consider it the equivalent of a "Design Seminar". Local chapters will be running their competitions from now through the Autumn, so please consider entering, especially if you've never done so before.

Regards,

John

[ 06-04-2003, 12:36 PM: Message edited by: John Ranes II, CPF, GCF ]

 

[Art On Canvas]

John Ranes hosted a great PPFA chapter "show and tell" seminar here last year, and one of his many worthwhile messages was to enter a local framing competition if the opportunity arose.

So I entered the PPFA scrimshaw competition, along with probably two other local frame shops...guess who won third place? It was a lot of fun for me, it was simple, I learned how to frame ivory, and I will definately enter the next one, too. Maybe I can work my way up to second place.

Thanks for the tip, John.