Trees

Juror: Wendi Schneider
Prints due: March 19, 2020
Exhibition: April 2 – April 25, 2020

Juror's Statement

It was an enriching and anguishing adventure to winnow down the inspired photographs for the Trees exhibit. I was transported to alternate worlds as I visited each entry multiple times. Seeking various interpretations of species, seasons, processes, and feelings, I was often faced with tough choices - not only between the artist’s own submissions, but with similar visions of other entrants. I included work from those displaying a strong voice throughout their entries, and also from those with more varied submissions, perhaps offering a path for future exploration. Ultimately, I returned to those that most resonated with a poetic eloquence. Admirable work was omitted with regret, and some chosen images moved back and forth from Gallery to Online to create a diverse and cohesive exhibition.

Narrowing down the award winners was difficult, as there were others worthy of honors. It was especially challenging to separate the Juror’s and Director’s Awards as the images touched me deeply in different ways. Both elicited sighs upon first and subsequent viewings.

The Juror’s Award goes to Geoffrey Agrons for Hospice (The Eastern Light), a tender and evocative image of an ailing woman, ostensibly gazing at trees through her windows. Offered with sensitivity and exquisite tonality, the photograph inspired musings of her momentary respite from confinement, her wandering mind of memories, and hopes for the grace she may have found there.

The Director’s Award goes to Richard Ashmore for Adrift, an ethereal, lush and mysterious reflection of trees interspersed with rich, scattered autumn leaves. It’s a stunning composition with subtly woven focus and color that beautifully represents the whole of the exhibit.

Honorable mentions go to Karen Klinedinst, Dale Niles, and Rowene Weems for their imaginative articulations.

I’m deeply honored to have been chosen to jury this exhibition and for the privilege of viewing the large number of submissions. Keenly aware of the vulnerability of having work juried, I’m grateful to have been entrusted with your achievements and hope to see where your hearts take you in the future.

     — Wendi Schneider

Call for Entries

In this exhibit we honor trees in all their states: majestic specimens or struggling seedlings, in summer plumage or winter austerity, grown in nature or nurtured by man. Where do you find inspiration in trees? What is it about trees that moves you?  All capture methods and processes are welcome.

Click images to enlarge. All ©Wendi Schneider. 

We are very pleased to welcome Wendi Schneider as juror for Trees. She will select 35 images for exhibition in our Middlebury, Vermont gallery and another 35 for our Online Gallery. All 70 images will be reproduced in the exhibition catalog. The recipients of the Juror’s Award and the Director’s Award will each be entitled to an online  portfolio review by the juror.

 

Information about our printing service and free matting and framing here. 

About the Juror

Wendi Schneider is a Denver-based visual artist illuminating impressions of grace with photography and precious metals to preserve vanishing beauty in our vulnerable environment.

Inspired by a background in painting, art history and the lush beauty of Memphis and New Orleans, she turned to photography in the early ‘80s and subsequently moved to New York, where she photographed for advertising, book covers and Victoria magazine in addition to her fine art work.

In 2012 she began her ongoing series “States of Grace”, engaging digital imaging to capture, layer and print her images, then applying gold or silver on verso to infuse the artist's hand and suffuse her treasured subjects with the spirituality and sanctity of the precious metals.

Schneider’s work has been exhibited, awarded, and published internationally and is held in permanent collections at the New Orleans Museum of Art, the Memphis Brooks Museum, the Center for Creative Photography, Auburn University Library, the Try-Me Collection, and numerous private collections.

She is represented by A Gallery For Fine Photography in New Orleans, Catherine Couturier Gallery in Houston, and Galeria Photographic in San Miguel de Allende, Mexico and sits on the executive board of the Colorado Photographic Arts Center.

See her website here.