When Lisa DeLuca serves as a juror for this year’s community art show at Moraine Valley Community College, she’ll keep her own experiences submitting work to shows in mind.
“I definitely think that as someone who has had work chosen for juried exhibitions as well as someone who has been rejected for juried exhibitions helps, as these experiences allow me to see both sides of the equation,” she shared.
“I will also mention that when my work has not been accepted, I have reached out to the juror and asked for feedback in a nonconfrontational way and can honestly say that I have learned so much from their responses. I think it’s important for artists to be open to criticism.”
Anyone 18 and older who lives within 50 miles of the Palos Hills college is invited to submit up to two pieces from May 19 to 21. They will be notified May 26.
The show runs May 29 to July 30 and kicks off with a reception from 1-4 p.m. on May 30, with awards announced at 1:30 p.m. The exhibit, which is free, can be viewed from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Mondays through Thursdays and when the building hosts a performance.
DeLuca, a photographer with more than 25 years of experience as a recruiter and admissions counselor for art and design schools, is a teaching artist for The Simple Good in Chicago. She’s taken photography classes in the area, trained as a docent at the Museum of Contemporary Art, and exhibited her work in Tinley Park, Chicago and Lockport.
She’s also been a mentor for the IntuiTeens 2023 Program at Intuit: The Center for Intuitive and Outside Art and for the Gallery 37/After School Matters Program.
This isn’t the first time she’s juried a show. She has been a juor for the MVCC annual high school art exhibition and other regional art exhibitions in the Chicago area, including Scholastics and ArtConnectED, she said.
“I wanted the opportunity to expand past high school judging and work with members of the adult creative community,” DeLuca said. “I was also very excited to hear that I would also have the opportunity to assist with curatorial decisions for the exhibit.”
She’s already thinking about how she’ll evaluate pieces for the show, now in its 23rd year.
“One component I search is the narrative behind the piece. What is the artist trying to say? Though I believe technical skills hold merit, I very much believe in the creativity behind the work created,” DeLuca explained. “I enjoy all media, but really have become more and more fascinated with three-dimensional pieces like sculpture and mixed media assemblage.”
When it comes to choosing who will get the awards, which range from $40 to honorable mention to $150 or $200 for top pieces, she knows what she wants to see.
“I am looking for a strong perspective and the ability to think outside the box in creating a unique and original submission,” she shared. “I want the art to make me think and ask myself questions. I am also very open to the art challenging the way I typically respond and pushing me to see other perspectives.”
Dan Jarvis, the art gallery’s director, said an independent juror is brought in every year for the show, and it helps that he’s known DeLuca for a few years.
“She’s a figure in the art world in the Chicago area. She’s got a great resume and is a great person,” Jarvis said. “I always like interacting with her with the high school jurying, and I thought I’d see if she wanted to help out with this one.”
Jarvis said he considers the juried community art exhibit a way of thanking the local art community.
“By showcasing artists from our own neighborhoods, we remind our patrons that these creators play a vital role in keeping galleries like ours thriving for years,” he said.
Although the juror will make the final selections for what’s in the show and who gets awards, Jarvis will render his opinion if asked.
“We kind of curate it together,” he said, explaining his main role is installing the pieces in the show — which typically takes three full days — and coordinating the opening reception.
“The biggest draw is the reception. We get over 200 people most years. It’s our biggest reception of the year,” Jarvis said. “I go all out on the food budget. When you have 60 to 70 artists in a show and they bring family and friends, we get a good amount of people.”
It’s a full-circle moment for Jarvis because he used to help check in entries for the show when he was a Moraine Valley student in the 2000s.
“Some of the same artists that were dropping their work off when I was a student are still dropping art off. We have a lot of repeats but a lot of new faces,” he said.
Jarvis said the show draws lots of paintings, such as watercolors, and a fair amount of collage work and photography, but nontraditional material also is submitted.
“In one of the shows a couple of years ago, we had a piece that was entirely made of different colors of masking tape. From far away, you might have thought it was a painting, but when you got close, it was all electrical or masking tape,” he said. “We’ve had a lot of traditional and nontraditional mediums.”
One way the show differs is pieces are submitted in person, while many juried shows have artists submit digital files.
He encourages Moraine Valley students, and high school students who are old enough, to submit pieces.
“I’m always encouraging art students here to enter the show because they don’t know about it,” Jarvis said. “It comes up about a month after our student show. I tell them ‘You have good work. You could win prizes.’”
DeLuca also hopes people will come to view the exhibit.
“Support your local artists and take the time to see what they have created and what they are trying to say through their medium,” she said. “Be inspired and be open to their creative perspective — this will help you appreciate the arts more.”
Art pieces can be submitted from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. May 19-21 at the box office in the Fine and Performing Arts Center at the college, 9000 College Parkway. The submission fee is $15 per item; credit cards, checks and cash will be accepted.
Artists can sell their work at the show; the gallery takes a small commission.
Among the stipulations: art must be made in the last five years and not submitted previously; photos and art on paper must be framed under glass or plexiglass; two-dimensional work cannot be bigger than 48-by-48 inches, and three-dimensional pieces should weigh no more than 100 pounds. Find a complete list of requirements and the submission form at www.morainevalley.edu/fpac/art-gallery.
Melinda Moore is a freelance reporter for the Daily Southtown.
