ICON Juror
For 2022, we are pleased to announce that Barbara Shaiman will be the juror for our ICON exhibit.
Juror Statement
My curatorial approach is influenced by my background as a working studio artist, instructor and gallery director. For me the visual is primary, and then comes attention to concept and execution. When I choose artists for an exhibit or jury a show, I look for artwork that has strong visual appeal and is rooted in ideas I find compelling, stimulating and challenging. I also look for work that in some way pushes boundaries, reflects a unique vision, or pushes the medium in different areas. The work should be technically proficient, experimental and passionate about its subject matter. None of the chosen works fit all these criteria of course, but they all meet at least a few.
Juror Biography
Barbara Shaiman returned to her original calling as a ceramic sculptor in 2015 after 24 years at Seattle Art Museum where she was Director/Curator of SAM Gallery. At the gallery, Barbara curated about 12 exhibits a year. Before joining the SAM staff, Barbara taught art classes in NYC at Brooklyn College and Brooklyn Museum Art School, at Hawthorne Studio in Missoula, Montana, and, in Seattle, at Seward Park Arts Center and Bellevue College. She was also a ceramic artist and the owner/director of Shaiman Gallery, a contemporary fine crafts and design gallery in Belltown. Her ceramics were featured in many regional and national exhibits as well as several books and magazines.
Though her primary interest now is pursuing her own artwork, Barbara is also an independent curator and arts professional. She presented quarterly art exhibits at Seattle's Alexis Hotel for 12 years until 2017 and currently devotes time to jurying community art exhibits, advising local arts organizations and helping emerging artists to become familiar with the business of art by teaching workshops and evaluating portfolios.
As a ceramic and mixed-media artist whose work references our natural environment and the effect of human activity on it, the water ways, vegetation and rock forms found in the Northwest play a pivotal role in Barbara’s imagery and ideas. She prefers the work to be enigmatic, not to try to supply answers but to encourage us to think about our relationship to the environment, climate and sustainability with a somewhat altered vision.
Juror Statement
My curatorial approach is influenced by my background as a working studio artist, instructor and gallery director. For me the visual is primary, and then comes attention to concept and execution. When I choose artists for an exhibit or jury a show, I look for artwork that has strong visual appeal and is rooted in ideas I find compelling, stimulating and challenging. I also look for work that in some way pushes boundaries, reflects a unique vision, or pushes the medium in different areas. The work should be technically proficient, experimental and passionate about its subject matter. None of the chosen works fit all these criteria of course, but they all meet at least a few.
Juror Biography
Barbara Shaiman returned to her original calling as a ceramic sculptor in 2015 after 24 years at Seattle Art Museum where she was Director/Curator of SAM Gallery. At the gallery, Barbara curated about 12 exhibits a year. Before joining the SAM staff, Barbara taught art classes in NYC at Brooklyn College and Brooklyn Museum Art School, at Hawthorne Studio in Missoula, Montana, and, in Seattle, at Seward Park Arts Center and Bellevue College. She was also a ceramic artist and the owner/director of Shaiman Gallery, a contemporary fine crafts and design gallery in Belltown. Her ceramics were featured in many regional and national exhibits as well as several books and magazines.
Though her primary interest now is pursuing her own artwork, Barbara is also an independent curator and arts professional. She presented quarterly art exhibits at Seattle's Alexis Hotel for 12 years until 2017 and currently devotes time to jurying community art exhibits, advising local arts organizations and helping emerging artists to become familiar with the business of art by teaching workshops and evaluating portfolios.
As a ceramic and mixed-media artist whose work references our natural environment and the effect of human activity on it, the water ways, vegetation and rock forms found in the Northwest play a pivotal role in Barbara’s imagery and ideas. She prefers the work to be enigmatic, not to try to supply answers but to encourage us to think about our relationship to the environment, climate and sustainability with a somewhat altered vision.