Judging the RUA
I've spent the past day-and-a-half judging this year's entries for the Royal Ulster Academy's annual show. All 1,110 of them.ÌýAt 10am yesterday I sat, along with theÌýfour other judges, at a long table on the 12th floor of River House, on High Street. The only other time I was a judge was about 20 years ago, when I was on the panel for the Moville Song Contest in Donegal and that was in a hotel with a warm fire and about 10 singers.ÌýAs IÌýgazed down the room at walls up to 12 deep with paintings and sculptures, the task ahead suddenly seemed quite daunting.ÌýJulian Friers, the RUA President, outlined the judging process. We had three paddles in front of us - one which saidÌýReject colouredÌýred which carried zero points, one which said Doubtful (amber) which carriedÌýone point and one which said Accept (green) which carriedÌýtwo points. He agreed that the whole judging process wasÌýsubjective, but that the points system would give a democracy to the process that just saying yes or no wouldn't.
And then we were off. Volunteers with white gloves on queued up with alarming speed, some work so big it tookÌýtwoÌýmenÌýand a small boy to carry it, others so small that I had to get up off my seat to get a closer view.ÌýSome were quite alarming in subject matter and colour schemes, and I did find my hand straying to the red Reject paddle. I began to worry that things were beginning to blur, when a coffee break was called and I ended up chatting to fellow judge Jack Pakenham about his dancing and he told me how the arthritis in his knee is slowing him down and I discovered thatÌýJulian Friers is heading to Leeds and Reading Festival this weekend as a roadie for his son's band And So I Watch you From Afar. These are not things you get on a press release!
Once the caffeine took hold, we were off again, and as the day wore on, my confidence grew. I heard myself asking about the medium being used, I learned that when you ask what the title of the piece is, most are called "Untitled" and I also learned that there are a lot of people out there painting cows and horses.
I do believe we have chosen a great show. A few works that I would have liked to see selected didn't make it and I'm sorry about that, butÌýI've also seen a few that I would like to buy. There's a huge talent out there and you can see it on the walls of the Ulster Museum from the 21st of October.
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