Jury Duty

Yesterday I had the honor and pleasure to jury The Friends of The Yellow Barn Studio and Gallery's 18th Annual High School Student Art Exhibition. This art competition is an annual event for all high school sophomores, juniors and seniors from Montgomery County, Maryland, Northern Virginia, and Washington DC.

To say that I was astounded by the quality of this show would be a gigantic understatement!

Let me tell you, after several decades of jurying, curating, reviewing, and looking at hundreds of art competitions, exhibitions, and fairs, it is rare for me to walk into a room full of art awaiting to be juried, and still be completely (and pleasantly) surprised by the extraordinary amount of talent, creativity and skill present in that room! 

And yet this was exactly the case with this competition: It must be clear to the most casual observer, that once you view the works that I selected for this show, that there’s an extraordinary abundance of artistic capital in these young minds.

The award winners and selected artists must be congratulated for this achievement. The level of this competition was very high and it was an exceedingly difficult process to jury.  Additionally, there were several outstanding works of art that could easily have been included for awards.

To the selected artists: I encourage each one of you to continue to press on with your artistic gifts – you are at the beginning of a lifetime of creation and I charge each and every one of you to continue to leave an artistic footprint as you mature in life.

Below are some examples of the work... prepare to be astounded! Award ceremony and judge’s comments take place Sunday, March 19th from 4:00 – 5:00pm. Exhibition is open Saturday, 12 to 5PM and Sunday, 12 to 5PM.

Angelique Nagovskaya - “Tension”

Julia Chien – “The Call”

Kern Lee - "Deep Market”

Kristina Waymore – “The Bucket and The Basement"

Rayne Layton - "Art is NOT a Crime”

Sophie Nguyen - ”Renaissance”