Melrose Arts Festival goes ‘professional'

The jury's in.

For the first time, the Melrose Arts Festival - held by the Melrose Arts and Cultural Association (MACA), sponsored by Comcast - used professional art jurors to decide which artists would be showcased at the third annual event taking place this weekend at Memorial Hall.

Melrose artists and MACA members Ellen Rolli and Deb Corbett said two jurors previously associated with The Copley Society of Art, the oldest non-profit art association in the United States, each received CDs containing images of all submitted artwork.

The jurors then selected the artists who will showcase their work this weekend and provided individual critiques to each artist - something that not everybody necessarily appreciated.

"There's a stage as an artist you don't really need a report card from somebody," said Corbett, who also served on the three-person festival steering committee with Tom Sutherland and Gary Borkan.

"They thought maybe they were doing the artists a favor by doing that," Rolli added. "A lot of artists appreciate and accept constructive criticism."

MACA received a significant increase in applicants this year, Corbett said.

"Unfortunately, not all the artists from Melrose were able to get in," she said. "This year the committee decided, let's just open it up, let's see who applies and let's have a real open process. The only thing we told the jurors is we'd like a balanced show. We don't want 12 photographers and the rest oil painters. I think they were conscious of that."

Rolli said the move towards professional jurors is attempt to "bring the festival up a notch" and make the event a more regional and professional event, while still showcasing Melrose's artists and Melrose as a city. Of the 41 artists showcased, just 14 are from Melrose. At last year's festival, 18 of the 38 artists were from Melrose, and in 2006, of the 36 artists 18 were Melrosians.

"Of course there are artists who have been in it every year, Melrose artists, that didn't get in because it was truly an objective jury process," she said. "It makes it a little difficult, but in the long run I think it'll make a difference and we hope people come from all over because it'll be a respected art event."

Festival's reputation grows

People "from all over" will be well represented this weekend, with artists from as far north as Newburyport and as far south as Plymouth signed on, Corbett said.

"They're going to bring in their own crowds and they're going to discover, 'Hey, Melrose is a great place - they're really into the arts, this is a really gorgeous building and there's a lot of cool things happening here,'" she said. "It's kind of general good PR for the community."

Richard Cohane, a Melrose photographer appearing in the festival for the first time, said the juried exhibition is indicative of the success and reputation of MACA, and the organization's ability to attract artists from other areas.

"The concept of a juried selection process is healthy for the city and healthy for festival," Cohane said.

Ginger Greenblatt, a Burlington oil and watercolor painter who is also appearing for the first time at the festival after attending in years past, said she did not find the jury process particularly nerve wracking, as artists get used to criticism.

"You have to be kind of tough skinned if you're an artist, and hope for the best," Greenblatt said. "I hoped to get in of course, because it looks like fun, it's well attended and I know a lot of the people."

Rolli previously tapped Charles Tersolo - an oil painter from Boston whose appearance at the festival will be his second showcase - to jury last year's event.

"But I couldn't be involved [as a showcased artist]," he said with a laugh. "They're really trying to get a statewide group of artists into the show and really make it a real event for Melrose. I think bringing me in [as a juror], too, was part of that. It was a real outside opinion. They're trying to get artists around Boston to make it a real destination event, including the artists who are from Melrose."

New: credit cards accepted for purchases