ANST - A&S judging? <kinda long>

[Keith Duke]

Greetings all,

Imagine Piotr the Happy Idiot(tm) wandering thru the hall where the A&S
competition is going on... Now we all know that he knows diddly, but more
importantly *he* knows that he knows diddly. So - he wanders around looking
at Pretty Thingys, and thinks "gee this is visually appealing, wonder how
period it is?" so he waddles over to peruse the documentation...Lo and
behold the pretty thingy is as period as can be - mostly, with minor
differences because it was made using power tools, electricity, silicone
molding compound, etc., all noted on the documentation. 

Now he thinks: 
1. It is appealing (Don't judge him too hard because he applies
*everything* he knows to appreciating what he is seeing, including a lot of
nasty extremely non-period knowledge that he can't forget)

2. It is documented, with at least some kind of believable sources. 

3. Someone made the effort to make something.

The Happy Idiot then wanders over to the next table and sees a Particularly
Ugly Thingy. But the PUT does have documentation too... so he peruses that
as well. This particular PUT is completely authentic - materials, no power
tools, using nothing but what a 10th century Norseman would have available
both in terms of materials and tools, and for what it is, it is extremely
well executed, much more so than the Pretty Thingy.

He thinks:
1. It is appealing - not because of the aesthetic beauty, but because its
so darn well done.

2. It is very very well documented, with a massive bibliography, and clear,
concise descriptions of all the steps, all the tools, all the materials.

3. The effort involved was obviously Herculean.

The Happy Idiot is relieved that he's so...idiotic and doesn't have to
judge A&S competitions, but is hardly surprised that when the winner is
announced, the plate of chocolate brownies over on the other table won....

Didn't happen in Ansteorra, and it was a while back, but it did happen...

At an Ansteorran event I did overhear one Laurel tell another one something
to the effect that even though she didn't know anything about *subject* she
was going to judge it anyway. 

If I were to enter something of my creation in an A&S competition, I would
want *real* criticism, that is - constructive commentary on how it might be
improved, from someone with some knowledge of my science/artform. I
particularly don't want someone with basicially zero knowledge of my
artform to 'judge' it, just because s/he has a Laurel in something.
Aesthetics *anyone* can (and will) judge, while details of period technical
execution, commentary on deviations from period forms/colors, and so forth
are what I would be looking for from an honest judge. Rude commentary would
hurt my feelings, constructive commentary always pushes me to do better.

Is this a demanding job? You bet. A judge who is serious and concerned with
the judging, who tries their best, and uses some grace and tact is a
treasure we should appreciate as much as we should appreciate the actual
artisans. In the end, it is terribly hard to not let the beauty or lack
thereof override all the documentation, and all the period 'stuff'... and I
can appreciate that the judges are human...and I think that the idea of
training more judges is very good.

How much weight to give aesthetics vs documentation vs periodicity (did I
make that word up?) is a seriously contested point, but in the chocolate
brownie atrocity story if I was *purchasing* something - for a gift say -
I'd have bought the Pretty Thingy, unless the person I was giving to had
some knowledge of/interest in Particularly Ugly Thingys. 

But an honest, signed "I liked it, but don't feel qualified to judge it
because..." hurts no ones feelings, makes the maker aware that it was at
least looked at, and preserves (if not increases!) the integrity of the
judging, and takes not too much time.

Just my two cents worth. 

Piotr  (Idiotic and Happy)



Keith Duke - duke at gte.net
Piotr Balomirov syn Barsukov
Barony of Northkeep, Ansteorra (in glorious, green Tulsa OK)
Northkeep Power & Light -  "Flame on, Johnny Torch"
============================================================================

To be removed from the Ansteorra mailing list, please send a message to
Majordomo at Ansteorra.ORG with the message body of "unsubscribe ansteorra".