ANNUAL MEMBERS’ SHOW

Juror: Aline Smithson, Founder & Editor-in-Chief of LENSCRATCH

JULY 2 – AUGUST 7, 2021

Opening Reception and Award Ceremony with Juror at Colorado Photographic Arts Center

1070 Bannock St, Denver, CO 80204

Saturday, July 17, 2021

5 – 8 pm

All events are free and open to the public

The Colorado Photographic Arts Center presents its 58th Annual Juried Members’ Show, a tradition that showcases the talents of CPAC’s core community and provides artists, both locally and across the country, with an important exhibition opportunity.

Juror Aline Smithson, Founder & Editor-in-Chief of LENSCRATCH, selected photographs by 32 CPAC members to exhibit. She also selected 21 additional works for inclusion in the exhibition catalog as a Special Mention subset. All together, the show highlights works by 53 CPAC members selected from a pool of 146 photographers who submitted more than 730 images.

At the Award Ceremony on July 17, Smithson presented her selections for Best in Show and two Honorable Mention awards. The Best in Show winner received $300 and the image was added to our Permanent Collection. The Director’s Choice winner received a $100 award, presented by CPAC Executive Director & Curator Samantha Johnston. All award winners also received a catalog.

Congratulations to the 2021 Annual Members’ Show Award Winners: 

Best in Show – Patricia Howard

Director’s Choice – Annette LeMay Burke

Honorable Mentions – Kent Gunnufson and Kevin Hoth

Copies of the exhibition catalog are available for $17 on Blurb.com. Purchase here.

(Pictured Above: Sunflowers and Light, detail, by Kent Gunnufson)

EXHIBITING ARTISTS

Russell Banks, Sheri Lynn Behr, Brenda Biondo, Emily Buckley, Annette LeMay Burke, Jesse Ryan Crosby, Glenn Cuerden, Norm Diamond, Lisa Donneson, Kellye Eisworth, Christopher Frost, Katie Golobic, Shadows Gather, Kent Gunnufson, Kevin Hoth, Patricia Howard, Sandra Klein, Melissa Lynn, Kat Moser, Kris Nagy, Inga Pae, Stephen Podrasky, Lynda SmithSchick, Paul Stein, JP Terlizzi, Jeff Tidwell, Mark Upshaw, Melanie Walker, Suzanne Theodora White, Suzanne Williamson, Scott Wilson, Molly Wood

SPECIAL MENTIONS

Dan Baumbach, Gary Beeber, Florence Blackwell, Derrick Burbul, Marie Bush, Mark Coggins, Lisa Downs, Carol Eisenberg, Michael Gray, Alison Lake, J. K. Lavin, Teresa Lewis, Lisa McCord, Kurt Monigle, Linda Morrow, Bill Orisich, Neal Pierman, Dale Ralph, Maureen Ruddy Burkhart, Rebecca Stumpf, Shana Cruz-Thompson

Juror’s Statement

Thank you so much to Samantha Johnston and the Colorado Photographic Arts Center for the opportunity to juror the 2021 Members Exhibition. I am honored to help celebrate this wonderful organization and community that I admire and believe in.

The privilege of looking at lots and lots of well-crafted photographs is not an insignificant one. Each image reflects a photographer’s unique point of view—some using photography as a tool for storytelling, some as an art form, some as a way to shine a light on sorrow and tragedy, and some simply use the photographic process to break new artistic ground. In jurying, all of these approaches are co-mingled and stand beside each other, and the process of selecting work from this diverse collection is not an easy one. I have been humbled and inspired by the experience and I can confidently state that today, photography is more exciting and varied than at any other time in history.

Photography is so much more than taking a beautiful photograph – it has become a universal language all its own, with incredible power to connect us in a profound way. Photography gives us a vehicle for telling personal stories, it becomes a diary as we travel the world, it provides us a platform to weep over injustice, to laugh at absurdities, and to look at ourselves with wonder, without ever saying anything out loud. The images we create are our visual histories to carry into the future to let our grandchildren know what our world was like in 2021.

It is important to remember that there are qualities that are universal to creating a compelling photograph. The work has to have an intangible resonance and a sensitivity that links together images and ideas. The photographs have to be well crafted and have power, sometimes in their simplicity and sometimes in their complexity. I consider if the work challenges, transports, elevates, and/or delights. Most importantly, the work has to have authenticity—it has to convince the viewer that it has come from a genuine place and it needs to persuade us that there is meaning and purpose behind the effort. It is crucial to be unique, to be relevant, to be exacting, and to be professional.

And just as human beings are all unique with a diverse set of ways of considering the world, so is the subjective nature of jurying someone else’s work. Whenever I juror an exhibition, I find 2 or 3 times the amount of work that is required, all excellent in their own way, and it’s the letting go of work that I admire and am drawn to that is the hardest part. In the case of this exhibition, there were many, many works I wish I could have included. I’d like to extend congratulations to all the artists in the 2021 Members Show, and say a big thank you to everyone for sharing your work and allowing me time with it.

— Aline Smithson

EXHIBITION PREVIEW

SPECIAL MENTIONS  

About Aline Smithson

Aline Smithson is a visual artist, educator, and Founder and Editor-in-Chief of LENSCRATCH, a daily journal on photography that has given exposure and opportunities to thousands of photographers. She curates and jurors exhibitions for a number of galleries, organizations, and magazines. In addition, she is a reviewer and workshop instructor at many photo festivals across the United States. In 2014, Aline received the Excellence in Teaching Award by CENTER and her work has been selected for the Critical Mass Top 50 Portfolios twice. In 2012, Aline was recognized with the Rising Star Award through the Griffin Museum of Photography for her contributions to the photographic community.

Aline is interested in meeting photographers both emerging and established, and is open to all genres of photography. She hopes to see work that is cohesive, created with intention, and deeply considered. She can offer critical feedback on projects in progress and completed series, also offering suggestions on the articulation of the work. She is looking for series to feature on LENSCRATCH and to feature in future curatorial projects.