Thread: Australian Woodturning Exhibition June 2015

Hi,
I always thought all those conditions were so that the judges could not identify the entrant. But I have always thought that if a judge has been at it long enough he could pick a lot of the entrants by their style.
Regards

Originally Posted by Mobyturns

Just be aware that there have been rule changes - "Must not have been previously displayed in any exhibition, nor been the subject of any articlein any published media, be it electronic or printed;"

OK, so if I get my inspiration from a printed article, or youtube video and make an identical piece, would my piece be banned? Technically my piece has been the subject of an article.......

Originally Posted by A Duke

Hi,
I always thought all those conditions were so that the judges could not identify the entrant. But I have always thought that if a judge has been at it long enough he could pick a lot of the entrants by their style.
Regards

If an item is for sale the organizers encourage the entrant to sign the piece "Entrants are encouraged to sign their work marked for sale, this and any other identifying marks will be covered during the judging process."

The Australian wood turning scene is pretty small. Judges would be familiar with an entrants style in Open and most probably in Intermediate as well particularly if both the entrant and judge are fairly active online.

So if I made 2 turnings the same and put one in a local show and put the second one in the exhibition would it be disqualified? Because with some of my spindle turning if I one and like it I'll usually turn 2 or 3 the same.

This is where I get a chuckle from the new rules that have been brought in without a lot of thought on the repercusions.

The published media used to be magazines and newspapers, now you have the internet which is more wide spread and affects more people.

Some people are trying to disect the rules to suit themselves like making 3 peices the same and saying the one entered is not the one for sale. How do the committee police this and how does the person prove that it is not the one for sale elsewhere.

As indicated most judges do know the work of the intermediate and open entrants, not all but most as they see the work in the different medias and most of the work is similar year to year with only subtle changes

1 indication of this was Ken Wraights cinderallas carraige and then his emperors carraige or some of Brendan Stemps offset boxes, known by everyone but still different

It is now up to all members of the committee to do due diligance and get on top of all the peices and ask every entrant if they are brand new peices and never seen by anyone else anywhere, otherwise they will be open to inuendo and preferential treatment to some.

As far as I am aware, and I stand corrected, if my belief is incorrect, years ago the rules stated or inferred that the exhibition piece must have been turned within the last 12 months. This was / would be very hard to enforce.
Subsequent discussions with both prior entrants, sponsors and judges, then resulted in the judging rule being modified, to exclude items from judging, that had previously been either displayed in prior exhibitions, or been the subject of any published articles. This was intended to ensure that all judging continue to be 'blind' and without prejudice or favouritism. I am saying "continue", as I do not believe or assert that anything of the kind has occurred in the past, nor that it is likely to occur in the future.
This rule change does not exclude items from being displayed or sold at the exhibition, it is only intended to preclude these items from judging.
The committee and judges will accept at face value, the entrants assertion, that the pieces entered meet the judging criteria. However if the piece is positively identified either by the committee or any of the judges as breaching the judging rules, then this piece will be excluded from the judging process. I would expect that if this was to occur, a call would be made to the entrant, seeking clarification. This however would have to be made on the day of judging (Wednesday prior to the exhibition), and if the entrant was not contactable, the piece would be excluded.
Frequent discussions and debate occurs regarding the entry and judging rules, and without preempting anything, I believe that further modification and clarification will continue to happen in the future.

One of the possibly changes to the rules for 2016, 'could' be something along the lines, that items previously having won 'places' (first, second or third) may be the only ones excluded from judging, but as Jim rightly points out, it will be very difficult to police, especially as some turners produce similar styled pieces, and often more than just one of a kind.

Soren this still does not get over the issue of the published media which the internet is now part of.You have forums like this , face book, twitter, instagram.All are classed as printed or published media so anything that is produced in the last 12 months and put up on these media have to be eliminated, but how do you police this.As a previous Judge on 2 occasions I was not asked for any opinion on these new rules. must have missed that call.

Originally Posted by Soren

One of the possibly changes to the rules for 2016, 'could' be something along the lines, that items previously having won 'places' (first, second or third) may be the only ones excluded from judging, but as Jim rightly points out, it will be very difficult to police, especially as some turners produce similar styled pieces, and often more than just one of a kind.

Thank you for the response. I'm not sure it clears up all of our concerns. Many of the presented scenarios I had considered but I must admit I had never considered that a turner would deliberately enter an ineligible piece purely for the selling exposure or the intention to sell multiple copies of a piece. Learn something new every day about human endeavor.

I've only entered AWTEX since 2009. I believe the rule was "exhibits that have not been entered in a previous Australian Woodturning Exhibition" up to 2014, which in 2015 has been changed to "Must not have been previously displayed in any exhibition, nor been the subject of any article in any published media, be it electronic or printed; additionally:" As I mentioned earlier some of my pieces in 2012 & 2013 would now be ineligible under this rule as they were used as props for my UK Woodturning magazine articles. If the "item must have been turned in the past 12 months" rule still applied may also rule out many of my pieces. I often turn part of a laminated blank and the balance may sit for well over a year or more. Two potential entries I have just turned came from blanks constructed over two years ago but turned recently.

In any case my motive has been to to seek clarification and to support AWTEX as I did not seriously intend to enter this year until a conversation at Turnfest. As my pieces are not sufficiently different from items posted online and I have no intention of selling them, I think I will avoid any controversy by not entering this year.

Until Soren's reply I had not noticed the addition of the "Judging" check box on the 2015 entry form.

I was intending to enter the competition this year but alas I don't have anything that has not been seen before. No matter next year I will have some pieces.

I hope to see heaps of photos from the competition as I find this always inspiring.

Originally Posted by Mobyturns

Until Soren's reply I had not noticed the addition of the "Judging" check box on the 2015 entry form.

I missed that as well..

Jim

Originally Posted by powderpost

I missed that as well..

Jim

I found and it struck me as alittle odd. I thought 'why would I send it, if I didnt want to enter the competition'

Originally Posted by hughie

I found and it struck me as alittle odd. I thought 'why would I send it, if I didnt want to enter the competition'

Because it's primarily a woodturning EXHIBITION. I would think that it's primary purpose is the promoting of the art of woodturning and in that respect, given the numbers that pass through, I would think it was doing a great job. An opportunity for us to display our skills and, if we're lucky, sell a few pieces.

Or am I being naive?