Landscape painter Dennis Babbitt captured first prize at last year’s Members’ Showcase. The award comes with responsibility. He was tasked with judging this year’s 75-piece show, where he awarded eight works. Artist Jennie Quick went behind the scenes to find out how Babbitt evaluated the show.
Dennis Babbitt, who judged the Members’ Showcase, describes the qualities of Michael Halbert’s first-place artwork, “Giant Farmer in His Field.”
By Jennie Quick
Composition, value structure, and ability to grasp the medium. These criteria are what Dennis Babbitt looks for in an artwork when he is judging a show. Babbitt, who judged the 2024 Heartland Members’ Showcase, is primarily a landscape painter working in acrylic, gouache, and watercolor. He has a BFA in printmaking from Southwest Missouri State and was the winner of the 2023 Members’ Showcase. He was a printmaker for many years and has judged several local art shows, including the 2023 Gateway Pastel Artists’ Show.
I spoke with Babbitt recently to learn how he went about judging a multimedia show like the Members’ Showcase. He was happy to share his approach. His first step is to look around at all the entries without doing anything. Next, he will go back to each piece with a pencil and pad. He scores each artwork on each of his three criteria on a scale of 1-10 before adding up the individual scores. Discussing the work that won the Showcases’ top prize – Michael Halbert’s “Giant Farmer in His Field,” on scratchboard with screen print and acrylic – Babbitt noted the storytelling element in the composition and the use of cross hatching with a staccato effect in the lines to create value.
When he goes back to a piece that initially caught his eye, he will look particularly for the artist’s command of the medium. Babbitt says that it is obvious to him when an artist does not have a firm grasp of the medium or has not worked in it for a long time. By “grasp of the medium,” Dennis means the ability of the artist to bring out the special qualities of the particular medium. He gave the example of Keith Baizer’s prize-winning ash bowl from turned wood. While a three-dimensional artwork like the bowl does not have a value structure, the artist’s use of the grain in the structure of the piece demonstrates his mastery of the woodworking technique. In the example of a watercolor painting, Babbitt would look for the artist’s ability to convey the luminous glow characteristic of the watercolor medium. In the winning scratchboard piece, Babbitt explained that the artist’s masterful use of line demonstrated a sure grasp of technique.
I asked Babbitt how he chooses between two works with the same high score. At that point, he says that it becomes subjective. “Judging is human,” he said. “No matter how you try to hide your subjective feeling, what you like and don’t like will tip the balance.”
Babbitt has good advice for artists hoping to get their work into juried shows. “Enter as many as you can,” he said. “At first, expect a nine out of ten-rejection rate. That is part of your growth as an artist. The next year it might be eight out of ten. The odds improve as you improve!” He advises artists not to work to impress a judge: “Draw how you draw; paint how you paint. Do your own work to keep improving your own work.”