apartment therapy changing the world, one room at a time

im so over this contest...can we move on already.

I had fun showing my stuff -- and would be glad to show more. (P(too) -- pls don't touch this line!)

I do think the "contest" aspect versus "artistic" is a no win situation -- there is no fair way to measure "better" or "winning" -- beauty is truly in the eye of the beholder. But I do hope we can continue to share our homes, art, etc. in a manner that is fun.

Let's see how we survive the 'Coolest Smallest Apt' contest next month!

It seems a lot of new people are being exposed to the site which is great, but as a result there is a slight loss of the homey feel that has existed here. I think a few bad apples spoiled some of the fun in the art contest by taking things too seriously and hijacking some of the comments. Unfortunately these are typical growing pains of internet communities. I think the subject matter of the blog lends itself to strong personal opinions. In some cases people feel they are right and others wrong when their opinion differs and this seemed to be more apparent in this contest.

I am a little scared about the smallest contest coming up because of the higher stakes. It might get a little crazy in here.

The contest was a great idea. Yeah some people did take it a little too seriously but what passion! I took pleasure in the fact that ideas and opinions seemed to be flying fast and furious. Keep it up AptTherapy!

although not everyone may agree on the outcome, i thought this contest moved better than the last one, and i enjoyed the way it went over all, with the split judging (half reader, half judges) my only suggestion might be to shorten the timespans in between voting- i think some people are feeling the contests get dragged out a little too long- otherwise, i really enjoyed seeing all the entries and kudos to all who entered!

my only suggestion for the future would be to make the guidelines really clear and to stick with them as the contest progresses. In my line of work (grantmaking) we have to be really clear about our guidelines and have to exclude those that don't fit... it can seem harsh and it can be so hard, but it's the only way to make the process fair, especially when the stakes are high.

I liked the art contest! It made me feel oddly justified in constantly buying new art when I can't afford to pay my credit card bills or car insurance. I can live on art!

I just moved into a new apartment and the contest was very inspiring. It's unfortunate that some snobs felt a need to denigrate the entries but I loved seeing all of the different styles and approaches to art and decorating. I'm really looking forward to next month's contest!

I loved seeing everyones art. In fact, it has made me a tad bit obsessed in acquiring new art. I already bought 2 prints on Ebay. Whereas, I was relatively art-less, I can't get enough...it reminded me how much I like art and how I can actually have some--that it's not all meant for a museum!

I was happy to see what kind of art people actually live with and how this contest reminded all of us that art is as accessible a commodity as our sofas and dining tables. It's easy to forget that when it seems that the only high art that gets any media attention is either overly-sensational or way out of reach price-wise.

I loved the idea of this contest, but I would like to see it amended the next time around. Perhaps being more clear about the goal for the contest might help - is about a great collection? A good piece? How a singular good piece can really transform a room?

In any case, I think everyone would be better served if the contest were judged by both experts in interior design and art consultants.

Li mentioned that she didn't enjoy the snobs that come along with discussions of art, but there is simply a different level of appreciation between people who visit galleries regulary and educate themselves in the art world making art a central part of their lives, and those who don't.

In the end, I do not think that the best art collections made it to the finals.

In case anyone is interested in some great little encaustic paintings, Amy Ruppel (from Portland) is having another on-line art sale on February 24th, 10am Pacific time. They go *really* fast, so log on early! Prices are very reasonable ($95 for small ones, $110 for slightly larger ones), and they are really lovely. Lots of little birds and owls and such, and the encaustic is really pretty. And to top it off, she is also an extremely nice person!

http://www.amyruppel.com

with this contest in particular, I would have liked the pro judges to be on the case throughout

I'd like to see a People's Choice voted on by us -- voting by the crowd is fun, draws lots of people to the site, holds interest, etc. etc.
but being an Internet Poll, the voting is highly flawed.
I think it would be interesting to see what an independent panel would have voted for, alongside whatever polling comes up with.

I love the chance to see people's real life decor and art choices, and the less creepy the contests feeeeeeel, the more interesting people will actually want to send in their stuff. A race to get the most cookies refreshed, or friends to vote turns people bitter . . .

I hope we can keep the discussion frank, negative or positive, without it being nasty.

Frank--
You are killing me. :)

I liked that the contest pushed the envelope between "Art" (uppercase A) and "art" (lowercase a).

I think we shouldn't be able to vote, individually, on the entries until all are submitted. Then I think we should be able to vote for our top three, or rank them... just a thought.

Here's a second for p(too)'s idea of doing all the voting at the end, with some kind of Top Picks system. For two contests now, I'm finding that I vote some early entries higher than I would if I saw them later, and in the middle, I may wander off and not vote at all because it's neither NEW nor urgent. If enough other people do likewise, that's hard on the middle entries.

As far as contest content, I'm in the middle of completely rearranging everything I own, so there must have been some inspirational effect.

I agree with Guido's idea, but if hers wasn't possible, I do like Patrick's idea, too.

Anonymous, one of the room contests (which had nothing to do with art) totally baffled me. Everyone was in LOVE with a room I really thought was mediocre at best. I didn't suggest that everyone else educate themselves about interior design. People's tastes are different. Your taste didn't necessarily win this time. That's the way it goes. I liked Salvador's, but it didn't get in. Just because your favorites didn't win doesn't mean that people don't go to galleries or educate themselves.

I think the nature of a blog, with entries systematically going off into an archive by date, is not the optimal format for any contest. I aree with whoever said (somewhere on this site) that there should be a regular webpage for a Contest, with the ability to vote and comment as part of it. Ther's too much going on for every page here to be a blog.

This was the first time I participated in an AT contest. The rules weren't as clear as they might have been as to the number of photos and the intent of the contest. The contest seemed to be more an interior design contest than an art contes. I was surprised that a print of "The Blue Boy" was considered art. But back in the day, posters and reprints were all that I could afford so I can certainly agree that there's definitely a place for them when one is evaluating the livability and design of an someone's home, but I don't think that makes it as art. Of course, if you own the original...
In all the AT contests, I have become invested in other entries to the point of feeling bad if they don't make it. I'll go and sit down now.

Apartment Therapy is my favorite website, because it taps into my core nesting instict. The art contest was an extension of that domestic improvement kick. It was inspiring to me, and I actual bought my first piece of art from Anti-Girl because of the contest. I hangs prominently in my bedroom (57" center Maxwell) and makes my place feel like home.

I hope that people see the content and the contests as a source of new ideas and encouragement to love and improve your home as I do.

I didn't pay as much attention to this contest as I did to the last one, but I did make a point of voting for finalists. Not all of the things I saw and liked made it even that far.

I agree with the various things that a lot of the regulars here have said: wende, p2, guido, etc. The voting system is still kind of weird: I totally agree that no voting at all until all the entries are in would be helpful. It's difficult to say what you like best until you've actually seen everything.

Overall, I preferred this to the Fall Colors contest: both the general theme of the contest, and the way it worked out. I agree that more can always be done to clarify criteria. (I suspect that the reason that people don't get thrown out a la grantwriting and so on is that Maxwell is too *nice*.)

I was surprised with my own reaction to something... one of the finalists, I didn't like the art, and I didn't like some of the furnishings shown in one of the pics (I'm being deliberately vague, yo). But the overall impression made by the other pic is the one I'll remember about this contest, even though I didn't like the art it depicted. It worked.

I still think there should be an "I need help" contest, one where people present pictures of their sad, sad rooms and explain what they'd like to do and why and try to justify why the prize should be awarded to them. It seems like all the contests so far on AT just reward people who don't necessarily need the reward, at least not in the form that it exists. If I won "smallest coolest apartment", I can't imagine wanting to buy more stuff for it: many of the awards in these contests seem to have the design of immediately changing the winning entry! But there's always something you can't see in the pics, right?

Ooh, good point, Miranda, on the danger of falling into a "I love you, now change" mentality. Lots of other great ideas in this thread, like the suggestion to save all voting until the end and house contests on a separate static page.
I don't envy Maxwell having to figure out how to run these contests. Nice prizes generate excitement and traffic, but people can get a little tense. Internet polls are always flawed, but wholly juried contests are elitist in a way that I think is counter to the diy spirit of the site. Guidelines clarify, but can also stifle. Yikes, everything gets complicated....

I agree with Fiona.

This is essentially a site for people who are adorning their living spaces, not an art criticism blog, so I do think a lot of us look at the submitted pictures and think "how does this art work?" versus "what is the quality of this art".

Something we've seen before - like a print used in a quirky way - can be interesting and creative, sometimes more so than someone spending quite a bit on something original or being blessed to have friends who are artists.

Art is supposed to inspire emotions though, so I'm not surprised that it did. I enjoyed viewing all of the submissions, winning or not.

When you have a contest which involves art, you have to expect that people who know about art will have issues with it. Obviously everything is art. That's a given. But what distinguishes a good collection of art or a great piece from interior design are a whole host of additional factors.

If you want to have people look at a picture of a room with stuff on the walls and decide which is the most interesting or pretty "look" for the room, that's one thing. However, "come up and look at my art" or whatever it was called, implied that the art or the art collection itself mattered.

I certainly am not demanding that everyone rush educate themselves about art. However I'm not sure that people who know nothing about the art world are best suited to judge art collections.

And Fiona, frankly, when discussing what art to put on the walls or what to collect, any good interior designer worth her/his salt would refer their client to a consultant if they were not educated in the art world.

I agree with guido that there should be two ways of judging. A free for all amongst the readers, and a panel of experts that decides.

I'd kind of like it if there were sort of an outline, sort of "things to come" thing... where, let's say, that we KNOW that March will be "Smallest, Coolest", May will be "Kitchens", July will be "Bathrooms", September will be "Fall Colors", November will be something else, etc.

I really would probably have skipped the Colors contest and waited for this one, had I known back then that this was in the offing. Several people seemed to think mine would have been more appropriate for such a thing than where it was.

RE: methods of voting -- IF the same basic format were to remain in place, there should be some way to make it where after the first round of voting "for the various ways one could feel about one particular entry" that only the RESULTS of that part appear in the part, but not the voting thing of that first part. Because it's VERY confusing. If people come to the site and mean to vote among the entries, but are led to that first part, they think that they've voted, and they really haven't.

Dear Anonymous ~

Experts, schmexperts. Puh-leez. That's why I hate to read the descriptions at museums! The analyses of those so-called experts take the enjoyment out of looking at art. Why do you educated types think your opinions matter more than mine or anyone else's?

When MGR announced the Contest he said: "Do you have nice artwork in your apartment? Does it make your walls just POP with pleasure? Do you have a great resource or artist you'd like to share? We'd like to see your art and hear your secrets...

...This is a great opportunity to not only show off your apartment, but also to give props to the artists ..."

We don't need some self-proclaimed "expert" to tell us what is art, what makes our walls look nice, or what we should like. Picking a favorite was only a diversion. The contest was just meant to be INSPIRING and FUN!!!!!

In getting back to the original question, I also like Curtis' suggestion about keeping to a theme each month and having a little more notice. By the way, last year Smallest Coolest was in April.

"Li mentioned that she didn't enjoy the snobs that come along with discussions of art, but there is simply a different level of appreciation between people who visit galleries regulary and educate themselves in the art world making art a central part of their lives, and those who don't."

As a former Christie's employee, I stand by what I said.

"save all voting until the end and house contests on a separate static page"

ITA. This would also make it easier for people to take a second look at entries they really enjoyed.

While I take the tiniest bit of issue with Anonymous' tone (and think it, in itself, helps to support the art-snob stereotype) I do agree that for these contests it would be fun to have guest specialists weighing in, if for no other reason than to add an alternative viewpoint and a specific frame of reference.

Hell, even America's Top Model subscribes to the guest-panelist formula.. so it MUST be a good idea! ;)

But Anon: "any good interior designer worth her/his salt would refer their client to a consultant if they were not educated in the art world."...

Hmmm. Assuming the interior designer's budget was adequate (or they felt it was), and they didn't mind sharing their budget/commission, and the homeowners made art a priority, yes, you are probably right.

But, um, I would expect a designer to be able to at least point a homeowner toward a favorite galelry or artist.

Yes, the gallery world is specialized, and education gets you *somewhere* within it, but there do indeed exist highly skilled visual people who do not live solely within the white-painted walls and highly insulated "gallery world" and can create a world-class collection, or just a bunch of stuff that looks fantastic together.

I'm sorry, but you don't need a PhD to pick a painting.

And conversely, even the most trained, experienced gallery person can have a *completely* different aesthetic than a homeowner, skilled or not.

It's ART. It's not SCIENCE.

But I do agree with Anon in the respect that some of the "serious" collections (meaning, in this case, and with a grain of salt for what the distinction implies, "art purchased in galleries") did not make the final top slots. But I'm not entirely sure that was the stage that was set by the contest itself.

And as heated as the discussion got regarding "Is a DIY bunny homage art?", the same rule did not seem to apply to "Is scavenged/found art 'Art'?"

I DO think there were several strong examples (imho) where art changed or really electrified the interior... that's what I was hoping to see even more of.

re: "but there is simply a different level of appreciation between people who visit galleries regulary and educate themselves in the art world making art a central part of their lives, and those who don't."

Perhaps. But the key word is "appreciation", which implies only an enhancement of one's *personal* experience and perhaps deepens one's understanding of a piece's meaning. It doesn't really make anything less subjective, or one piece (or opinion) more "right" than any other, be it from heathen or sophisticate, does it? It also may not make me *like* a piece any more than I already did...

Regardless, I prefer to spend my art money with the skilled few who are neither patronizing nor judgmental about art (or the people who buy it), from their lofty, educated vantage points.

Um, be it art gallery or auction house, the people who work there, to paraphrase Pasty Stone, are "salespeople", no?

Not to wake sleeping dogs, but does anyone else notice similarities between "anonymous" and Brooke, of the infamous P(too) and Brooke argument? Hmmm...
Aquarabbit, I LOVE those Amy Ruppel paintings! I am so on that sale.

I kind of take exception to Diane's comments about art displayed in institutions, honestly. It can be really easy to pass over a piece until you understand what the artist's intentions were and why whoever is displaying it thinks it's important. (example: anything by Duchamp.)

You don't have to agree with what's said, vis a vis the importance, but it IS better for a piece to have some context than not. It's not just about the pretty pretty colors - unless the artist really just wanted it to be about the pretty pretty colors. And some "self-proclaimed 'experts'" have a lot of art education under their belt: that is to say, they studied the artists and they know what they're talking about. (Less of an issue when the art concerned is recent, or mostly decorative in intent, or etc. And as applied to this contest I would assume that ALL the art was decorative in intent, and not take criticism past "I like it" or "I don't.")

I don't think there is a right to tell you what to like, but there is a right to say, "Goya painted this piece in response to the Napoleonic invasion of Spain, where many people died." (for example.) After that, whether you appreciate the piece in any way or not - aesthetically, conceptually, whatever - is up to you. Just don't pooh-pooh all attempts to let people know about this stuff entirely... if you don't like info in museums and galleries, don't read it.

OTOH, I also totally agree with p2's recent long post, a few up. Your own aesthetic is important when it comes to what you choose for your own place, and doesn't have anything to do with the artist's intent. (Unless you find out that some abstract you like is the artist's representation of the time they dismembered a puppy, in which case that might really spoil the piece for you.)

eh, pffft!