uncle mike pierce
Active member
I liked the dialogue Pat started with his questions and challenge regarding contemporary carvers and collectors. A lot of the response was similar to what would have been heard in the 1970's, 1980's and 1990's.
Carvers and collectors have grown tremendously since I started carving in 1974. Yet in some respects little has changed. Contests are still around, rules are written and amended to produce a particular result or limitation, and carvers still push the rules and disregard the limits in hopes of getting an edge. Collectors still, somewhat, judge carvers by how they place at competitions, and that can, somewhat, force carvers to contests as a way of competing in the marketplace. I believe that "grab at the gold ring" prompts a lot of the acrimony of years past regarding contest results and places.....when a judge's judgment of your decoy can hurt or help you sell that decoy and market yourself, a lot is riding on the difference between first and third place.
If we want to (as an independent group of decoy carvers) promote decoy carving as a diverse art form, decoy carving participation by everyone from professional artists to neophytes, and still judge/jury the art produced, we need to consider a baseline change to decoy contest formats. We need to add in an element of comparing each decoy to a standard of excellence and workmanship, not just comparing it to the other decoys that showed up to the contest.
Ballroom dance instructors and dance studios long ago resolved this problem of how to contest/judge competitors without discouraging those who did not "win". Their answer was not "everyone is a winner", but in some respects it was. Ballroom dancers are judged based on comparing their performance to a standard, not against the other dancers in their group. Dancers can be awarded anything from honorable mention to first place based on how they performed against the standard for the dance and their skill level. Five dancers in the same group can all get first place, or they could all get honorable mentions, based on the skills they displayed when judged against the standard. Additionally, each competitor gets to see the judges' scoring to find out why they got a 2nd place, and what the judges valued in their performance. Ballroom instructors and studios learned long ago that this style of judging and competition increased the number of competitors and the number of dance students, while still holding students to a standard and giving them pride in attaining a first place. Yes at each competition there are still head to head matchups for "best of show", but at the basic level, every dancer is judged against a standard.
Why can't at least some decoy competitions be set up this way? Why can't we judge decoys (for those who want to be judged) against a standard, awarding points for confirmation, attitude, accuracy of proportion and paint, and artistic merit, and deducting points for glaring errors in the same categories. In gunning competitions we can add in durability, and simplicity yet effectiveness of the paint scheme. Total the points awarded and each decoy will fall into a category based on points (1st, 2nd, 3rd, HM, or no award). The first place ribbon awarded your decoy is based on merit compared to a standard of excellence, not if it was the best decoy out of 15 pintails, or the best decoy out of 3 gadwalls, or the best goose (and only goose) in the category. In this system five mallards could all be awarded a first place ribbon, or all five could only get an HM, but the carver would understand why he or she was awarded the finish they got.
We can still put all the 1st place decoys in the tank for best of group (judged subjectively instead of on points from baseline judging), and the best of group can go for best of show (again, based on a subjective second judging, not on point totals from baseline group judging). Why throw out the points in the finals? To avoid the judges trying to pick the Best of show at the same time they are judging the groups. Let the judges compare the decoys to the standard for the group ribbons, then let them start over when picking best of division and best of show. When you get to that rarified level, there has to be a lot of subjectivity to the judging, as few of the decoys in the tank at that point should have basic anatomical or paint errors.........
But hey, I may be crazy wrong on this suggestion........just thoughts on a cold, northwoods morning from an old decoy carver who is ready for spring....................
Carvers and collectors have grown tremendously since I started carving in 1974. Yet in some respects little has changed. Contests are still around, rules are written and amended to produce a particular result or limitation, and carvers still push the rules and disregard the limits in hopes of getting an edge. Collectors still, somewhat, judge carvers by how they place at competitions, and that can, somewhat, force carvers to contests as a way of competing in the marketplace. I believe that "grab at the gold ring" prompts a lot of the acrimony of years past regarding contest results and places.....when a judge's judgment of your decoy can hurt or help you sell that decoy and market yourself, a lot is riding on the difference between first and third place.
If we want to (as an independent group of decoy carvers) promote decoy carving as a diverse art form, decoy carving participation by everyone from professional artists to neophytes, and still judge/jury the art produced, we need to consider a baseline change to decoy contest formats. We need to add in an element of comparing each decoy to a standard of excellence and workmanship, not just comparing it to the other decoys that showed up to the contest.
Ballroom dance instructors and dance studios long ago resolved this problem of how to contest/judge competitors without discouraging those who did not "win". Their answer was not "everyone is a winner", but in some respects it was. Ballroom dancers are judged based on comparing their performance to a standard, not against the other dancers in their group. Dancers can be awarded anything from honorable mention to first place based on how they performed against the standard for the dance and their skill level. Five dancers in the same group can all get first place, or they could all get honorable mentions, based on the skills they displayed when judged against the standard. Additionally, each competitor gets to see the judges' scoring to find out why they got a 2nd place, and what the judges valued in their performance. Ballroom instructors and studios learned long ago that this style of judging and competition increased the number of competitors and the number of dance students, while still holding students to a standard and giving them pride in attaining a first place. Yes at each competition there are still head to head matchups for "best of show", but at the basic level, every dancer is judged against a standard.
Why can't at least some decoy competitions be set up this way? Why can't we judge decoys (for those who want to be judged) against a standard, awarding points for confirmation, attitude, accuracy of proportion and paint, and artistic merit, and deducting points for glaring errors in the same categories. In gunning competitions we can add in durability, and simplicity yet effectiveness of the paint scheme. Total the points awarded and each decoy will fall into a category based on points (1st, 2nd, 3rd, HM, or no award). The first place ribbon awarded your decoy is based on merit compared to a standard of excellence, not if it was the best decoy out of 15 pintails, or the best decoy out of 3 gadwalls, or the best goose (and only goose) in the category. In this system five mallards could all be awarded a first place ribbon, or all five could only get an HM, but the carver would understand why he or she was awarded the finish they got.
We can still put all the 1st place decoys in the tank for best of group (judged subjectively instead of on points from baseline judging), and the best of group can go for best of show (again, based on a subjective second judging, not on point totals from baseline group judging). Why throw out the points in the finals? To avoid the judges trying to pick the Best of show at the same time they are judging the groups. Let the judges compare the decoys to the standard for the group ribbons, then let them start over when picking best of division and best of show. When you get to that rarified level, there has to be a lot of subjectivity to the judging, as few of the decoys in the tank at that point should have basic anatomical or paint errors.........
But hey, I may be crazy wrong on this suggestion........just thoughts on a cold, northwoods morning from an old decoy carver who is ready for spring....................
