There were more than 800 works of art entered into this year’s competition for a place in the International Juried Exhibition at the Center for Contemporary Art. I selected 57 works of art. My decisions were based upon four important and necessary characteristics: visual interest; imagination/vision; seriousness of purpose; and technical prowess.

While the decisions made were specific to each work, there are themes that run through the exhibition. These include images of the natural world, crowds, portraits, imaginary and real journeys, calls to justice, and abstraction compositions that range from expressionist to geometric. The wide range of interests and imagination make this show both unpredictable and remarkably full-bodied.

Jurying an exhibition from slides is always a daunting task. My laptop’s screen smooths out and equalizes video, painting, sculpture, textiles, drawings, photographs, prints, and mixed media—the result is a mediated view of individually crafted textures and human touch. Looking at my screen, I reimagine these images as actual objects of varying sizes and dimensions and hope that the color I see is an accurate capture of the original. The process is one of reclamation and reimagining. Having confessed my discomfort with the process, I nonetheless stand by my choices for inclusion in The Center for Contemporary Art’s International Juried Exhibition.

Congratulations to all the artists whose work is on view in this year’s show—and congratulations to the artists who won first, second and third place awards.