Juror’s Statement & Biography

Juror’s Statement

Juror’s thoughts on judging PSA 97th Annual Juried Exhibition. First, I consider this a real honor, being asked to judge an exhibit of established high caliber artists. But, on the opposite side of the coin, it became a real challenge eliminating half of the entries to bring the count down to what could fit into the Betsy Leuke Gallery. To judge and compare entries over a wide spectrum of media was very interesting. I looked at each piece in depth to observe design elements, techniques, workmanship, originality, and overall artistic expression. I soon realized that I enjoyed really dwelling on each piece, more so than I typically did at an exhibit. The first round of elimination only reduced the number of accepted pieces by 25%. Only half way there. All of the remaining works were clearly exhibit quality and I had to select what I felt were the best of the best. At this point, I was really becoming familiar with all the pieces. Selecting those to be in the show came down to observing fine details and variety. My own group, the California Art League, had an exhibit at the Betsy Leuke Gallery just a few months ago, giving me a clear mental image of the gallery and I could envision how each piece would look hanging or standing in the gallery. As I continued reviewing the pieces, I started to strongly want to see each of them in person and meet the artists and discuss their work. That ended up being the final selection criteria and I really look forward to seeing those works and talking to their creators. Ken Ronney Juror

Juror Biography

Kenneth Ronney Sculptor and art group administrator Ken took up sculpting after taking an early retirement from his engineering career. Prior to retirement, he had spent over twenty-five years pursuing hobbies of rock hounding, lapidary, and silversmithing, and always enjoyed working in stone and metal. Starting a new phase in his life, he took a hands-on sculpture class where he was formally introduced to working on moderately large pieces of stone. It was magic. After completing several static free-form stone sculptures, he decided to experiment combining mechanical engineering and design skills with stone, metal, plastic and wood to create unique moving stone sculptures. He took off in this direction in 2009 with a complex multi-piece, motorized stone and metal kinetic work. This style has become his passion. His works have won multiple prizes in local club and gallery exhibits including the annual California Sculptors Exhibit. Ken is also past president and exhibit chair of the California Art League, and Vice-President and exhibit chair of the San Fernando Valley Arts and Cultural Center. In these organizations and positions, he has participated in entering, administrating, curating, and/or judging over 60 competitive art exhibits.