Juror’s Statement

THE WILD SIDE: California Women Celebrate the Untamed, a NCWCA juried exhibition, called for art that celebrates the untamed.

The exhibition call yielded a vast array of materially and conceptually dynamic visual responses, broaching topics that hold deep relevance to the individual artists. Several thematic constellations emerged. Some works offered a glimpse of THE WILD SIDE as unrestrained gestures of pure expression, visions of nature, and the body in nature. Other works fearlessly embraced the unhinged as an aspect of THE WILD SIDE and alluded to psychological and political matters that resonate with the challenges of these unprecedented times. Artworks that centered on transformation and shamanic evocations offered compelling interpretations of the theme, as well.

Without question, the entries demonstrated high levels of skill from technical, aesthetic, and conceptual perspectives, which made it challenging to whittle the 200 submissions down to 46 accepted works. It was exciting to view the exceptional array of entries varying from traditional to experimental, technically challenging to intellectually stimulating. The number of admirable pieces that I would have liked to include was more than the space would allow. It is heartening to know that despite this time of uncertainty, vulnerability, and polarization, creative expression continues to flourish. It takes inspiration, grit, dedication, and courage to create beautiful, emotive, and sophisticated works of art. I am inspired and grateful to all the artists who responded to the call–who persevere and continue to create art.

It has been an honor and an enriching experience to serve as juror for THE WILD SIDE: California Women Celebrate the Untamed. In my role, I carefully reviewed every entry multiple times. I considered how the art responded to and aligned with the theme of THE WILD SIDE as an expression of the untamed. I observed how the material, aesthetic, and conceptual layers expressed the untamed. In subsequent viewings, I read the artist’s statement to consider intentionality in the artwork and how those layers of meaning could add nuance to notions of the untamed. While it is always more pleasurable to see art in person, I enjoyed looking closely at the submitted photographs of the art and carefully considered mark making and compositional choices. Consideration of the exhibition space was also a component. I thought about how selected works were in conversation with each other and could be installed in a manner where thematic constellations could offer a visual narrative. It was important to create an exhibition with a balance of messaging, innovation, process, presentation, media, and materials.

The pieces in THE WILD SIDE demonstrate the powerful and transformative possibilities of unbridled creative expression. In this show women are at the helm, riding the waves of uncertainty, the specter of war, social isolation, and fear of contagion. Despite a history of societal constructs and pressure to remain tame, ordered, compartmentalized, and meek, these women are unafraid, unapologetic, and unhinged. They create art in provocative ways that offer a space for public reckoning, processing, grief, and empowerment. I am deeply inspired and grateful to the artists of THE WILD SIDE for their creativity, perseverance, and commitment to the power of art.

~Cynthia Brannvall, THE WILD SIDE Juror

Cynthia Brannvall is an art historian and a multimedia artist who teaches art history as a full-time faculty member of Foothill Community College. She is a California native of African American and Swedish descent. Cynthia has undergraduate degrees in Art Practice and Art History from UC Berkeley where she was a Phi Beta Kappa and a Ronald E. McNair scholar and was awarded the Departmental Citation for her research in Art History. She has an MA in Art History from San Francisco State University with an emphasis on Modern and Contemporary art. An advocate and ally for social justice and equity, Cynthia’s artwork explores identity formation envisioned in an imagined deep time terrain of memory, reclamation, and the geographies of forced and voluntary migrations of body and spirit. Her artwork has been selected for juried group exhibitions in the San Francisco Bay Area, San Luis Obispo, Los Angeles, New Orleans, and Washington DC. Cynthia has been selected for the 2022-2023 Emerging Artists Program at the Museum of African Diaspora in San Francisco where her first solo exhibition began on March 29, 2022.