A&S competitions

[jsrechts@imap.unc.edu]

Poster: jsrechts@imap.unc.edu

I posted a long rant on this a few months ago.  That post was more
eloquent than this will be because I'm exhausted but not too tired to
write!  That said, my views are below.

I believe A&S competitions are a waste of time for a number of reasons.
First off, usually the judging is inadequete.  In my experience, I've
encountered judges who are unfamiliar with the craft they are judging
and even worse off, those who are in the field and who are still
clueless.  Last year, I entered a pigface bascinet in the Known World
Competition at
Pennsic.  It was judged by other armorers, mostly those who made mail.
The comments ranged from "nice polish job" to "Is this a jousting
helmet" and then three or four more criticisms stating, "This helmet is
not good for SCA combat due to the visor".  Not one judge pointed out
the technical flaws - go figure.
Secondly, the feedback tends to be minimal, usually in the form of
trinkets.  Again, I'll go by experience - I entered a pair of finger
gauntlets in a competition at Gulf Wars.  I got two beans and a piece of
chocolate and no written commments.  That doesn't tell me much about
what people thought of my work.  Competitions can also be a bit of a
popularity contest.  A fancy scroll that says "Hail Atlantia" or the
like will probably receive more
acclaim than a bit of hand spun fabric or the like.  Third, the prizes
for these competitions tend to be fairly lame.  I think people would
take the competition process, entering a piece, judging etc, if the
prize was comparable to something for the winner of a tourney.

The common response to the paragraph above is, "People need to show off
their work and get good feedback and encouragement."  I find one can get
better criticism and pointers by going to an expert in the field.  SCA
events themselves are venues for showing off one's work.  If one does
furniture, he/she just has to bring it to the event to get feedback,
same with costume, same with armor or whatever.  Additionally, using the
nifty items one makes rather than having them sit in the corner on a
table adds more to the event in general.

So, I say to the artisans - create and seek out constructive criticism
to improve one's work.  Competitions don't fill this need.

Well, that's my two cents.

Lyanna

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