Sculpture NOW 2020 presented by Washington Sculptors Group & McLean Project for the Arts (Sep 17-Nov 14, 2020)

What a wonderful collection of strong, inventive and well- crafted work. The submissions covered a broad spectrum of approaches, from conceptually oriented, more focused on formal concerns, and often a dynamic balance of the two. These sculptures all represented a high level of creativity in both material construction and ideas. My task was to choose the works that live most completely in the world, the ones that walk the line between communicating the intentions of the artist with both clarity and mystery, while at the same time leaving open a space for personal viewer response and interpretation. As the juror and a viewer with some experience, I chose for inclusion the pieces that worked best for me in this way, the ones that most clearly asserted both their presence and their purpose and did so with the appropriate amount of skill. In addition, I sought to honor the diversity of the submissions by choosing works that represented a myriad of styles, approaches and subject matter. I think the resulting exhibition is both wildly eclectic and deeply optimistic, a testament to the acts of creating and communicating as essential aspects of the human spirit. — Nancy Sausser, Juror