A few days ago, I received my 4th acceptance letter or email in as many weeks for juried art exhibitions. In the art world, by the way, “juried” means that the artwork was reviewed by a Jury – which could be one or several art specialists – with only a restricted number of artworks being accepted by the Jury for that specific art show.
This time the acceptance notification was for an exhibition at Victoria College at the University of Toronto, as part of the 2025 Art Awards of the Canadian Pain Society (CPS), marking the CPS’ Annual Scientific Meeting (ASM) there in May. The CPS is a national organization, of which most members are healthcare professionals and/or researchers, fellows, residents, students, and other trainees – involved in preventing, treating, and understanding pain. Many focus on chronic pain – often trying to improve the lives of people living with pain, people like me!
As someone with severe persistent pain (from one of my two different rare diseases; CRPS) and a background in bioethics and research ethics, I became involved with the CPS almost a decade ago. Their work is so important to me that I volunteer as a Patient Partner on the Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion (EDI) Committee as well as on the Art Awards Sub-Committee and other initiatives.
With that ‘inside knowledge’, so to speak, I can confirm that the Art Jury were not members of the CPS Art Awards Committee, and that the Jury received blinded/de-identified (as much as possible) artworks to view. And that’s why it was decided, with the input of a CPS Board Member, that I could submit an artwork to the CPS Art Awards while also serving on the Art Awards Committee. That, as an artist – specifically because of my chronic pain – I shouldn’t be penalized for volunteering on the Art Awards Committee by not being allowed to participate.
A Jury selected 20 artworks among submissions from across Canada to be shown at Victoria College, while the winner(s) of the contest arm of the Art Awards will be determined by online votes of CPS members; one vote each. Each vote will consider both the artwork and the artist’s comments on how their piece reflects the theme of the 2025 CPS Art Awards: “Shared Horizons: What do I do for pain?” Good luck to everyone who entered; artists, caregivers, doctors, patients, researchers, students, trainees, and more!
My watercolour painting “Pain Waves” was conceived and created specifically for this event, then I loved it so much that I submitted it to other exhibitions as well. “Pain Waves” is now appearing in the Society of Canadian Artists‘ “SCA 2025 Open International Online Juried Exhibition” (through 15 Jun 2025), and in the international “NorthWind Fine Arts 2025 Annual Juried Show” (with a gallery in Saranac Lake NY) until the end of April. Throughout the month of May it will be on display at the Conseil des arts de Montréal (Montréal Arts Council) as part of “Momentum”, the juried exhibition of the historic Women’s Art Society of Montréal (WASM).
For more on my chronic pain artworks in exhibitions, or for my #ArtDespitePain initiative, head over to my art website at www.SandraWoods.art. And, always, thanks so much for stopping by!
