Page 150 - The Decorative Painter Fall 2014

Certification Corner
2014 Certification Results
DIANNE CROWTHER mda 2013–14 Certification Chair
I hope everyone had a terrific time at Conference in San Di- ego. The resort was such a beautiful setting, and the lovely gar- dens were inspiring to all painters. The classes were even better. I am so in awe of the teachers this year, and all of the creative and beautiful projects that were offered. If you were not able to attend this year, I hope that you will be able to join us at the Pheasant Run Resort, St. Charles, Ill., May 11–16, 2015. I know I will be
there. It is a great time to meet up with friends that you only get to see at Conference every year.
It is my honor to give you a report of the Certification test- ing this year. We had 108 boards submitted from five countries. There were twenty-eight in the CDA Still Life, twenty-five in the CDA Stroke, twenty-two in the MDA Still Life, nineteen in the MDA Floral, and fourteen in the MDA Stroke categories.
PASSInG In THE CDA STILL LIFE:
Noriko Owada cda, Osaka, Japan Golda Rader cda, Conroe, Texas
PASSInG In THE CDA STROKE:
Yueh Chun Liao cda, Kaohsiung, Taiwan Fen Chin Liu cda, Pingtung, Taiwan Hsui Yun Wang cda, Taoyuan, Japan
PASSInG In THE mDA STILL LIFE:
Sayuri Kitagawa mda, Hyogo, Japan Carmelita Ducote cda, Avondale, Louisana Kyoko Matsui cda, Kyoto, Japan
Junko Tanaka mda, San Diego, California Masami Yamada cda, Hyogo, Japan
PASSInG In THE mDA FLORAL:
Eriko Nakamura mda, San Francisco, California Linda Sharp cda, Livermore, California
Chieko Suzuki cda, Tochigi, Japan
PASSInG In THE mDA STROKE:
Xue Fei Duan cda, Beijing, China Eriko Kaneko mda, Chiba, Japan Masami Yamada cda, Hyogo, Japan
nEW mDAs:
Eriko Kaneko, Chiba, Japan
Sayuri Kitagawa, Hyogo, Japan
Eriko Nakamura, San Francisco, California Junko Tanaka, San Diego, California
All of the judges know exactly how hard it is to obtain this credential, and we all wish you heartfelt congratulations.
For those of you who did not pass the test this year, please read the critiques and study the areas where comments were made. These comments were written to help each painter un- derstand where they needed some additional practice, and not to hurt anyone’s feelings. It is our mission to help individuals as much as we can in order to pass the test. We work very hard to give concise critiques that will help the individual painter learn.
Congratulate yourself if you submitted. I certainly do. Please try again next year. I suggest lots of practice that may include spe- cial classes, chapter paint-ins, and watching the online classes and Certification judging videos.
You know, if you compare this to the Olympics we just had in February it is a long road to victory. The athletes work for four years for one chance to medal, then they wait another four years to try again. Most never make it, but it does not stop them from practicing every day to obtain their goal. When the ice skaters skate their hearts out and do not medal it is not because the judg- es call their routines ugly. It is because they did not achieve the score needed to obtain a medal.
It is the same way with the Certification criteria: if you obtain the score you will pass. If you do not pass, study, practice, and try again (every year, not every four years).
I would like to thank everyone for your support during my last three years as chair of the Certification Committee. I feel we have done quite a bit during this time. We created a committee and studied ways to open the Certification process up to other mediums. After a lot of conversation and hard work we were able to open up Certification in the CDA Still Life category to water- color, colored pencil, and pastel. Then all of the printed materials were rewritten in order to include the new mediums.
We were thrilled that we had two submissions in the new mediums, and we hope that we will have more in the years to come. I would like to take this opportunity to congratulate Golda Rader cda on passing her CDA Still Life. She is the first
148 The Decorative Painter • ISSUE NO. 3, 2014
one in the history of Certification testing to pass in colored pencil.
We made three videos to take the mystery out of how the judging process works. The project took almost six months to complete and is now available for viewing online.
Throughout the year, the committee worked very hard to stay within our budget. We raised money through silent auctions and raffles for the Society and the CDA/MDA reception. We changed the evening CDA/MDA reception to a morning time, hoping to enable more CDA/MDAs to be able to attend. We worked very hard to fund this entirely by donations and auction money. The committee updated our printed materials. Updating the critiques by taking the date off enabled us to order more and use them year after year. This left only the map that has to be printed each year. We also opened up a one-on-one ‘understanding your critique’ time with the MDAs at Conference.
The design subcommittee, chaired by Cheri Rol mda, was able to get several designs done for the coming years. The design committee flew to Cheri’s at their own expense to work on the new designs. They stayed at Cheri’s and cooked meals instead of going out to avoid running up expenses during the process.
Most of all I would like to thank everyone who worked so hard on the Certification Committee for the past three years, in- cluding the MDA Exploratory Committee (to open up Certifi- cation) and the judges that devoted so much of their personal time to judge the submissions and who worked very hard to write helpful critiques. During the last three years, we could not have achieved all that we accomplished without them. It was a true team effort. Lastly, I would like to thank Cristy Keeton for her wonderful help keeping me straight, and Sue Pruett mda who spent well over one hundred hours editing the judging videos (which can now be seen on YouTube).
My work as chair was a true labor of love, and I hope every- one that is interested in the Certification Program will benefit from my team’s hard work.
decorativepainters.org