Supreme Court Justice Potter Stewart once famously said that hard-core pornography was hard to define, “but I know it when I see it.”

I kinda feel the same way about art (I feel the same way about porn, too, but I try to keep this a family paper).

I’ve served on the board of directors of the Chenango County Council of the Arts for a decade-plus, been to hundreds of different gallery openings, plays, concerts and shows, never missed a Colorscape Chenango, been to a few Pennysaver craft shows and even some high school exhibits and a handful of nationally-known museums ... but I’m still not quite sure I’d always recognize “art” -- even if I stepped in it.

Art is such a subjective concept that I’m not sure anyone can clearly define it -- that’s why I’m never quite certain whether to trust someone else’s opinion when they say it’s good or it’s bad. I like what I like, but that doesn’t mean you will.

That’s why I’m in awe of artists ... not only in how they create art themselves, but in how they can judge, critique and appreciate each other’s work. I had the opportunity to see that process at work earlier this week as I sat in on the jurying session for 2008’s Colorscape Chenango. I watched as a panel of three local artists reviewed slides of works submitted by 80 or so other artists hoping to show their works at this year’s festival. What I bet most people don’t realize is that you don’t simply “sign up” for Colorscape; as a fine arts show, your work has to be approved by said panel of judges, who go over the slides with the proverbial fine-tooth comb to see if your work is worthy of exhibition there.

I had no idea what I was looking at.

While the artists on the panel discussed the works with passion and knowledge, I looked at a bunch of pictures of ceramic bowls and necklaces. For me, I suppose, 3-D art of that nature has to be seen, touched, even fondled to be appreciated. Hence my appreciation for the keen eye of those who can understand the process behind a piece just by looking at a picture of it. By the time it was over, I felt like a hack.