Juror Information

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Jury Members
Jury members are chosen based upon expertise, experience, and background in the arts. Jury members change each Festival.

Juror Recommendations

  • Have a professional photographer take your images, they know how to adjust lighting, position, and distance to make your artwork look it’s best.
  • Only have one item in the picture at a time. If there are to many items, the image may feel cluttered and loose it’s impact.
  • Submit 4 images of your artwork that have a theme, an example of this are of a photographer- send in 4 landscape images.
  • Have your images taken on a black or dark gray background. This allows the image to stand out and not blind the jurors with white space.

Juror Biographies

2008 Fall Tempe Festival of the Arts
Jury Listing

Fritz Pender is a fifth generation Arizona native residing in Tempe.  As a selling artist for over 40 years, Fritz is described as an art addict.  He enjoys sculpting in stone, steel, wood, clay, balloons, barbed wire and glass.  He paints in oils, acrylics, and resins, including murals.  Fritz designed and produced award winning parade floats and balloon sculptures for the Mardi Gras, the Denver Broncos, the Miami Super Bowl, New York Times Square Millenium celebration, and various events in Louisiana, Tennessee, New York, Arizona, Nevada, and Colorado.  Fritz has been a previous juror and an on-site judge for the Tempe Festival of the Arts since 2003.

Michelle Buettner is the jewelry artist and designer behind MiShel Designs.  Always in pursuit of knowledge and studies of various gems, precious metals, and semi-precious stones as well as new techniques anmd mediums, her design philosophy mirrors her view of life and beauty.  She takes pride in the quality she uses to create her designs and places emphasis on durability and functionality as well as esthetics.  Michelle currently lives in Glendale, Arizona with her husband, Michael, and their son, Logan.

Philip Talarico has taught art for 25 years, now teaching grades 4 – 8 in the Balsz School District in Phoenix. He is one of the few teachers in his district to meet the “highly qualified” requirements set forth by the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001. He studied at Grand Canyon University and Arizona State University where he received a BA in Art and Education in 1981.


2007 Spring Tempe festival of the Arts
Juror Listing

Deb Salac received a MFA from Concordia University in Montreal, Canada. She has exhibited in various solo and group shows in the U.S. and internationally

Jaya Rao works with artists and arts organizations through the Arizona Commission on the Arts, whose mission is connecting artists and communities.

Rex Gulbranson is the Arts and Culture Administrator for the city of Glendale. Prior to joining Glendale in 2003, he was Public Art Coordinator for the city of Tempe from 1998-2003. Before Tempe, he was the Papago Salado Association's Executive Director from 1996-1998. From 1979-1996 he worked for the Arizona Commission on the Arts as Visual Arts Director and later and Design/Organization Development Director. Gulbranson serves on the boards of Arizona Citizens/Action for the Arts and the Central Arizona Museum Association.

Philip Talarico has taught art for 25 years, now teaching grades 4 – 8 in the Balsz School District in Phoenix. He is one of the few teachers in his district to meet the “highly qualified” requirements set forth by the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001. He studied at Grand Canyon University and Arizona State University where he received a BA in Art and Education in 1981.

Diane Upchurch is a curator at Arizona State University’s College of Design and a past member of the Tempe Arts Commission. She has an M.A. in Art History from the University of North Texas.