New English Art Club - plus commentary and discussion

Drawing - a discussion
8.5" x 11.5", pencil in sketchbook
copyright Katherine Tyrrell

Yesterday I visited the Annual Open Exhibition of the New English Art Club at the Mall Galleries which opened on 30th November and continues until 10th December.

The New English Art Club is a group of about 70 professional painters whose work is based principally upon observation of nature and the human figure. Its Annual Exhibition at the Mall Galleries is a showcase for its members and gives aspiring artists an opportunity to be seen alongside some of the best figurative artists painting today.

Yesterday Ken Howard, past president of NEAC was doing a tour of the exhibition at 11am. Plus there was a panel discussion at 1pm about Drawing. I did lots of quick sketches while I was there (which you can see over on my sketchbook blog here - plus a selection of the more quotable comments and 'bon mots' said yesterday) plus one longer one (see above) of the panel for the Discussion about Drawing.

Members of the panel from left to right in the sketch above are: Bill Packer, Jason Bowyer, Andrew Wilton, Charles Williams, Arthur Neal, and Karn Holly.

You can see images of the drawings and paintings by members which are being exhibited on the NEAC Trading Company website. Alternatively you can click on a member's name in this alphabetical list of members.

The trading company website includes images of work by non members on display and for sale at the Mall Galleries but unfortunately none are included in the catelogue which accompanies the exhibition or the website - which I think is a great pity. It's fine if the exhibition is closed and members only but hardly seems to be properly representative of an open exhibition. The catalogue has also transformed into being solely a 'record' of members work (one image each) and is to be produced on an annual basis.

The images are large but the colour leaves room for improvement as some of the works are not well presented despite having great impact on the walls of the Mall Galleries. The problem lies either with the artist's image of the work or the printer and having been through the gallery of digital images I'm inclining towards it being the artist's image because where images are poor these appear to be the same in both website and catelogue.

Prizewinners are as follows:

• The Arts Club Award - Leslie Worth 'Stormy sea on a Devon coast'
  
• Cedar House gallery prize - Tia Flexman 'Eggs and feathers'
  
• Cecil Jospe Prize (awarded by NEAC) - Charlotte Sorapure 'Playground'
  
• St Cuthberts Mill Award for a work on paper - Jason Bowyer 'Blue skylight'
  
• The Horan Prize - Mary Carter 'The veiled window'
  
• The Manya Igel Prize - Neale Worley 'Black Dress'
  
• Oakham Gallery Prize - Neale Worley 'Black Dress'
  
• The Bill Patterson Memorial Award - Benjamin Sullivan 'Garden Shed'
  
• Woodhay Gallery Prize - Richard Sorrell 'Across the Bridge' (which is not a good reproduction of the impact of this piece)
  
• A&K Wilson Gallery Award - Naomi Alexander 'Fabia left alone'
  
• The Worshipful Company of Painter Stainers prize - Karn Holly 'Corn Field'
  

I couldn't find the winner of The Alresford Gallery Prize for an 18" x 18" painting.

Paintings I liked included:

• Leslie Worth's seascapes - which seem to becoming increasingly Turneresque although there are also some indications he's possibly torn between Winslow Homer and the great man himself.
• I loved Felicity House's 'With kind love' - an excellent drawing with smidgens and smudges of pastel added to leave it understated. She seems to have inherited the John Ward touch. House is a member of the Pastel Society (but not NEAC). You can see more of her work here.
• I also appreciated the smudginess of Jacqueline Williams's mark-making.
• Patrick Cullen's pastels (and oils) of Tuscan landscapes and vineyards were stunning.
  
• I very much liked all Richard Pikesley's work - both drawing and paintings. His Flags and Evening Sun adorns the front cover of the catelogue. I particularly took a fancy to Sheep on the Hill and Sun In and Out, Handfast Point (but then look at all that hatching! ;) )
• Linda Pitcher's Family Day Out, St Ives also arrested my eye - and I'm guessing that was in part due to the palette she used.

Salliann Puttnam is doingthe tour at 11.00am on Wednesday and was having a good look round yesterday at the pictures she wanted to feature and comment on.

And on Friday, I'm going back to see it all again with Sarah Wimperis!

Links:

• New English Art Club (Parts of this are dated and need upsating)
  
• NEAC Trading Company
• Travels with a Sketchbook in...... Sketching and quotations from the NEAC Exhibition