Signature membership

What's the definition of "signature membership"?

On announcing I'd got my 'signature membership' of an art society, this was the first question I was asked by non-artists! So here's my definition.

Signature membership (for artists) means all those people who have qualified to use a set of letters after their surname and be known as a full member of an art society. The process of becoming a signature member is almost always defined by a set of criteria which varies from art society to art society. It usually means you are also a fully paid up member in good standing as well.

The Ecology Park Pond, 28th December 2008 #1

14" x 10", coloured pencils on Arches HP
copyright Katherine Tyrrell

My news is that I've had two landscape drawings in coloured pencils accepted into the 8th Open International Annual Exhibition of the United Kingdom Coloured Pencil Society.

I've detailed them both below along with the narrative I used on my entry form

Ecology Park Ponds #1 (short title) which was the drawing I did of the Ecology Park Pond in January - see The Ecology Park Ponds - an introduction and The Ecology Park pond in December - an update

Near my home in East London we have a lot of water – rivers, canals, ponds and lakes. On Boxing Day 2008, we went for a walk up the Regents Canal and stopped at the Ecology Park Pond near my home in East London. I decided that I would develop a series of drawings throughout the year about the pond and how it changed as the months passed. This is the baseline and the very first drawing. It’s a view of what I call Lily Pad Pond on 28th December 2008.

Monterchi from the Via Madonna Del Parto - which just goes to show it's always worth doing a favourite drawing again if you think you can improve it. I'd done this one a few years ago and it had hung in my bedroom for a long time and has always been one of those views I've been happy to look at. However I thought I could improve on both rendition and colour - so had another go!

In September 2003, I visited Italy and stayed on the borders of Tuscany and Umbria. Every morning my drive took me down to a steep hill through a vineyard and every morning this was the view I had of the village of Monterchi. Pierro de la Francesco’s masterpiece, the Madonna del Parto ‘lives’ in the village – but used to live in a tiny church just out of the picture frame hence the name of the road – the Via Madonna del Parto. You can only drive a past a view like this for so long before you have to stop and start drawing! The bonus of looking at it every morning was that I had several days to grow to know it and work out the best place to draw it from before I started!

Monterchi from the Via Madonna Del Parto
8" x 10", coloured pencils on Arches HP
copyright Katherine Tyrrell

This is the third year I've had works accepted into the main Annual Exhibition (in 2007, 2008 and 2009) and consequently I now comply with the rule for signature membership of the society by being accepted into three exhibitions in five years.

Which means I'm now Katherine Tyrrell UKCPS.

Some time ago I stopped listing the other ten letters I'm entitled to put after my name (for degrees and professional qualifications) so it feels very odd to start using letters after my name again!

How UKCPS defines signature membership

The initials UKCPS after a member's name indicates that they are Signatory members of the Society, having had pictures exhibited in three exhibitions within a five year period. The initials UKCPS indicate Silver Signature status - pictures accepted into 5 exhibitions within 10 years - and UKCPS indicates Gold status - pictures accepted into 10 exhibitions within 15 years.
UKCPS - 7th Annual Open International Exhibition 2008

So - over to all my coloured pencil artist readers:

• Has anybody else made signature member this year as well?
  
• Have you started to collect acceptances into the exhibition in order to work towards signature membership?