Tuesday, July 05, 2011

2011 Sunday Times Watercolour Competition - selected artists

The names of the artists - and the number of their works - selected for the 2011 Sunday Times Watercolour Competition exhibition at the Mall Galleries in September can be found below.

The competition has a first prize of £10,000,  In total, some £18,000 in prize money is awarded to artists who demonstrate a high level of skill and creativity in the opinion of the judging panel (see Sunday Times Watercolour Competition - Call for Entries).

the winner of the Smith and Williamson Cityscape Prize 2010
Toledo by Gordon McDowall
work exhibited in 2010 and artist selected again in 2011
(see last year's review for the story behind this one)
Below, on the left, is the list as published by Parker Harris yesterday and on the right are the links to websites that I've found to date.  If anybody spots a person they know and/or a website attribution which needs to be included/amended please let me know via a comment on this post.  Details about the exhibition can be found at the end of the post along with links to some of the previous posts on this blog about this exhibition.

[Update:  the comments contain a discussion about numbers.  67 artists have been selected.  Of these two artists have two works selected making a total of 69 works compared to the 100 works advertised in the call for entries prospectus)
Cracked Matador by Chris Dunn - selected for the 2011 Exhibition

‘My distinctive style is achieved via a highly individual painting technique. Combining cold water dyes with wax resist to create bold statements of texture, mood and light.
Janet Kenyon

Order Order by Marie Robinson - exhibited at the 2010 Sunday Times watercolour exhibition

I've not got the list of full names as yet (but it's coming!) so I'm having a bit of difficulty finding their websites for you to see the standard of their work.  Consequently this post will be updated when I have the full information.

However what I have detected so far is that a large proportion of those selected are NOT members of the two national watercolour societies - the Royal Institute of Painters in Watercolour and the Royal Watercolour Society.  Now that of course could be because members did not enter the competition!  The list also includes watercolourists who belong to other art societies.

However the majority appear to be non-members of the major national art societies - following something of a trend in major art competitions in the UK

The 2011 Sunday Times Watercolour Exhibition is held at the Mall Galleries between 12 - 18 September 2011.  The exhibition is open from 10am - 5pm daily and admission is free to all.

For more information about this and other art competitions see Art Competitions in the UK - Resources for Artists

Links to some of the previous posts on this blog about this competition

PS  Yes folks - I'm back blogging about art and not Provence!  This is for a couple of days only as I'm not back properly to art blogging until next week.  Once I've got over three days of driving (I need a walk!) I've got to drive north to collect the cats from their holiday and give lots of lavender to my mother!
Posted by Making A Mark on Tuesday, July 05, 2011
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9 comments:

  1. UnknownTuesday, July 05, 2011

    Hi Katherine, you seem to have the full list, apparantly only 67 works selected this year. Mine did not get in, i emailed as according to their prospectus 100 works are selected. They replied fo say that they only selected this amount as the works selected are mainly large works. Not happy, 100 works should be 100 works regardless of size.

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  2. RH CarpenterTuesday, July 05, 2011

    They were supposed to accept 100 entries and, because of the size of the entries, they only chose 67? That will put off many people for the next one, I'm sure. I don't necessarily think bigger is better but it seems to be the fad that larger paintings are given more weight (no pun intended, of course!).

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  3. Making A MarkTuesday, July 05, 2011

    That's a very interesting point.

    I'd make the observation that larger works do often stand a better chance of getting exhibited - however an exhibition of all large works can feel a bit overwhelming. The BP Portrait generally do a good job of getting a balance between the different sizes of work.

    I'm used to there being a variation between the numbers selected every year for the various different art competitions in the UK but the difference is often quite small. The major difference is usually between the number of artists submitting work - which is, of course always an unknown and totally outside the control of the judging panel - unlike the number they select.

    However that's a fairly big gap between the target advertised as going to be shown as part of the "Call for Entries" and the number selected. In fact it's a reduction of one third!

    I'm just wondering if anybody has ever thought about where a competition prospectus stands in terms of trade descriptions...... I'm not sure which law relates to competitions but there's bound to be some. An art competition is intrinsically no different to any other competition in relation to the basics.

    Obviously reducing the number selected might have made a difference to whether some artists submitted work as it changes the percentages in terms of the chances of being selected.

    My inclination is to think that this aspect probably never ever occurred to the judging panel.

    It also makes me think that maybe somebody needs to think very carefully about the wording for next year's prospectus.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Making A MarkTuesday, July 05, 2011

    I've just taken a peek at what advice is on offer and some of it is very interesting.

    One reputable site suggests there is no question that entry to an art competition equates to entering into a contract. I seem to recall from my contract law days (which were a very long time ago!) that there are two sides to every contract and both parties are required to perform/deliver as per the contract.

    I'm assuming that the Sunday Times have a legal team which aim to keep them on the right side of the law and that somebody proficient in what are "the rules" for the competition and how it must operate advises the panel.

    However it remains an interesting question - and possible fodder for a future blog post I think.

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  5. UnknownTuesday, July 05, 2011

    I entered this year as i did last year following encouragement from several people. Have not got in either time. I am very disappointed that they did not select the full 100, they do say "approximately" 100 but i feel 67 is way off. Anyway, just as a matter of principle i have asked for a refund of my entry fee, not because i was not selected but because i dont feel they have selected according to the prospectus i entered by. I will look forward to seeing what others think about this.

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  6. Chris DunnWednesday, July 13, 2011

    Dear Katherine

    I have only just stumbled across your blog, it looks great. Rest assured I shall be following you from now on.

    I entered the competition this year for the first time and was accepted (over the moon!). There is no link by my name on your list so please visit here to view my entry:

    http://chrisdunnillustration.blogspot.com/2011/07/selected-for-sunday-times-watercolour.html

    As you can probably guess I am not a member of any national art society but I am 25 so plenty of time yet - if they'll have me of course.

    ReplyDelete
  7. michael johnsonSaturday, July 16, 2011

    Hi
    I am Michael Johnson and feel lucky to have been chosen for the watercolour exhibition. My website is michaeljohnsonart.com

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  8. Making A MarkSaturday, July 16, 2011

    Thanks Michael - I've updated the post with a link to your website

    ReplyDelete
  9. Marie RobinsonSunday, July 17, 2011

    Katherine, many thanks for showing an image of my work selected in 2010 and for linking it to my site. For reasons unrelated to art I was unable to enter this year but have read all these observations on numbers selected with interest. I was also fortunate enough to get into the 2010 Lynn Painter Stainers Prize and they selected 68 having said they would select approx 70 and they included a complete range of sizes.

    ReplyDelete

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