Thursday, January 16, 2014

UKCPS Open International Exhibition 2014: Call for Entries

The deadline for entries to the 13th Annual International Exhibition of the UK Coloured Pencil Society is 5th February 2014.

The exhibition will be held between 28th April - 10th May 2014 at the RBSA Gallery, 4 Brook Street, Birmingham, B3 1SA.


The rules changed last year - with respect to the nature of the work that can be entered - and I'm not sure everyone is aware of that.

Here's a summary of what you need to know and do to enter.

Who can enter


This exhibition is open to all living artists who can demonstrate compositional and drawing skills and the ability to use coloured pencil..

That means:

What you can enter


Words enclosed in quotation marks are quotations from the Call For Entries document.  I've reorganised the content to align content with my comments.

No. of entries

  • Full member of the Society can enter a maximum of four pictures (1st entry free; entry fee for 1-3 additional entries: £6 each)
  • non-members can enter a maximum of two pictures  (entry fee: £17.50 each)
  • one entry can be "not for sale"; all other entries must be for sale

Reference Materials

  • "All work must be original in concept, design and execution"
  • "Any photographic reference used for the entire (missing word?) or as the primary source must be taken by the artist"
  • "Subject to UK and International copyright laws, reference images may be used to contribute and build up a final composition provided the final work does not resemble any reference source in a recognizable way"
See my blog post CPSA and UKCPS: originality in concept, design and execution for a previous debate in 2008 on the meaning of original artwork.

Basically the liability lies with the artist to recognise and ensure that their use of any reference images MUST comply with all relevant UK copyright law. Artists should also maintain evidentiary proof of photographs they created.

(Note for UKCPS: International law is totally irrelevant in the UK unless it has been incorporated into and formally recognised within UK legislation - at which point it becomes UK legislation! IMO it would be more appropriate to say that the competition must be compliant with all relevant UK legislation including that relating to copyright)

Art Media

"Each work submitted MUST comprise at least 50% dry coloured pencil (ie wood-cased, wax or oil based coloured pencil, including watercolour pencil if used dry) ""The remaining 50% of the work MAY if preferred, contain less than 50% of any other medium"
  • The base of support media can include manufactured supports (eg paper, board etc) and surfaces hand-prepared by the artist eg a gesso base.
That means the second 50% can include
  • artwork which includes non-wood cased pencils eg Caran d'Ache Neopastels
  • artwork which includes media created when you used water, solvent or heat to dissolve coloured pencils
  • watercolour, acrylic or oil paints
  • oil pastels
  • graphite pencil
  • charcoal
Bottom line the artwork MUST include - and be seen to include - 50% created from dry wood-cased coloured pencils.

Note there's no requirement to use art media of archival standards.

What you cannot enter

  • Artwork shown in any previous UKCPS exhibition

What will not be exhibited

  • Artwork not up to entry submission standard 
  • Pictures not suitably framed.

How to enter


UKCPS encourages online entries. Entry is online and involves the submission of a digital file, the completion of the entry form and the payment of the fee.  The call for entries provides details of how to submit a postal entry - which has an earlier deadline.

Information required to compete the form

  • title of the artwork
  • size of the image unframed (height x width in centimetres)
  • price for sale in £sterling. This should allow for 35% commission if sold.
  • category of prize the work is eligible for

Image requirements

  • jpg format
  • 300 dpi
  • maximum size 5MB
  • filename should include your surname and the title of the artwork

Payment of fees

Payment options are:
  • by cheque mailed to UKCPS
  •  via Paypal to email address detailed in the Call for Entries

How entries are judged

An independent Jury of three people will be asked to select works to produce a varied exhibition showing the full range of capabilities of the coloured pencil medium. The decision of the judges is final.

Jurors review anonymous images - the only information they have is title and picture size.

I don't know whether this means any signature is removed from the digital image prior to the jury process.

Responsibilities of the artist


The following are wholly the responsibility of the artist
  • compliance with the terms and conditions of the competition
  • all shipping to and from the submission and collection points
  • all insurance - given that the UKCPS, RBSA and their representatives are not liable for any damage or loss of works including frames.

Previous blog posts about this exhibition


These include images of prizewinners and work in past exhibitions

2013
2012
2011
2010
2009
2008
2007
Posted by Making A Mark on Thursday, January 16, 2014
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