Who's made a mark in art? September 2014

POLL: Should people be able to photograph art in galleries & museums?Right click to see a larger version

Nearly 50% of the respondent's to last month's POLL: Photography in Art Galleries and Museums think that photography in art galleries and museums should be allowed, although 22% think this should be on the basis that no flash is allowed.

You can see the results in detail if you click the image above. Some 28% of respondents did not think photography should be permitted. While 8% think it's simply impractical to prevent photography given the wide usage of mobile devices and 8% would like to have camera free days.

Have you photographed artwork in art galleries and museums?

You can see this month's poll in the side column - see What's the payoff for a degree in art? (Plus a new POLL)

Artists

Drawing and Sketching

• Four artists from Urban Sketchers in the UK - Adebanji Alade, Andrea Joseph, James Hobbs and Olha Prymakk - were featured in a Huffington Post article Urban Sketchers at Covent Garden (and How to Become One) about an urban sketching initiative in Covent Garden - the Moleskine City Stories initiative. 
• The names of the winners of two major Drawing prizes were announced this week - see the Art Competition section below. Both were 'different' and at least one was very controversial.
• I got a little distracted taking photos yesterday when I spotted the book by James Hobbs - that contains a profile of me - displayed on the bookstand at the Mall Galleries (excellent small bookshop BTW!). It just happened to open at my profile page. OK I might have helped it a little bit....... (James tells me it's now been translated into German!)

My profile in Sketch Your World by James Hobbs

Printmakers

• Angie Lewin and the making of 'Nature Table' (video) a blog post about popular printmaker Angie Lewin and the processes she uses to create fine art prints.

Sculpture

• Watch out for the name Ramona Zoladek - see the competition section below. This young Polish born artist who came to live in the UK seven years ago is very definitely one to watch! Her Tumblr blog is a delight to view

Art on Television / Art Videos

• BBC Four Goes Abstract in September is my post about the recent series of programmes on BBC4 - the programmes are still available for over a year
• I came across four excellent videos about a BBC series by Andrew Graham Dixon called The Secret of Drawing
• I've been coming across articles and videos about Andy Goldswothy of late
• This is an article in The Guardian - Andy Goldsworthy: 'Lying down in Times Square in the rain is bound to attract attention'
• This is a video produced by TateShots: Andy Goldsworthy studio visit 
• plus this week I found a link to a 90 minute lecture about his work which he delivered in the USA. See Andy Goldsworthy talks about his life's work at the St. Louis Art Museum and his work 'Stone Sea' 
• - which is now also on my website About Andy Goldsworthy - British Land Artist

Who painted this? 

• Who painted this? #62 - I've added a tip into the post.  The clue is you're looking for an artist who is trying to paint like another artist......

Art Competitions

Birds in Art 2014

• The 39th-annual Birds in Art exhibition can be seen at The Leigh Yawkey Woodson Art Museum, in the heart of Wausau, Wisconsin until Sunday, November 16. 
• Interestingly the Museum pays for inbound and outbound shipping of artwork to and from the Museum - even if you live in the UK as bird artist Alan Woollett does.
• Sherrie York (Brush and Baren) has a big surprise - read Back from "Birds in Art" with even more excellent exhibition news! This page provides sample highlights from the exhibition.

BP Portrait Award 2015

• The National Portrait Gallery has announced that the BP Portrait Award 2015 entry goes digital
• This is my interview with Sophie Ploeg and The Lace Trail - BP Travel Award 2013. Don't forget when you enter the BP Portrait Award that there's another award which means you can have an exhibition of your work in the National Portrait Gallery!  It's a wonderful opportunity - for the person with the right project! 

Derwent Art Prize 2014

The CEO of Derwent introduces the Awards Ceremony for the Derwent Art Prize

• Derwent Art Prize 2014 - Selected Artists - includes links to the websites which illustrated for me the way in which this competition is now attracting entries from overseas artists
• Derwent Art Prize 2014 - ineligible drawing wins first prize? This generated a fair few comments on my blog post and Facebook Page because the image appears to fail to comply with two competition conditions.
• Derwent Prize Exhibition 2014 - Other prizewinners highlights the other winners
• Review: Derwent Art Prize 2014 Exhibition
• plus my video walk-round the exhibition

A view of the Derwent Art Prize Exhibition at the Mall Galleries

ING Discerning Eye 2014

• This my post about the ING Discerning Eye 2014 - Call for Entries

Jerwood Drawing Prize 2014

• The winner of the Jerwood Drawing Prize 2014 is Alison Carlier.  Apparently it's "an open-ended audio drawing". You can find the names of the rest of the prizewinners  - announced last week - on the website.  This BBC article Jerwood Drawing Prize awarded to sound piece talks about the prizewinning entry. 

A sound piece, a 75-second description of a Roman pot, wins a prestigious prize for drawing for the first time in its 20-year history.

• A total of 51 works by 46 artists are on display in the exhibition which I've not yet visited. 
• Oddly, apart from the BBC piece, the awards got very little coverage in the press. 

Sunday Times Watercolour Competition

Kathryn Maple with her painting 'Fatboys Diner' 
which won her the £10,000 Sunday Times Watercolour Prize

• These are the Selected Artists - Sunday Times Watercolour Competition 2014
• The winner was announced in August - in advance of the exhibition - see Kathryn Maple wins Sunday Times Watercolour Competition 2014 
• I met Kathryn - who is delightful - when the exhibition opened last Monday - see Review: Sunday Times Watercolour Competition 2014 . It's such a pity that the exhibition is only on for six days. Kathryn is a recent graduate of The Drawing Year at the Prince's Drawing School.

Threadneedle Prize

• Tomrrow I'll be reviewing the six finalists in line for the £20,000 Prize
• and then on Tuesday I'll be going to the Awards Dinner to hear who has won the big prize!
• The exhibition opens on Thursday 25th - at which point people will start voting for the Visitor's Choice Award.

Wildlife Artist of the Year 2015

• Wildlife Artist of the Year 2015 - Call for Entries - the closing date is February next year.

Woon Art Prize 2014

• This has NOT been on my radar but will be in future! The Woon Foundation Painting and Sculpture Art Prize is a fine art prize is open to students currently in the final year of their undergraduate study. 
• The first prize - won by Ramona Zoladek (blog) a final year BA (Hons) Fine Art students at Cambridge School of Art at Anglia Ruskin University - is a bursary of £20,000 which funds the costs of the Fellowship at the BxNU Institute for Contemporary Art at BALTIC 39. The winner also gets a dedicated space and critical and professional development support from a mentor.  

Winner of the £20,000 Woon Foundation Painting and Sculpture Art Prize
Ramona Zoladek and Mr Woon with her prizewinning artwork
photo courtesy of Anglia Ruskin University

• The award was created by and funded through the generosity of Northumbria University Alumnus and keen art collector Mr Wee Teng Woon.  His idea is to give young artists a jump start in their career.
• A further £20,000 funds the other prizes.
• The shortlisted artists are listed below and their artwork is profiled in this pdf document
• Ana Gold (Central St Martins)
• Anna Hughes (Dundee School of Art)
• Catherine Ross (Gray's School of Art, Robert Gordon University, Aberdeen)
• Eleni Odysseos (University of Leeds)
• Emilie Atkinson (Slade School of Art) - winner of the £9,000 2nd Prize 
• Emily Motto (Ruskin School of Art, Oxford University)
• Helen McCartney (University of Sunderland)
• Lisa Evans (Coleg Sir Gar, School of Creative Arts)
• Ramona Zoladek (Cambridge School of Art, Anglia Ruskin University)
• Sam Baker (Kingston University) - winner of £6,000 Cheong Kam Hee Art Prize

Ramona also won the the £2,000 Dr Supanee Gazeley Fine Art Prize in June, which is awarded to the best Fine Art work on display at the annual Degree Show at Anglia Ruskin University. Watch out for the name Ramona Zoladek!

Art Exhibitions

Major exhibitions in London

• The EY Exhibition: Late Turner – Painting Set Free opened at the Tate and continues until January. A report on this coming up soon.  This review in the Guardian suggests Late Turner: Painting Set Free review – prepare to be dazzled
• National Portrait Gallery
• The Real Tudors: Kings and Queens Rediscovered - is a new and special display in the Tudor Galleries. The wives have been moved out! I'll be writing more about this next week.
• Virginia Wool - Art, Life and Vision is currently running at the National Portrait Gallery until the end of October. I popped in recently and it's full of artifacts and documents relating to Woolf's life as well as paintings and photographs of her 
• more interesting exhibitions at the NPG very soon! I'm going to the PV of the exhibition about Snowdon's photography this Friday.

Three of my drawings

Art Societies / Art Groups

• The 17th Annual International Exhibition by the American Society of Botanical Artists can be seen at The Horticultural Society of New York in Midtown Manhattan until November 26th.  
• Meanwhile you can see Second New York Botanical Garden Triennial Exhibition - Weird, Wild, & Wonderful at the New York Botanical Garden in the Bronx until October 26, 2014
• Florum 2014: It's over now - but for those who missed the posts, these are about the Florum exhibition
• Video and review: Florum 2014 Exhibition
• These were My cacti and succulent drawings - in coloured pencils
• and these were the list of selected artists for Florum Exhibition 2014

Art Education

• What's the payoff for a degree in art? (Plus a new POLL) is a review of a US Census infographic of the higher education & career outcomes & lifetime earnings for graduates in visual arts. 
• "Education and art: which route did you take?" is a new Poll on my blog - see the right hand column.
• A new academic year is about to start at universities around the UK. Do you know the relative standing of UK universities offering degrees in art or design? If you'd like to know I suggest you review the Art & Design League Table produced by The Complete University Guide as to the relative rankings. This article What Are The Top 10 UK Universities To Study Art & Design In 2014/15? provides a completely vacuous Huffington Post perspective on the guide. I'm almost inclined to crunch a few more numbers to make better sense of it......
• This is the page about the one day workshops, courses, portfolio reviews and talks being run by the Royal Watercolour Society at the Bankside Gallery this Autumn

Tips and Techniques - Botanical Art

• Sarah Morrish (The Natural Year) has created two posts about botanical paintings and technology. 
• Part 1: Botanical Painting & Technology - how useful are tablet computers ??
• Part 2: Botanical Painting & Technology - apps and more - Here are some helpful apps for working out colours, identifying plants and creating step by steps for instruction purposes.
• Susan Christopher Coulson has an article about How to Paint Botanical Arrangements

Art Business & Marketing

• Art Fairs - Tina Mammoser has written an excellent post about visiting art fairs - Top 5 Tips for Art Fair Visits. It also includes a list of the Autumn Art Fairs - with links to their websites.
• Art Business Opportunities - This post by Maria Brophy focuses on Planning for Cash Flow and Profit; Necessary Components for a Successful Art Business.

If you get in the habit of always asking the question “where is the cash flow, where is the profit” your mind will find solutions to get you paid properly for every product, event, project or commission. 

Art Materials & Supplies

• I've recently discovered some excellent step by step posts by Eunike Nugroho on her blog Eunike Nugroho) about:
• [Tips] How to Transfer a Drawing using Tracing Paper
• [Tips] Making Radial Colour Charts - she demonstrates using watercolour but the same technique could be used for any medium
• [Tips] Painting Furs Quickly with Comber Brushes - I'd never heard of comber brushes before. Here's a link to the one example of the comber brushes stocked by Rosemary. 
• I highlighted the video made by Derwent about How pencils are made.

Techies

Art websites

• Have you taken a look at Google Open Gallery yet? It's a simple and free way of having an online exhibition of your artwork. An introduction to Google Open Gallery - resulted in an invite to me to try out how this new system works. 
• For techie artists with websites and stats - Statcounter is now on iTunes - however it's set up for use on an iPhone rather than an iPad and I think they need to rethink some of the design issues - like the shouting caps on login.

Facebook

• I use Wordle for the new word image on my Facebook Page - maybe this too counts as drawing? I input the labels for my blog posts and it then calculates the size of the words by the frequency with which the label is used. 

A wordle view of my blog post labels on Making A Mark

and finally......

Nearly 200 of my information websites transferred from Squidoo to HubPages earlier this month.  That basically means I've got a lot of new stuff to learn and a lot of work to do.

Some of the sites are now looking a bit of a mess at the moment due to the "wall of text problem" (ie no formatting) and missing links to related websites. I'm working through them slowly - while being very thankful that HubPages have given all those whose sites have transferred four months to get their sites sorted and up to scratch so they fit into the new criteria for what's allowed.

I'll be posting the bookmark compendium sites in the side column once they're sorted.