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Friday, October 06, 2017

Review: 72nd Annual Exhibition of the Royal Society of Marine Artists

The Private View of the 72nd Annual Exhibition of the Royal Society of Marine Artists was very well attended and sales prior to the exhibition opening to the public appeared to be brisk.

Private View of 72nd Annual Exhibition the Royal Society of Marine Artists
The exhibition is in all three galleries of the Mall Galleries until 5pm on Saturday 14th October 2017. (For those unable to attend read my previous post Case Study (RSMA): How to promote an annual exhibition and art for sale online to see how you can see and buy work online).

There are a number of prizewinners - listed below.

There are very nearly 400 artworks in the exhibition with very many of them being very strong paintings executed in an expert fashion. This is an exhibition with strength in depth and anybody who gets selected via the open should be very pleased with their achievement.

This exhibition has a major emphasis on paintings with an overall lean towards the blue/grey/green colour palette! By way of contrast, there is very little sculpture, drawings and fine art prints. The framing tends towards the traditional rather than contemporary. There's a tad too much gilt on show for my liking which I personally don't think suits paintings of boats!

Dramatic skies in marine landscapes
Feature end wall of the Main Gallery had some splendid paintings
Some of the smaller paintings and watercolours
View of the exhibition in the Threadneedle Space.
It's well hung with a good mix of members and artwork selected from the open entry across the exhibition as a whole. I liked the way work by members was mixed up around the galleries with generally no more than three paintings exhibited in one place. This diversity helps keep the exhibition exciting to view as one moves around the Main Gallery, North Galleries and Threadneedle Space.

Lots of boats and some marine creatures
What struck me this time was that it's very instructive to go and see an exhibition which has a fairly tight focus as to eligible subject matter and then see all the different ways that artists explore the topic using different styles and different art media.

Rather more unusual art media I spotted this year include:
Surf's up by Diane Young
Hand-cut paper over acrylics
The RSMA had a tendency to be a very blokish society with relatively few female members. However it now has a female President and I noted that women were well represented in both the open artworks and prizes awarded (see below).  

Below are three such women exhibiting at this year's exhibition.


Felicity Flutter with her watercolour and graphite work
selected from the open entry. Felicity specialises in waves and coastlines
Deborah Walker RI ARSMA with her watercolour painting Littoral Zone
For those who like Deborah's marine watercolour paintings and who are unable to get to London, Deborah also has a Solo Exhibition at John Noott Galleries, Broadway, Worcestershire, 14 - 29 October 2017 and an exhibition with other members of the RI at at The Albany Gallery in Cardiff, 12 October - 4 November 2017

Three oil paintings by Haidee Jo Summers ROI 
- whose new book Vibrant Oils is on sale in the bookshop

Prizewinners


Prizewinners are listed below.

The Charles Pears Award
Low Tide by David Hawthorne (164)
Water is a common theme in David Hawthorne 's paintings. He studied fine art at Berkshire College of Art and University College of Wales, Aberystwyth (1973). He then pursued a career in education and taught for several years as head of art prior to becoming a director of education and head of children's services in a local authority. He returned to full-time painting in 2009.

The Artist Magazine Award
Cloud Bank Island (28) & Infinity in Blue (SOLD) by Natalia Avdeeva ROI 
Natalia's paintings had huge impact in the exhibition and were very exciting. I'm not in the least bit surprised that The Artist magazine wants to share them with its readers.

The Classic Boat Award
They Raced in an Easterly Gale… by J F Morgan RSMA (242)
JF Morgan is actually Jenny Morgan who often works to commission. She
studied at Camberwell School of Art in the 1960s and since then has spent her time sailing, travelling and painting. In 1996 she was elected associate member of the Royal Society of Marine Artists and she won the Classic Boat Magazine prize at the 2007 RSMA annual exhibition.
The R K Burt Canson Prize
After Silence by Deborah Walker ARSMA RI  (366)

The Derek Gardner 'Sea And Sky' Award Helping Hand by John Lines RSMA RBSA (228)

The RSMA 35 or Under Award
Arrival by Natalia Kuptsova (208)

The Russell and Chapple Canvas Prize
Enteroctopus Dofleini by Alice White
oil, ink and spray paint (#374)

The Sea Pictures Gallery Award - St Helens Fort by Martin Swan VPRSMA(355)

The Topbond Marine Award - Offshore by Tony Feld(143)

The Winsor & Newton Oil Prize Staithes Roofs by Gillian Roberts RSMA (297)

Events - demonstrations and workshops


Demonstrations Free

Workshop (Paid) 10:30am to 4:30pm

Click the links to find out how to book a place at one of the workshops.

Special event - with an opportunity to draw

  • 14 October 2017 Sea Shanty Singing (and drawing) Sea Shanties and Folk Songs inspired by the sea in the surroundings of the Royal Society of Marine Artists Annual Exhibition - with free drawing materials supplied by Windsor & Newton!

Archive of posts about past annual exhibitions

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