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Thursday, February 07, 2019

120th Pastel Society Annual Exhibition - Prizewinners

The Pastel Society is holding its 120th Annual Exhibition at the Mall Galleries.  
The first thing I want to say is "Congratulations!" for two reasons:
  • First obviously for making it to its 120th annual exhibition. There's an awful lot of art societies that don't make it that far - or even anywhere near!
  • Next because they have all the details about the exhibition, the prizewinners, the events etc on the website right now - and that information has been available since the day after the private view. So big pat on the back for the webmaster!

The Private View was held on Monday (which I unfortunately couldn't attend as I was unwell) and opened by Alistair Burtenshaw Director of Watts Gallery - Artists' Village. (GF Watts was one of the founding members of the Pastel Society in 1898).

However I got to see it on Tuesday - and hope to be back again before it closes.

This year the exhibition is being sponsored by Derwent - and I do like the way the Pastel Society shares around the opportunity to be sponsor!

Tonight is the The Pastel Society Art Event Evening 2019 - but there are still plenty of events to come - and these are listed at the end

Exhibition

One of the best exhibits on this wall I've seen in a while
You can see the exhibition at the Mall Galleries from today until 3pm on Saturday 3rd March 2018.

You can get Free Entry to the exhibition for Two if you mention Making A Mark at the Gallery Desk (normal price £8)

It includes 281 artworks in total, of which 180 are by members (64%) and 101 are by nonmembers (36%) - in pastels, charcoal, conte chalk, pastel pencils, coloured pencils, Pierre Noire pencil, Graphite, oil pastel and mixed media (which should be predominantly dry)

There are LOTS of ways to view the artwork if it's too far or too expensive to get to London to see the exhibition. You can also:
The only problem with digital versions of the exhibition is you don't get the sense of scale that you get when you see the work in the gallery.

I'm going to leave a review of the "open" aspect of the exhibition until after I go back (I thinking about drawing plants in the gallery on Saturday morning and then having another meander around in the afternoon)

However I will say it's very well hung - you can see that the small team that hung it got the colour balance right. It's also got more contemporary work which is good to see and a fair few red spots!

Plus the end wall is sensational! I recognised the work by Patricia Cain and Jeanette Barnes (left of centre) straight away - but was greatly intrigued by the vivid green artwork - which came from the open entry!  Apparently Carla Groppi won the The Hugh Casson Drawing Prize at the RA Summer Exhibition in 2015.  David Brammeld is doing a session on drawing trees on Saturday afternoon for those who want to learn how to draw trees in winter.

The end wall with work by
(left to right) two works by Patricia Cain, who won the 3rd Threadneedle Prize in 2010
a very large charcoal drawing of the Crossrail Station, Canary Wharf by Jeanette Barnes (an ex tutor of mine),
an extremely vivid work by Carla Groppi and a suite of four works of trees by David Brammeld
Bookshop and view of main gallery gallery
The shop as always has a fair few books relevant to the exhibition. I rather liked this view

Prizewinners

You can see large images of all these paintings in the Mall Galleries facebook Album for 2019 Prizewinners. Each image links to the "buy" page for that artwork.

You can also see images of all the award winners at the Private View on the website

I found most of the artworks - so you can see them in their frames with the award label next to them.

Cash Awards

Alfred Teddy Smith & Zsuzsi Roboz Award (£5,000) - Andrea Santi  'Mum' 

There is one really big cash award at this exhibition and this year a graphite drawing won. The artist is Andrea Santi - but I can't find her online.

This is a blog post by the Mall Galleries about her win - Andrea Santi wins the Alfred Teddy Smith & Zsuzsi Roboz Award

Alfred Teddy Smith & Zsuzsi Roboz Award
'Mum' by Andrea Santi

The Pastel Society Catalogue Award: First Prize (featured catalogue images) and The Unison Young Artist Award (£500) - Oliver Jones Gold Leaf Mask II 

If you want to get noticed, do something very unusual and big and then frame it in an unusual way - and it worked!

I love his website - he's put a speeded up video of himself at work on the home page and you just find yourself staring. A young man who will go far - he knows how to get and keep attention....

'Gold Leaf Mask II' by Oliver Jones, winner of The Pastel Society Catalogue Award: First Prize,
and the Unison Colour Soft Pastels Young Artist Award
Pastel  57 x 123 cm £6,600

You can follow his works - which examines how people distort their looks in pursuit of style and beauty - on Instagram

Annie Longley Award (£250) - Katrina Wallis-King Pine at Sundown


The Annie Longley Award
'Pine at Sundown' by Katrina Wallis-King
Mixed media on mountboard: gesso, acrylic, charcoal & pastel 69 x 69 cm SOLD


Buzzacott Award (cash prize) - Liz Balkwill PS Blue Pitcher 

Blue Pitcher by Liz Balkwill

The Pastel Society Young Artist Award (£200) - Katie Parkin Shifting Tide


The Pastel Society Catalogue Award: Second Prize (featured images) - Keith Bennett Street Kids: Manila


Magazine Awards

These both give the artist a feature article in the magazine.

The Artist Magazine Award (Feature article) - Richard Rees PS Canary Wharf at Night

The Artist Magazine Award
'Canary Wharf at Night' by Richard Rees PSOil pastel 39 x 33 cm SOLD
I think I detect the use of a grid to create the windows. I'll read the article with interest...

Artists & Illustrators Award  (Feature article) - June Arnold PS Street in Ajmer, Rajasthan

I thought June Arnold's work was just stunning.  She works both from observation and in the studio. Do read about her process on the link. The one that won has some great colour mixes for the neutral areas and empty spaces.  It's sold since I was in the Gallery - and I'm not in the least bit surprised.

'Street in Ajmer, Rajasthan' by June Arnold PSPastel 90 x 72 cm SOLD
The one that won the award is top left


Product Prizes


Derwent Award (Sponsor of 2019) £1,000 of products

The Derwent Award
'Pair of Limes with Ivy' by Sarah Bee PSPastel 75 x 75 cm £1,650

Caran d'Ache Award (product prize) - Tom Coates RP PPPS PPNEAC RWS Hon RBA 


Stables at Keeneland, Kentucky' by Tom Coates Hon PS, winner of the Caran d'Ache Award.

Frank Herring & Sons Award - Sophie Amauger The Plunge

Frank Herrig & Sons Award
The Plunge by Sophie Amauger
Pastel 80 x 80 cm £2,100
I am entirely dedicated to outdoor pastel painting, guided by the light and its effects Maître Pastelliste, member of the French Pastel Society, Pastel Arts in France, Italian Pastel Society
Great to see more international artists entering the exhibition.

Henri Roche Award - Halla Shafey Red Sea

Halla earned her B.A and M.A. in Economics from the American University in Cairo in 1987 and 1992. For 25 years, she worked as an economist and Senior Development Consultant with international development institutions



She also exhibited at the Annual Exhibition of the Pastel Society of America in 2018.

Royal Talens Award - Louise Diggle Mother and Child, Bundi


The Royal Talens Award
'Mother and Child, Bundi' by Louise DigglePastel 31 x 36 cm £440

Schmincke Award - Henry Jabbour A Red Head 


A Red Head by Henry JabbourOil pastel 46 x 38 cm £525
A very large image on the Mall Galleries Facebook album - which shows all the textures - and demonstrates that taking a good photo really makes a difference when it comes to selection.

Unison Member Award - Jill Jeffrey PS Way Back from Strumble

The prize was awarded to the work top left in the photo below

Unison Member Award
Way Back from Strumble by Jill Jeffrey PSPastel 73 x 57 cm SOLD


Unison Non-Member Award - Katrina Wallis-King Day's End at Priddy




West Design, Faber Castell Award - Rosmery Mamani A Little Humanity



Events


There have been three demos already.  It would appear that the demos and talks section of the Pastel Society website is ahead of the Mall galleries one which I don't think doesn't have all the ones listed below 

John Tookey demonstrating

However the ones for the rest of the exhibition are:
  • Fri 8 - Simon Hodges PS – ‘Let’s Talk About Freedom In Sketching, Drawing And Painting’ 2pm
  • Sat 9 - David Brammeld PS – ‘Winter Treescapes in Graphite’ Demonstration 1 - 3pm
  • Sun 10 - Cheryl Culver PPPS ‘Rocks in Pastel’ Demonstration 2 - 4pm
  • Mon 11 - Jan Munro PS ‘Still Life’ Demonstration 1-3pm
  • Tues 12 - Sue Relph PS – Demonstration: Two portrait models alternating every half hour. Opportunity to sketch 12 noon - 4.30 
  • Wed 13 - Simon Hodges PS – ‘Let’s talk about freedom in sketching, drawing and painting‘ 2pm
  • Thur 14 - Brian Dunce PS Talk ‘Gorilla. Why and How’ 2pm 


More posts about the Pastel Society



You can review previous posts about Pastel Society exhibitions - from my archives.  As you can see this is my 14th review of this exhibition!
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