Thursday, March 11, 2021

Call for Entries: New English Art Club Annual Exhibition 2021

The deadline for open entries for the 2021 Annual Exhibition of the New English Art Club (NEAC) at the Mall Galleries is just over six weeks away - Friday 30th April, 12 noon.

The exhibition is currently scheduled for 25th June to 3rd July

I always go back to basics and look at how an art society describes itself. In principle this should help with determining what sort of art is appropriate for the exhibition.

Last year that the description had changed - but remains the same this year.
The New English Art Club is an elected society of contemporary painters whose ethos resides in art informed by the visual world and personal interpretation.

Our Annual Exhibition is a showcase not only for its members but also for aspiring artists: with a history going back more than a hundred years, it is an opportunity for work to be seen alongside some of the best artists painting today, held at Mall Galleries in London.
All the images in this post comes from the annual exhibition in 2020.

Paintings in the 2020 exhibition
    

The nature of the NEAC Annual Exhibition


I'll reiterate below a number of important points about this exhibition and the association open submission

If you are considering whether to submit art via the open entry, it's worth paying regard to various aspects of the NEAC Open Exhibition. These are:
  • LOTS of artists want to be a member of NEAC. (This page explains their route to membership). For example, very many members of the OTHER art societies based at the Mall Galleries would like to be a member of NEAC - so your competition is people who have already been elevated to membership of other societies belonging to the Federation of British Artists.
  • that's because historically it's had
    • status - this art society was established by people who broke away from the Royal Academy of Arts
    • a good reputation (historically) for displaying lots of good quality artwork. Latterly I've argued that this has wavered a bit at times. 
  • over £10,000 in monetary awards are now available - some of which can only be won by a non-member or an emerging artist.
  • around 75% of the artworks hung are by members of NEAC
  • around 20% of artworks hung come from the open and are 
    • by artists who are not a member of any art society based at the Mall Galleries. 
    • This is a LOT LOWER than the equivalent percentage for ALL other FBA Societies.
You can read about the ethos of NEAC and the Metrics (numbers / performance indicators) associated with the club in my call for entries last year. There's no point in updating this yet as 2020 was such a very odd year.

Different perspectives and media

Prizes & Awards

There are a number of prizes and awards - which are open to all artists submitting work via the open entry. These include:

Monetary Awards

  • The Doreen McIntosh Prize: £5,000. In order to reflect the best in figurative painting in British Art, The Doreen McIntosh Prize is for an artist whose work fulfils the New English Art Club’s ideals of rigour, immediate engagement with the visual and a searching attitude.
  • Chris Beetles Gallery Prize for Figurative Art: £2,500 for a non-member artist. Selected by Chris Beetles of Chris Beetles Gallery, St James's, London
  • The Hermione Hammond Drawing Award: £2,000 for a drawing by an emerging artist aged 35 or under
  • The Bowyer Drawing Prize: £500

Art Materials

  • The Winsor & Newton Award: Art materials to the value of £500
  • The Peter Ashley Framing Prize, presented by The Artistic Framing Company: A bespoke handmade picture frame will be created for the winning work, to the value of £500

Publication Awards

  • The Dry Red Press Award: The winning work will be published as a greeting card in the Dry Red Press 'Prize Winners' range, with royalties from the sale of the cards going to the artist
You can see what artwork won which prize last year in 
This is the video by Jason Line, the chap who produced an excellent drawing to win The Bowyer Drawing Prize in 2020.



Call for Entries


This is an OPEN EXHIBITION.
You can find Information about the NEAC exhibition on the Mall Galleries Website.

West Gallery

Eligible artists: WHO can Submit?

Artists are invited to submit work for exhibition alongside members of the New English Art Club at their Annual Exhibition 2021 
Any artist, over the age of 18 - living anywhere in the world - can submit artwork to this exhibition. Both members of NEAC and other international or British artists are invited to submit artwork for consideration.

NEXT there are two DIFFERENT sets of information.
  • The first are the terms of entry which are specific to this NEAC exhibition are in "What can you submit?" below
  • the second is the standard/universal Generic Terms and Conditions relevant to submissions to ANY exhibition at the Mall Galleries by a society which is a member of the Federation of British Artists re. How to Submit and other Terms and Conditions of Entry.

Eligible artwork: WHAT can you submit?


One of the artworks I really liked last year
The Nest by Tom Hughes


These are the Entry Requirements SPECIFIC to the NEAC Exhibition - for ALL artworks.
  • Artwork MUST: 
    • be for sale (unless you are the Prince of Wales!)
    • be Paintings, drawings, pastels or original framed prints to be eligible (Photography, sculpture are NOT eligible) 
    • have been completed in the last two years
    • NOT have been previously exhibited in London (i.e. it can have been exhibited elsewhere in the country). I assume "London" means within the boundaries of any the areas recognised as falling into one of the London Boroughs (Inner or Outer).
    • be completely dry at the time of delivery (or they won't be hung)
    • not be larger than 2.4m along the longest dimension.
  • Number: You can submit a maximum of six works - of which a maximum of three will be selected and hung. (This is one less than the number for other art societies)
  • Price: The minimum price MUST INCLUDE 45%+VAT commission and be not less than £300 except for 
    • framed prints: £180, 
    • unframed prints: £120.
[Note: I've had people report to me last year that the online form refuses to accept any amount less than £300 despite the indicative minimums for fine art prints. If this happens to you I suggest you contact the Mall Galleries direct at info@mallgalleries.com and ask them why the form does not work]
  • The entry fee is
    • £20 per work payable at the time of submitting - up from £18 last year
    • £14 per work for artists aged under 35 - up from £12 last year
    • BOTH fees include free admission to all artists SUBMITTING work to the exhibition (normally £4).
  • NEW THIS YEAR: All work must be submitted online

Timeline - WHEN

  • Submissions open: Monday 22 February, 12 noon
  • Submissions close: Friday 30 April, 12 noon
  • Selection notification: Friday 14 May, 12 noon
  • Receiving Days (if selected): Saturday 12 June and Sunday 13 June, 10am to 5pm
  • Exhibition opens: Friday 25 June, 10am to 5pm
  • Exhibition closes: Saturday 3 July, 5pm
  • Collection of unsold work: Thursday 8 July, 10am to 5pm

small works

Submissions via the Open Entry


The process works as follows.

Read the general terms and conditions (see below). The exhibition and entry process is organised by the Mall Galleries on behalf of NEAC. 
Read the Specific Entry Requirements (summarised above in WHO & WHAT) for this exhibition carefully - including Entry pricing (including concessions for artists under 35)
Register for digital submission - (See Artist Registration if you have never entered before) 


HOW to Submit - Process


Online Selection

Artwork must be submitted onlineThe NEAC judges will view the works on screen and decide which works they would like to see in the final, physical selection at Mall Galleries:
  • Login Page to the Open Exhibition Entry website - for those who have previously registered
  • Submit your entry online prior to the deadline: 12 noon on Friday 30 April. You need to complete the form, pay the fee and upload images of work. [Note: Images must be in JPEG format and under 5MB]
  • ALL selection is based on online entries and associated digital images.  This is to make the process of submitting and selecting work simpler and safer.
  • Check mallgalleries.oess1.uk on Friday 14th May, from 12 noon, to see if your work has been selected for exhibition

Receiving Day (for selected artwork ONLY)

  • Deliver your selected artwork on Saturday 12th June or Sunday 13th June 2021, 10am to 5pm, to Mall Galleries, 17 Carlton House Terrace, London SW1Y 5BD. (i.e. NOT the Mall entrance to the galleries)
    • Those receiving artwork are unable to wrap works or provide wrapping materials for any works being returned.
    • Packaging from delivered works cannot be retained and must be taken away at the point of delivery.
  • Final selection: in front of a Panel of Members of NEAC 
  • Exhibition open: Friday 25 June, 2021 10am to 5pm
  • Exhibition closes: Saturday 3 July 2021 (5pm)
  • Collect unsold work: Thursday 8 July, 10am to 5pm* (I continue to think this is a tad insensitive to those who have a job and work on weekdays! Why not the weekend?)
You can find details of carriers in the UK on

Selection


The Selection Committee is formed of artist members of the New English Art Club. The selectors' decisions are final and no feedback is offered.

To register your interest in becoming a member of NEAC


Submitting artwork via the open entry is one of the ways you can become a member of NEAC. To submit an interest in becoming a member you need to 


Special Note for Artists living/working outside the UK


  • Artists from outside the UK may need to register for VAT, please check with HM Revenue and Customs: https://www.gov.uk
  • Artists sending work from abroad should use a professional art courier
  • Artists who are not resident in the UK but are resident in the EU, if your work is sold at the exhibition you have a responsibility to register and account for UK VAT with H.M. Revenue & Customs. Artists without a UK residence (known as 'NETPs' - non-established taxable persons) can find further details on 'NETP' status and how to register for VAT at http://www.hmrc.gov.uk, (HM Revenue & Customs Reference: Notice 700/1, Mar 2014) under the heading 'Should I be registered for VAT?'. Please note: the registration process can take up to 4 weeks. Please address any questions you may have to the VAT Helpline on tel. no. 0845 010 9000 or, if your call is from outside the UK, +44 2920501 261

My past blog posts about past exhibitions can be found below:

2020: New English Art Club - Annual Exhibition 2020 (Part 1) AND New English Art Club - Annual Exhibition 2020 (Part 2)

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