Portrait Artist of the Year 2021 starts 13th October 2021

I was thinking the other day that now is the time of year when it gets dark early and once a week I settle down to watch Sky Portrait Artist of the Year.

...and so it has come to pass. Book your armchair for next Wednesday night at 8pm on Sky Arts!

Last year it looked like we might only get Portrait Artist of the Week - as filming was originally due to be held during lockdown - but they managed it in the end. Ditto this year, filming has also taken place - again within constraints - so no audience. But this year Joan Bakewell is back - thank goodness!

Check out the sitters in this year's series in the following video

Dates for your diary

The Judges:
art historian Kate Bryan, artist Tai Shan Schierenberg
and independent curator Kathleen Soriano

• a new series of Portrait Artist of the Year 2021 will start broadcasting on Sky Arts (Channel 11 on Freeview) next Wednesday 13th October 2021. It's also broadcast via the streaming service NOW. Which means block out 8pm for the next 10 Wednesday - that's 8 heats, one semi-final and one Final. 
• plus Landscape Artist of the Year will also return in early 2022 - as per normal. My guess would be this will also be Wednesday starting around the second week in January....

The Sitters

Two sitters - and no arty party backgrounds!

Sitters in the series are:

HEATS: 

• singer / songwriters: Gabrielle; Celeste
• Actor: Philip Glenister, Kelly MacDonald, Lydia West, Hugh Skinner, Daniel Mays, Emma Dabiri, Sophie Cookson, Jacob Fortune-Lloyd, Polly Walker, 
• Comedian:  Nish Kumar; 
• TV Presenter: Alexa Chung, Gyles Brandreth, Chris Packham, Grace Neutral, David Olosuga (who all do other things as well)
• Author/Journalist: Alistair Campbell; Ian Hislop; 
• Paralympian: Ali Jawad
• Dancer: Arlene Phillips, Sergei Polunin
• Scientist: Maggie Aderin-Pocock 
• Conductor: Karen Gibson  

SEMI-FINAL: Nick Mason (Pink Floyd)

FINAL: to be revealed - probably in the first show!

The Episode 1 sitters are Gabrielle, Jacob Fortune-Lloyd, Grace Neutral - and I'm obviously completely out of the loop as I only recognise one of those names.... (and don't recognise a number of the other sitters either!)

CATCH UP

This is my blog post about the Call for Entries: Portrait Artist of the Year 2021 (Season 8)

You can catch up on

• previous series on Sky Arts
• my blog posts under this label portrait artist of the year