Monday, September 04, 2023

FINAL Call for Entries: Society of Wildlife Artists Annual Exhibition 2023

You have until 12 noon on Friday 8th September to get your entries submitted for the Open Annual Exhibition 2023 of the Society of Wildlife Artists.

For some completely unfathomable reason, I've only just realised that I somehow never did the Call for Entries for the Society of Wildlife Artists Annual Exhibition 2023 called "The Natural Eye".

So here's a reminder that the DEADLINE for ONLINE SUBMISSIONS ONLY is noon on Friday 8th September.

You can see images of the artwork in past exhibitions in my reviews listed at the end of this blog post

Sculptures and paintings from last year's exhibition

Call for Entries

"The focus of the Society’s year is the annual exhibition, The Natural Eye, featuring all art media. This is an open exhibition, held every autumn at the prestigious Mall Galleries in London. It is a showcase for the very best of art inspired by the natural world and is considered the foremost event in the British wildlife art calendar." - Harriet Mead, President

Below is the "what you need to know" to send in an entry.
See also https://www.mallgalleries.org.uk/open-calls/society-wildlife-artists-open-now


ARTISTS: Who can enterAny artist over 18 may submit.
  • It's is NOT restricted to artists who live/work in the UK.
  • If you're an international artist you can submit artwork to this exhibition - but first make sure you understand that involves.
ARTWORK: What can you enter

  • Work should be 
    • based on representing the world’s wildlife and
    • should have been completed within the last three years.
  • A maximum of six artworks - and if you are successful, all six will be hung!
  • All artwork must be for sale.
  • Acceptable media: 
    • Work may be in any medium including drawing, painting, sculpture and original prints (if prints, please detail edition and how many are available).
    • The SWLA is keen to embrace new and innovative mediums and will accept computer-generated images as ‘original prints’. However, a digital print is only considered an original print if it was created by the artist to be realised specifically 
      as a print.
  • Ineligible media
    • Reproductions of paintings or photographs will not be accepted.
    • Photographic reproductions or mechanical prints, giclée prints, etc., that are often promoted as ‘limited edition prints’ are not acceptable.
  • Inadmissible artwork
    • Work exhibited previously at Mall Galleries is not admissible.
    • botanical subjects, pets and domestic animals, 
    • art on decorative wares (such as vessels or tiles). 
    • Works depicting wildlife divorced from its environment or without place, setting or context are rejected in many cases. 
  • Artwork which will NOT be hung
    • Artworks that are poorly presented
    • or differ significantly from the photograph entered will not be exhibited.
ENTRIES: Deadline 


The deadline for all ONLINE SUBMISSIONS ONLY is 12 noon on Friday 8th September 2022 you need to 

  • complete the online form 
  • pay your submission fee 
  • upload your digital image(s) Images must be in JPEG format and under 5MB

MONEY: How much does it cost to submit an entry?

  • The submission fee is £20 per work (or £14 per work for artists aged 35 or under).

KEY POINTS ON PRICING - how should I price my art?

I've written many times about pricing for exhibitions at the Mall Galleries. While the Own Art option (of paying in instalments) is available, it's not obvious or well advertised and hence the 'nuts and bolts' are these
  • Most of the people who buy art at the Mall Galleries are characterised by me as being "Middle Class Middle England on Middle Income". You will have noted that they are just as concerned about the cost of living as everybody else. 
  • My advice is to submit your best work - because people will still be buying (just less than usual) / adding to their collections but do NOT be silly about prices. Do your research!
  • Commission is charged at a rate of 45%+VAT (except re foundry fees for sculpture - see detailed notes on the website)
  • Do not price above £2,500 UNLESS
    • EITHER you're either a well established artist with a very good following of active collectors (which applies to quite a few of the members)
    • OR it's an excellent artwork and you've sold at this price before
    • OR you don't mind insuring and shipping expensive artwork to the exhibition and then back to your studio if it doesn't sell
  • NOTE that:
    • most art sells for less than £1,500
    • the most popular price range is £501-£1,000
    • small works priced between £200 and £500 sell well
    • the minimum price is £200
    • EXCEPT for Prints: framed £120, unframed £95 - but note that buyers are NOT charged for postage and packaging of unframed prints and your pricing for unframed prints needs to take this into account
SELECTION

  • The Selection Committee is formed of artist members of the Society.
  • Your notification of whether you've been successful and been selected to hang in the exhibition is Friday 22 September
  • The selectors' decisions are final and no feedback is provided.

DELIVERY & COLLECTION

EXHIBITION at the Mall Galleries


Why enter this exhibition


Sculptures and paintings from last year's exhibition

This is a very popular exhibition with a lot of art collectors who visit every year. It regularly achieves good sales from the display of c.350 original artworks from both members and non-members including paintings, drawings, original prints and sculptures.

The Annual Exhibition is called The Natural Eye and I've always thought this neatly encapsulates two important aspects of the exhibition
  • firstly it's about very best of fine art inspired by the natural world
  • secondly, it's also about artwork which has been drawn, painted, printed or sculpted only after encounters with wildlife i.e. it's NEVER ever copied from another artist's photograph of a wild animal - and the members of the Selection Panel can tell!
The latter reason is why you won't see a lot of endangered animals or big cats which are much photographed and omnipresent in other wildlife art exhibitions.

Although art is submitted by members and artists who live all over the world, most of the artwork is typically much more focused on the wildlife in their own localities - whether on the land, in the sky or in the water - or in places they've travelled to in order to see the birds or animals.

Birds is another aspect you need to know about. This exhibition is BIG ON BIRDS!  Those who enter open wildlife art competitions will know there is a very large subset of fanatical birders who create art - and this exhibition is no exception.



My blog posts include images of artwork in the annual exhibitions:

2022
Posted by Making A Mark on Monday, September 04, 2023
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