Thursday, July 18, 2024

Call for Entries: Royal Society of Marine Artists

You might think the Annual Exhibition of the Royal Society of Marine Artists is just for artists who paint boats - and hence a very niche marketplace - but you'd be wrong. 

Indeed, in my opinion, it's well worthwhile checking out what sort of artwork is acceptable in this exhibition - which attracts a lot of collectors.


The Call for Entries for the next annual exhibition closes at 12 noon on Friday 26 July - so plenty of time to check out whether any of your artwork fits with their criteria and get an online submission completed!

You can check out my review of the last annual exhibition here - Review: 78th Annual Exhibition of the Royal Society of Marine Artists. It includes links to my albums of photos of the exhibition on my Making A Mark Facebook Page

The RSMA leads the way by being:
  • the OLDEST marine art society
  • the BIGGEST marine art society - in terms of members
  • the ONLY marine art society with an online exhibition which opens before and continues after the gallery exhibition.
This is an exhibition which generates a decent level of sponsorship of various awards valued at £10,500.  
 

What is the criteria for entries?


What's the scope of subject matter?

It's NOT just about boats!
The Royal Society of Marine Artists seeks submissions of art inspired by the sea and marine environment, including harbours and shorelines, traditional craft and contemporary shipping, creeks, beaches, wildlife - in short anything that involves tidal water.
  • Subject matter MUST be: 
    • essentially marine in nature, 
    • relating in some way to tidal waters of the world; 
  • Subject matter MAY be: topographical, historical, still life, and figure painting are all welcomed.
  • Works relating to non-tidal rivers, inland lakes and waterways etc. are NOT ACCEPTED. 
The RSMA Annual Exhibition in 2023 - in the East Gallery

What can you submit?

In reality, most are paintings with some drawings and sculpture and few prints.
  • Number of artworks: up to six works - but note that a maximum of four might be selected. Typically it's more often one or two for people new to the exhibition
  • Size of artwork: Works should be no larger than 2.4m along the longest dimension.
  • Acceptable media: 
    • Paint: Oil, acrylic, watercolour, 
    • Prints: original prints of any media, 
    • Drawings: eg pastels, graphite, charcoal
    • 3D/Sculpture
    • mixed media, textiles
  • Age of artwork: submit new work not previously exhibited
  • Essential: All works must be an original creation by the artist
  • Sales: 
    • All works must be for sale. 
    • There is a minimum price per work of £600 - which I said was a BIG mistake last year - and I believe sales were reduced as a result
    • Prices for prints should start as 
      • framed £325, 
      • unframed £200.
In 2021, the vast majority of sales (80-85%?) are artworks were priced at less than £1,000. There were a LOT of buyers for small artwork priced at less than £500.
Last year, 419 artworks were listed in the catalogue. Of these 354 remain listed as unsold on the online website for online sales.

Who can submit entries?

Any artist aged 18 or over may enter, from anywhere in the world.

How to submit Entries

View this page on the Mall Galleries website https://www.mallgalleries.org.uk/open-calls/royal-society-marine-artists

Upload your work to the Open Exhibition Submission System (OESS) for the Mall Galleries
  • Artists are advised to submit their work well in advance of the deadline to allow time for assistance with their application if required.
  • Remember, the price of your artwork must allow for 45% commission + VAT
There is a non-refundable submission fee of £20 per work, or £14 per work for artists aged 35 or under. The submission fee includes free admission to the exhibition (normally £5).

Selection

The Selection Committee is formed of artist members of the Society and is rotated annually. Selectors' decisions are final and the RSMA are unable to offer feedback.

The Selection Process has just 2 stages:
  • Stage 1: Selection from digital online entries - notification of the outcome available 12 noon on Friday 9 August 2024 Log in to the OESS to see if your work has been selected
  • Stage 2 - Receiving Day for selected artworks: Artists must deliver their artwork to The Mall Galleries, 17 Carlton House Terrace, London SW1Y 5BD on Saturday 7th September, 10am to 5pm. Alternative arrangements are available for those who live outside London or cannot deliver there are regional collections. See this link for information on couriers who deliver to the Galleries. Please contact the companies for cost, collection times etc.
  • To get hung, the artworks must look like the digital image and match the details submitted and be presented well.
If selected works arrive damaged, with unacceptable framing, size discrepancies from the original submission, or not as shown online, these will be withdrawn and will need to be collected from Mall Galleries by the artist at their expense.

 

The Annual Exhibition 2024


This is being held from 19th - 28th September 2024 in all three galleries at the Mall Galleries. (link is to the 2023 exhibition)


Archive of posts about past annual exhibitions


I've been reviewing these exhibitions since 2007 and each review below contains comments about the hang, some of the paintings and images of what some of the walls and artwork looked like

Posted by Making A Mark on Thursday, July 18, 2024
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