Expressions in Blue: Monumental Porcelain by Felicity Aylieff

Last night I was at the PV for two NEW exhibitions at the Shirley Sherwood Gallery of Botanical Art at Kew Gardens:

• Expressions in Blue: Monumental Porcelain by Felicity Aylieff - reviewed below;
• Botanical Blues - a selection of botanical paintings from The Shirley Sherwood Collection in Gallery 6 - which will be reviewed shortly on my Botanical Art and Artist News Blog. This showcases works from botanical artists including Susannah Blaxhill, Jinyong Feng and Ursula Romero, depicting many remarkable plant species which can be found in Kew’s Living Collections.

About the Exhibition

This is the largest solo exhibition to date of monumental ceramics in made by Felicity Aylieff. 

It's certainly a "must see" for anybody interested un unusual approaches to creating porcelain, enamelled posts and BIG pots.

 

I gather the exhibition - which opened at the weekend has attracted large numbers very keen to see the monumental porcelain. 

It's certainly an exhibition quite unlike any other exhibition I've ever seen of ceramics.

Felicity Aylieff with her monumental Qing Hua porcelain pots

I'm somewhat surprised to see it at Kew Gardens - as opposed to the shrine of ceramic treasures which can be found in the Ceramics Collection on the sixth floor and other main galleries at the Victoria and Albert Museum.

I gather the reason it's at Kew is because 

• the gardens allow some of the monumental pots to be located outside - and there are two huge ones right outside the museum (which I couldn't see last night in the dark) but you can see in my friend Laurence Hill's photosgraphs of the exhibits
• some of the pots have been decorated with patterns derived from plants and specifically paintings included in the Shirley Sherwood Collection of Botanical Art

I think overall I'd have preferred to see an emphasis by Kew in its marketing on the particular aspects of the exhibition which relate to plants - given that this is a Gallery of BOTANICAL Art - rather than being enticed by the huge monumental blue and white pots (see publicity image above) - nice as they are.

In other words, given the exhibition is at Kew and not the V&A, what's special about the ceramics in relation to plants?

Monumental 'Qing Hua' pots decorated with cobalt blue chloride
The people at the Private View give an indication of the size of the pots

It includes:

• a selection of new, specially created blue and white works, including incredible 5-metre-tall vases painted using a vibrant range of cobalt blue oxides in a technique known as Qing Hua, a signature of Aylieff’s work.
•  a selection of colourful Fencai enamelled vessels, hand painted with designs inspired by the botanical illustrations from the Shirley Sherwood Collection.

Entries for Pastel Society's 126th Annual Exhibition 2025 - closing soon.

Somehow or other I neglected to do my normal Call for Entries for the Annual Exhibition of The Pastel Society. Below is me making up for this omission in time for the deadline foe entries to the 126th Annual Exhibition 2025

This is your chance to take part in a contemporary, adventurous and creative show, presenting a positive challenge to those with pre-conceived ideas about pastel and dry media.

This is an OPEN ART EXHIBITION. If you submit and are selected for the exhibition your artwork will be

• included in the catalogue
• seen by visitors to the Mall Galleries - and it gets a lot of visitors
• viewed online via the Mall Galleries website and that of the Pastel Society - before, during and after the Exhibition
• eligible for a number of prizes & awards - and some have significant cash awards.

Pastel Society | Annual Exhibition 2025 | Key Facts

What drew me to the Pastel Society was the thought of being surrounding by other people fascinated by dry media in particular
Curtis Holder

Venue: Mall Galleries, The Mall, London
Dates: 

• Exhibition: Wednesday 22 January - Saturday 8 February
• Private View: Tuesday 21 January
• The Pastel Society Art Event Evening: Tuesday 28 January, 6pm to 8:30pm

Submissions: 

• ONLINE ONLY and open until 12 noon Friday 15 November 2024
• Notification of selection: Friday 29 November, 12 noon
• Receiving Day (if selected): Saturday 11 January 2025, 10am to 5pm
• Find out more about how to enter:  
• Open Calls - Pastel Society on the Mall Galleries website
• and BELOW.....

This is a video about the exhibition and the Call for Entries

Call for Entries

Artists are invited to submit work in pastel and dry media for the Pastel Society’s 
126th Annual Exhibition, BENCHMARK, sponsored by Caran d'Ache.

Who is eligible to enter? 

• This is an OPEN exhibition and is not limited to work by members.
• This exhibition also has works exhibited by people who live outside the UK. There is no restriction of where you live. It's open to artists in the UK, EU, and outside the EU
• Any artist over 18 may submit.

What media is acceptable for entries?

• All types of pastel including: soft pastel, hard pastel, oil pastel, ink pastel, water-based pastel, conté crayons or sticks, sanguine, and other dry mediums that are similar in their application including charcoal, chalk, and pencil. 

Mixed media works are welcome where pastel or another dry media is the primary medium. Such work should be submitted with a full description of the media used and any process which has been employed in the finished work beyond drawing and painting, e.g. printing, photography.

Bottom line - no sleight of hand! This exhibition emphasises the use of dry media and the expertise of the artist in using it.

What can you enter?

How to get a grant

This is by way of explaining why I'm a bit distracted at the moment.

I'm currently assessing - with others - applications from artists to an art society for some grant funding for very specific projects. 

This is going to take a bit of time....

In a past life, assessing grants - from tiny ones to humungous ones, was part of the seasonal routine of working life. Different sources of funding - for economic and social developments, a range of reasons why grants were available and different aims and objectives for giving out the funds.

There's a more than a few businesses running in London today which I recommended approval of an economic development grant for when they were just starting out. 

The team of people I worked with used to be much loved by central government because we were very good at our jobs. We could always be relied upon to do a robust assessment and make sure all applications had done their homework and got their costings right and had a decent project plan and timeline for delivery - and hence spent the money in the time period they said they would and produced the outcomes and the performance indicators to justify that expenditure. Which is how come we always got the unused funding from other councils to spend on our area. We always kept a list of organisations and projects which could spend more very fast at the end of the year.

There's an art to getting a grant. 

There are things you need to know about what to do - and what not to do.

I can always tell

• those who've made a grant application before; and  
• those who never have; and 
• those who have learned from previous mistakes and know what makes a difference.

It's always a joy to read an application which tells the story simply and clearly and shows the workings in a transparent and comprehensive way. You just know they understand how to make things happen.

Essentially, you need to:

• be specific and focused throughout
• tell them what they want to know i.e. respond precisely to the questions asked in a simple and clear manner 
• provide evidence that you've done your research
• demonstrate you know what's involved 
• justify your costs
• evidence how you've delivered before - and why you're a good prospect

In the past, I've had artists come to me and ask whether I'd cast an eye over their grant application. I'm always delighted to make suggestions and even more delighted when it helps them get their grant. Very often it's about making the writing simpler and easier to understand.

I do what I call "5 minute freebies" for people i.e. I can stop my life and spend 5 minutes in helping you. Or you can ask for more help....

I've been asked to consider doing a talk about the topic of "how to get a grant" next year and will probably do this - to help aspiring grant applicants to do better in future.

I'd be interested to hear your thoughts on what help you need or you think artists need in making applications for grants and other forms of funding. I'll be highlighting this post on my Facebook Page - and will be inviting comments there.

Review: Episode 3 of Portrait Artist of the Year 2024 (Series 11)

Episode 3 pf Portrait Artist of the Year was an interesting one. I always perk up when the self portraits get bigger!

The Artists with series presenter Stephen Mangan

Episode 3: The Sitters

The sitters for Week 3 were all men aged between 30 and 45 - with short hair! 

I'm beginning to wonder if the strategy for series 11 is big names (Episodes 1 and 3), alternating with less well known names (Episodes 2 and 4?)

Top right: Dan Snow
Bottom left: Stephen Frayne
Bottom right: Layton Williams

"The sitters are all giving good sitting and the artists are responding" Tai

The three sitters were

• Dan Snow (age 45) -  a British popular historian and television presenter. He's done a number of epic projects related to past historical events. He seemed to talk most of the time and was a self-confessed fidgit. His special object was a ship in a bottle.
• Layton Williams (age 30) - an English actor, singer, dancer and musical theatre performer known for playing the role of Stephen Carmichael in the television series Bad Education (2012-2014) and his work in the West End theatre. His first job was at the age of twelve playing the title role in Billy Elliot the Musical in London's West End (2007-2008). More recently he excelled in the 21st series of Strictly Come Dancing and was a runner-up in the final. He wore feathers to the Heat - and some very odd trousers and shoes.  His special item was his vocal steamer. There was general agreement among the Judges and artists that Layton was a fantastic sitter.
• Steven Frayne aka "Dynamo" (age 41) - a British magician born in Bradford, West Yorkshire. His television show Dynamo: Magician Impossible ran from July 2011 to September 2014, and saw him win the Best Entertainment Programme award at the 2012 and 2013 Broadcast Awards. He brough a back of cards inside a bottle with an opening which was smaller than the cards.
  

Episode 3: The Artists

"There's some really good artists in the room today" 

Kathleen Soriano

All the artists are listed below alphabetically by surname - but are not differentiated between professional and amateur. 

• The link to their main 'contact' site is embedded in their name and social media sites follow - if available.
• however this week we have more people with no internet presence for their art. I'm assuming they're all amateurs....?

Still no link to their profiles on this page https://www.skyartsartistoftheyear.tv/portrait-artist-of-the-year/profiles/

Artists having a break after they finished

• Brogan Bertie (Instagram) - He was born in 1995 in South London and is now a painter and leatherworker based in Margate. In 2019, he graduated with a BA (Hons) in Illustration and Visual Media from London College of Communication. He worked in freelance illustration and animation until moving to Margate and training in leatherwork with Cope Studio.His self portrait took him 5 hours - but he's practiced painting a portrait within 4 hours before the heat
• Rachel Chen - She's a dental student from Dublin who trains for triathlons
• Manvir Dobb - She studied Spanish and History before switching to Medicine. Lives in Warwick.
• Bessie Kirkham (Instagram) - an artist and a barista living in London. She studied painting at Goldsmiths BA 2020-23 and was Goldsmiths Painter of the Year 2023. She likes painting in blue and her self portrait took 3 months to paint. (I was slightly confused with this artist when the subtitles decided to make her a barrister!)

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Bessie (@bessiefranceskirkham)

• Seana McEvoy (Instagram) - a film studies student from Warrenpoint in County Down. BA Fine Art Currently studying MA Production Design at the National Film and Television School. She likes surrealist art and spent 50 hours on her drawing which looks like a very detailed grissaile
• Simon Painter (Instagram) - A former art teacher, (called Mr Painter) who retired in 2021 from Darwen in Lancashire
• Rob Perry (Instagram) - The Director of Art at a prep school in Surrey. His self portrait was painted in oils and took eight hours. He produced a monumental head of Dan!
• Caroline Pool (Facebook | Instagram) - grew up in Bangkok, Thailand before moving to England where she gained her Foundation Diploma in Art & Design at Central St Martin’s, London and her BA (HONS) Illustration degree at Brighton University. After working in set design for feature films throughout her 20’s, Caroline followed her instincts and returned to painting. Now lives and works in South Shropshire and is a member of Contemporary British Portrait Painters

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by CAROLINE POOL (@carolinepoolart)

• Ben Wilshaw-Quinn (Instagram) - a traditionally trained artist, whose practice focuses on naturalistic figurative and animal art. He's a Fine Art Graduate from Loughborough University. Lives in Bedford and works for a fine art publisher. He had a portrait exhibited  in the Royal Institute of Oil Painters Annual Exhibition in 2023 and was also awarded 3rd prize in the Windsor & Newton Young Artist Award for his self portrait - which is the one he submitted to get into this heat!

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Ben Wilshaw-Quinn (@ben_wq)

The Self Portrait Submissions

Van Gogh at the National Gallery - some practical pointers you'll wish you knew before you went

This is about the Van Gogh: Poets and Lovers Exhibition at the National Gallery - from a different perspective.

I'm not going to review the exhibition per se - instead I'm highlighting 

• PRACTICAL ISSUES for those wanting to visit it.
• Plus a little bit about the exhibition - and other reviews
• AT THE END: For those who want to know more about Van Gogh and his drawings and paintings: a LONG list of previous blog posts I've written about Van Gogh on this blog over nearly two decades.

The Practical Issues

The View of the Sunflowers

FACT: Everybody wants to see this exhibition. 

1. Booking is a challenge
2. Queuing to get in is a challenge
3. Navigating the exhibition is a challenge!! Everybody has got a friend or a family member who may be slightly less enthusiastic, doesn't know how to operate in crowded exhibitions and has equal capacity to "get in the way"
4. Getting a cup of tea afterwards is not straightforward!

#1 TIP:  BOOKING - Don't assume you can visit when you want to

This is a VERY popular exhibition which means:

• you can't walk up and buy a ticket
• it's SOLD OUT on very many days and at very many times in the short term future. 
• they're keeping very strict control about how and when tickets are allocated.

The exhibition closes on 19 JANUARY 2025. 

At the moment, tickets are "available" for dates until 8 December 2024 for non-Members. (i.e. at the moment you cannot book for the Christmas Holidays - I'd recommend not visiting at this time in any case.)

EXCEPT the screens indicate they're very nearly booked up for non-Members

November 2024 - almost 100% booked up for all non-members

Tickets are continuing to book up very fast.  

• Mornings are booking up particularly fast (i.e. by the crowd who come to London for the day, see an exhibition, have lunch, do some shopping, go home)
• In general avoid the middle of the day and early afternoon
• If you are flexible, I'd check out the more 'unpopular times'
• In terms of time, allow at least an hour to view the exhibition. If you want to go round twice (which I'd recommend for all serious fans) you need longer
• However you also need to allow at least another hour to get in. (see queuing below)

In terms of times, if you get the option, I'd recommend 

• avoid the middle of the day.
• Note that Sunday does not get booked up as fast as other days.
• Morning is ideal for avoiding all those people who are lingering long from previous entry times

We went Wednesday morning and really enjoyed it. Not overly crowded, no queue and we could spend time looking at each painting. Plenty of seating if needed.

Liz Wyatt

This is the link to BOOKING TICKETS. 

There is a major bonus for all those, like me, who are Friends of the National Gallery.

• it doesn't cost me anything to get in (although the booking process is confusing and the ticket price does not get knocked off until the end when booking)
• I can go more than once. Last weekend I booked to go back on the 10 December early morning
• Tickets are reserved for members

I do NOT recommend booking for 

• children or 
• anybody who is not a dedicated enthuisiast 
• who is also prepared to put up with the booking issues, the queues and the challenges once you get in!

#2 TIP: You'll be in a queue for A VERY LONG TIME

You are NOT going to just walk in just before your entry time.

Review: 61st Annual Exhibition of the Society of Wildlife Artists

The Natural Eye 2024
61st Exhibition of the Society of Wildlife Artists
in the East Gallery of the Mall Galleries

I saw the Annual Exhibition 2024 of the Society of Wildlife Artists in two parts last week - however they were mixed up with blood tests, innoculations, the Van Gogh Exhibition and a rather remarkable exhibition of bronze desert plants in Chelsea.  So my brain was a tad overloaded last week! Which is why this review is rather late!

Also, this week, I'm having problems syncing my photos between iPhone and Macbook and then between Macbook and Facebook.  I've managed to get one album on FB so far - but the photos aren't all in the right order and some are missing - which I find intensely irritating. (If you saw my folder and file structures you'd know why - I'm VERY organised when it comes to photos and documents).

So - mega whinge out of the way - what I did think of the exhibition?

View of the West Gallery

First, a reminder of the SWLA aims which include 

seeks to generate an appreciation of and delight in the natural world through all forms of fine art based on or representing the world’s wildlife.

Through exhibitions and publications of fine art, the Society aims to further an awareness of the importance of conservation in order to maintain the variety of the world’s ecosystems and its wildlife.

As usual, the SWLA Annual Exhibition is possibly the most contemporary of ALL the FBA Societies (and others) exhibiting at the Mall Galleries. 

It includes paintings, drawings, collage, sculpture, original prints and animation! (I'm seeing more and more videos and animation in art shows). The work is of a very high quality and I'd highly recommend all those aspiring to be selected from the open entry and exhibit in the show to view a visit to the exhibition as a MUST DO if they are to get the scope and flavour of the exhibition.

Looking towards the end wall of the West Gallery

The 61st annual exhibition of the SWLA, The Natural Eye is open to the public until 27 October 10am-5pm (closes 1pm final day). 

Please note that the gallery is closed Tuesday 22 October for a private event.

I try to show people what it looks like with my photos. These will be going online just as soon as I can browbeat my devices and software to talk to one another!! Links below.....

Review: Episode 2 of Portrait Artist of the Year 2024 (Series 11)

I've noticed before that Episode 1 of Portrait Artist of the Year is often a very good episode with some strong contenders.

Whereas Episode 2 often seems to bring us back down to earth in terms of the experience and calibre of some of the artists.

Episode 2: The Sitters

I think I'm calling this the entertainment episode. I only knew who the first sitter was and the other two operate in very specialised fields within music. 

The three sitters - as seen in the Heat

The three sitters were

• Cush Jumbo – The brilliant screen and stage actress who had roles in The Good Wife, The Good Fight, and has also delivered performances in West End Theatres winning her Olivier nominations. She was called an artist's dream sitter as she has a very strong persona.
• Baaba Maal – The legendary singer and guitar player who has spread the rich sounds of Senegal across the globe with his soulful voice and powerful storytelling.
• Carly Paoli – A British classical singer with an italian heritage and a voice so heavenly, even Pope Francis called her “the voice of an angel.” She wore an amazing white sheath with a HUGE red train - and then was invited to sing!

Episode 2: The Artists

Artists in Episode 2 - in a group at the beginning of the heat
Their self portraits are behind them.

All the artists are listed below alphabetically by surname - but are not differentiated between professional and amateur. The link to their main 'contact' site is embedded in their name and social media sites follow - if available.

As always I've dug around online, and these profiles provide more information than the programme does.

The mini bio provided in the programme skips over some rather important information about some of the participating artists.

• Tussi Dunstall - an art teacher from Weymouth
• Tamzin Hennessy - a Warwickshire based property developer. Her self-portrait submission was the first she had ever painted.
• Georgie Huxley (Instagram)  - based in East London she is a professional artist
• Lizzie Little (Instagram Art Pistol) - an art and design teacher who lives in Glasgow. She's a graduate in Painting and Printmaking from the Glasgow College of Art. Likes to draw in graphite and has a curious havit of making her marks horizontally. 
• Mick McNicholas (Facebook, Instagram) - an artist and musician who lives and works in Wokingham in Berkshire. He's a member of the Reading Guild of Artists. He studied Art & Design Foundation in his youth, and has an MA in Digital Media. However all his representative art is self-taught. All his artwork is primarily produced by working from life. He's exhibited in various shows.
• Polly Pincott (Instagram) - a full time professional artist based in Oxfordshire. She is a member of the Oxford Art Society and was a shortlisted artist selected to exhibit at the British Art Prize 2023. She made a point of practising in advance.
• Shyem Ramsay (Instagram) - a freelance artist and property developer. He's  a graduate of the University College of London with a 2.1 honours in architecture.  He turned out to be very cheeky in batting his eyelashes (proverbially speaking) asking the two female Judges what they thought he should do next! They didn't give him any help though. He was also a wildcard in Episode 1 ofLandscape Artist of the Year 2024 at Dunnottar Castle, Aberdeenshire (see Review: Episode 1 of Landscape Artist of the Year Series 9 (2024) ). I'm not getting the sense of he's produced a lot of artwork.
• Pierce Rhodes (Instagram) - based in Dublin but currently based in the Netherlands. He is a self taught artist, art teacher (through YouTube tutorials, workshops, and one-on-one sessions) and life model. 
• Yishu Wang (Instagram) - based in London she is an artist, dancer and model. She's a a recent graduate from Goldsmiths MFA Fine Art in 2023. With a BFA training in oil painting from China Academy of Art (2017-2021). She-s participated in a number of exhibitions in China and London.

QUESTION: Why has the the page on the Portrait Artist of the Year website not been updated for the profiles of participaints in Series 11. I think maybe the social media person must have changed and the replacement has not got a proper set of "this is what you have to do" instructions.

I find you can tell an awful lot about an artist by looking at their own art materials that they've brought with them. It's my entertainment from the setting up stage of the show. It also provides an immediate indicator of who is unlikely to do well.

The Self Portrait Submissions

WHY are Open Calls for Entries Deadlines extended - and what does it mean?

Are you ambivalent about the phrase 

"Submissions for our Open Call are now EXTENDED until ...."

Back in April, Kris Mercer Art said something on her FB Page which I very much identify with - but didn't see at the time. 

Ok. It's gotta be said. My pet hate is this line: Submissions for our Open Call are now extended until ....
Does that mean the submissions so far have been rubbish and you need more or what!
I have made sure that I have got everything together, submit, then only to find that they extend the deadline.
I'm sorry but what is so difficult about picking a date and sticking to it?
If there are artists who haven't yet submitted but wanted to, basically, tough. Get your act together and submit on time and please, please, please organisers stick to the deadline.
Thoughts please Making A Mark

However I saw it some several weeks later and responded AND made a note to make it the topic of a blog post - which I'm addressing today 

I responded to her comment as follows

It means the submissions they have received so far have underwhelmed.

Or they've not been very good at marketing this year.

Or somebody messed up the website and/or social media.

or somebody made the requirements just too onerous for anybody to bother

Or all the above. Take your pick! 

An Open Call Extension suggests.....

... a number of things

This is something of an expansion on my shorthand response above.

The Trinity Buoy Wharf Drawing Prize 2024 to tour UK

The Trinity Buoy Wharf Drawing Prize 2024 is currently on show at Trinity Buoy Wharf, London E14 0JY. All the shortlisted and award-winning drawings can be seen at the exhibition - which finishes on Wednesday 16 October 2024 - prior to the exhibition touring to Salisbury, Falmouth, Dundee, and Manchester - until October 2025.

View of The Trinity Buoy Wharf Drawing Prize 2024 exhibition
first prize winner on extreme right

The Exhibition

The exhibition at Trinity Buoy Wharf is free to visit from 11am to 6pm. 

Another view of The Trinity Buoy Wharf Drawing Prize 2024 exhibition

Future Venues

• The Salisbury Museum (26 October 2024 - 26 January 2025), The Kings House, 65 The Close, Salisbury SP1 2EN
• Falmouth Art Gallery (1 February - 10 May 2025) Municipal Buildings, The Moor, Falmouth TR11 2RT
• Drawing Projects UK (14 May - 10 August 202 Dundee DD1 1EX
• Manchester Waterside Gallery (18 August - 11 October 2025) 1 Waterside, Sale M33 7ZF

From a worldwide submission of contemporary drawings

• 94 drawings by 88 artists were shortlisted for the Trinity Buoy Wharf Drawing Prize 2024 exhibition.
• 21 drawings by 20 practitioners were shortlisted for the Working Drawing Award. 

The selected artists include an ex-teacher of mine! They are:

Max L Adams / Elisa Alaluusua / Lucy Algar / Thomas Allen / Tim Allen / Allou / Jeanette Barnes / Geoff Bartholomew / Sophie Bartlett / Akash Bhatt / Chris Blackburn /Jane Bottery / Eric Butcher / Ruth Chambers / Sarah Chapman / Sara Choudhrey / Hyeyeon Chung / Sara Clark / Gary Clough / David Conway / Aleksandra Czuja / Gerry Davies / Gary Dennis / Emma Douglas / Sarah Duyshart / Jamie Eade / Roy Eastland / Sian Ellis Tillott / Mark John Evans / Kristian Evju / Jonathan Farr / Nicolas Feldmeyer / Celu Ferreira / Charlie Ford / Todd Fuller / Stefan Gant / Ann Gillies / Adam Gray / Christopher Green / Catherine Greenwood / Richard Gregory / Susie Hamilton / Simon Head / Jessica Heywood / Roland Hicks / Fiona Hingston / Ciaran Hughes / Melinda Hunt / Julia Hutton /Owen Johnson / Janette Kerr / Jen Wei Kuo / Tomasz Lacy / Gary Lawrence / Bridget Lesly / Cheryl Lewis / Jo Lewis / Shihui Li / Edward Liddle / Yutong Liu / Juliette Losq / Peter Matthews / Janet Melrose / Jamie Mills / Jilly Morris / Justine Moss / David Mumby / Hannah Naify / Simon Page / Camilo Parra/ Esteban Peña Para / Ben Platts-Mills / Keira Rathbone / Jane Reid / Abbie Schug / Charlene
Scott / Brian Shields / Ilona Skladzien / Jake Spicer / David Symonds / Emma Tabor / Sally Dee Trewartha / Marika Tyler-Clark / Felicity Warbrick / Lynda Whitehouse / Phill Wilson-Perkin/ Hamish Young / Martha Zmpounou

View of The Trinity Buoy Wharf Drawing Prize 2024 exhibition

I personally found the artwork in the exhibition to be of a high quality with a lot of impressive drawings - which varied a lot in terms of media and size and techniques employed. Many of the drawings are large. Many do not employ conventional display methods. The hang is also very good.

It's certainly well worth a visit.

In my opinion it's also better than the one held last year. (see Two Drawing Awards: Winners & Future Exhibitions).

Tomorrow I'll be uploading my photographs of the exhibition to an album on my Making A Mark Facebook Page - and will be highlighting there those artworks which caught my eye.

Awards and Prizes

This 3D work won The Trinity Buoy Wharf Drawing Prize
(see below for more details)

All the artworks submitted were reviewed by the Judging Panel who then selected the shortlisted drawings and award-winners. The Panel was:

• Mary Evans, Artist & Director of UCL Slade School of Fine Art, 
• Gary Sangster, Curator & Writer, Co-Director of Drawing Projects UK, and 
• Jennifer Scott, Director of Dulwich Picture Gallery in London - reviewed 

The four award winning drawings, collectively received £17,000.  The prizes awarded were as follows...

First Prize (£8,000) 
Out of Round: An Abbreviated Outline of British Studio Pottery
2024, steel wire, 170 x 100 x 8cm
by Max L Adams

Max L Adams' award-winning drawing references the Studio Pottery Movement, which in art history marked a shift towards fine art within the craft of ceramics, highlighting the tension between artistic freedom and traditional norms. 

‘My drawings, Out of Round, provide an outline of the Studio Pottery Movement and the subsequent flattening of its forms into icons of regional identity, anti-industrial labour, and domesticity,’’ 

Max L Adams was born in 1992 in Michigan, USA, and is now based in London. He holds an MFA in Arts & Humanities from the Royal College of Art (2023-24) and a BFA in Studio Art from Wheaton College, USA (2011-15). His work has been featured in group exhibitions such as Completion in Motion in Peckham, London (2024) and Finding Place in Crawley, West Sussex (2024). 

Second Prize (£5,000) 
(Left above): The 5th Arch, 2023
graffiti markers, drafting pencil on Bristol paper, 145 x 106cm 
by Owen Johnson. 

Owen Johnson’s award-winning drawing, The 5th Arch, represents a repeated gothic cathedral door motif. Taken from a geometric circular checkerboard arrangement, the motif is organised in a diamond structure, with the shadows of a late summer evening employed to create depth. 

‘The 5th Arch” is a drawing about a space created from memory and through repetition. The drawing is part of a series I have been developing for sometime exploring architecture, pattern and colour

Born in Melbourne, Australia in 1976, Owen Johnson has exhibited widely across the globe and has become well known for his glasswork. He holds a BA in Visual Arts from the Australian National University, Honours in Fine Arts from Monash University, Melbourne, and a PhD from the Royal College of Art in London.  He's currently a Professor at Sheridan's Faculty of Animation, Arts & Design (FAAD) which is Canada's largest art school.

Student Award (£2,000)
Window, 2024
ink on linen (diptych), 120 x 15cm
by Hyeyeon Chung. 

Student Award Winner, Hyeyeon Chung was born in Seoul, South Korea in 1992. She holds a BA in Korean traditional painting from Chung-Ang University and an MA in Fine Art: Drawing from the University of the Arts London.

‘I weave monochrome worlds, fusing scenery and memories. My creative process is marked by meticulous, almost compulsive repetition; a ritual of craftsmanship and dedication. Grounded in intuition, it possesses the precision of a printer's hand,’’

Her award-winning drawing is inspired by contemporary landscape and diasporic experiences, with a focus on cultivating awareness and fostering new perspectives with drawing a pivotal aspect of her practice. 

 

Working Drawing Award (£2,000)

Plan for Cato Mural, Year 8, Spa Fields, 2023,

watercolour on watercolour paper, 76 x 58cm

by Emma Douglas

‘‘It represents his 8th Year. Since his death, my work has evolved into a project of recording the marks he made during his life, the places that we visited and the images that linger after someone has left,’’ 

Born in London in 1965, Emma Douglas holds a BA in Fine Art from Middlesex Polytechnic and an MA in Printmaking from the Royal College of Art. She has exhibited in both group and solo shows across the UK including The Jerwood Drawing Prize, Flowers Gallery, Arusha Gallery and Norwich Cathedral. She currently lives in London. 

This drawing is the plan for a mural the artist installed in Spa Fields, Skinner Street, London. It is the 11th work in a series of 22 murals she is doing in memory of her son Cato who died in 2010 aged 21 years. 

Her instagram account records the prolific and various ways in which she records the life of her son Cato Heath. Each of the squares in her coloured square murals is colour coded to represent one activity - such as physiotherapy, hydrotherapy, speech therapy or Doctors appointments.  

Winner of the Working Drawing Award: Emma Douglas

The Working Drawing Award celebrates the role of drawing within architecture, design and making processes and was chosen by 

• Benjamin Derbyshire, Chair of HTA Design LLP, a leading multidisciplinary design practice, 
• Andrew Grant, Landscape Architect, Founder & Director of Grant Associates, and 
• Caroline Grewar, Director of Programme at V&A Dundee.

About the Drawing Prize

The Trinity Buoy Wharf Drawing Prize is supported by the Trinity Buoy Wharf Trust, and widely regarded as the foremost open exhibition dedicated to drawing in the United Kingdom. The 2024 edition marks the 7th year of generous support from the Trinity Buoy Wharf Trust and is the 30th edition of the annual open drawing exhibition.

NOTE The Drawing Prize has had a number of names in its career - usually influenced by whoever its current sponsor is. It was founded founded in 1994 by Anita Taylor and Paul Thomas as the Rexel Derwent Open Drawing Exhibition. From 2001-2017 it became known as the Jerwood Drawing Prize from 2001 to 2017 and was delivered in partnership with Jerwood Charitable Foundation. The present sponsor is the Trinity Buoy Wharf Trust who became the principal benefactor in 2018. The constant throughout is Anita Taylor.

Review: Episode 1 of Portrait Artist of the Year 2024 (Series 11)

The first episode of the new art competition to find the Portrait Artist of the Year for 2024 kicked off last night (8pm on Sky Arts)

Watch how the self portraits change with every episode. 
(I think) it's always included the winner's self portrait

The first episode of Series Eleven will be repeated at 7pm tonight on Sky Arts. If you've not yet watched, you might want to stop reading now as this review continues in the same pattern as all the reviews I've written for the last six series - since series 4 in 2018

This review post considers:

• the sitters
• the artists
• the self-portrait submissions
• themes observed during the episode - and observations on different approaches
• the portraits - and a new initiative by the marketing people
• the Judging
• the Shortlist
• Episode 1 Winner

Remembering that last year's winner was the winner of Episode 1!

Episode 1: The Sitters

The sitters for this first programme were rather Apple oriented! They were also all aged c.50+. They are:

• Hannah Waddingham (b.1974) - the very impressive actress and singer who won a Prime Time Emmy for her role in Apple's Ted Lasso - which she brought as her significant item - and was also a splendid co-host of the Final of the European Song Contest 2023. She appeared to very motivated to share her experience with her 9 year old daughter.
• Richard Madeley (b.1956) - a regular host and presenter on daytime television for the last four decades and one half of "Richard and Judy. He's also an author. One of those marmite people, you either love him or hate him. He apparently loves maps (I started to warm to him!) and brought an antique globe.
• Saskia Reeves (b.1961) - one of those actresses who appears very regularly in good programmes on our screens - most recently in Apple's Slow Horses. I had no idea she was half Dutch - but she wore wooden clogs to the show and brought the bike she has owned for the last 40+ years.

In the recurring theme this month of "how on earth did I get to be 70?", I was dismayed to realise I'm older than all of them!

Episode 1: The Artists

The Artists in Episode 1 on the steps of Battersea Arts Centre

All the artists are listed below alphabetically by surname - but are not differentiated between professional and amateur. The link to their main 'contact' site is embedded in their name and social media sites follow - if available.

As always I've dug around online, and these profiles provide more information than the programme does.

The mini bio provided in the programme skips over some rather important information about some of the participating artists

• Imogen Alabaster (Instagram) - a contemporary artist who lives and works in Edinburgh, Scotland. She graduated with a degree in Drawing and Painting from Edinburgh College of Art in 2006. Her work has been sold from many Scottish galleries and increasingly through direct sales and commissions, for more than twenty years. Her drawings and paintings have taken on a maternal theme of late.
  
• Jione Choi (Instagram) - An artist who was born in Seoul in South Korea and now lives and works in London. She draws in graphite, on canvas and also paints in watercolour. Her artistic practice is based upon memories - how they appear and disappear.  She received an MFA in Painting from the Slade School of Art  in 2019. She has won numerous prizes: recently, she has won the RWS Young Artist Award 24 and RWS Publicity Prize 23 awarded by the Royal Watercolour Society. In addition, two of her works have been included in ‘Drawing Biennial 24’ organised by Drawing Room. She also won the First prize of Art Gemini Prize 9th edition. 
• Nerissa Deeks (Instagram) - a charity manager from Woking. She loves drawing and painting. Her tiny self portrait submission was painted in two hours using acrylics. I thought it was sublime! It was part of an online challenge she participated in to do a self portrait every day - which sounds to me like a jolly good workout for anybody thinking of applying for next year!
• Dónal Geheran (Instagram) - an artist from Dublin. He draws using pen and ink and a biro and uses patterns repeating motifs in the background. His submission was drawn using a mirro and the background repeats a jug shape.
• Paul Lee (Instagram) - He is a visual effects animator who lives in Tunbridge Wells. He graduated with honours from Birmingham where he studied fine art (1989-91), specialising in painting, at between the years 1989-1991. Since 1994, he has worked as a character and VFX animator in the feature film industry. He returned to oil painting in 2022 and his instagram account clearly demonstrates that he is very capable of capturing both a likeness and expressions and loves to use colour - which he does very well. He has also exhibited at the annual exhibitions at the Mall Galleries (NEAC 2023, Royal Society of Portrait Painters 2024)
• Lloyd Lewis (Facebook | Instagram) - a martial arts teacher and artist from Haverfordwest in West Wales now based in Bristol. He has applied for every single one of the first 10 series and has finally achieved his ambition of being selected to be in a heat. He has exhibited at the RWA, SWAC and BSA and has been a wildcard in LAOTY.  His self-portrait was painted in acrylic and took him a 100 hours. I like the portraits and self portraits on his website much more than the one submitted to the competition. 
• Emilio Bartolome Martin - a chef who wants to become a full time artist based in South London. He studied for an MA in Fine Art at the City and Guilds of London Art School, 2015-2019 and also at the Barcelona Academy of Fine Art, 2023. He is a figurative painter and was selected for the Royal Society of British Artists, Rising Stars Exhibition in 2023 and 2024.  He also won the De Laszlo Foundation Young Artist award at the Green & Stone Gallery Summer Exhibition 2024 with the self portrait he submitted for selection for PAOTY.  (He needs to increase the font size on his website to make it much easier to read!)
• Zully Mejea (Facebook | Instagram) - Originally from Peru. At the time of the heat, she worked as a gallery assistant and also as an artist. She has a BFA from the University of Nevada and her MFA from Goldsmiths, University of London. She creates artworks that engage with the themes of immigration, womanhood and being a person of colour.  Her self portrait originall formed part of her Goldsmiths MFA Degree Show exhibition.
• Matthew Watts (Instagram) - He's a full time artist who lives and works in Bath. His art is primarily portraits and figurative pictures and he paints in oil on wood. He was educated at the West Surrey College of Art & Design. I notice that his portraits on his website rarely look at the artist. His choice of subject matter for this heat was based on a photo he took with a very string tonal shift due to a marked shadow across his face.

[NOTE: The production team have a serious issue with the names of the artists on the captions  not matching up with the names on the press release. I assume it might be something to do with generating captions]

The Self Portrait Submissions