Gary Lawrence wins Jerwood Drawing Prize - for the second time

Gary Lawrence has won the £8,000 First Prize in the Jerwood Drawing Prize 2017. It's the second time he's won First Prize. He also won in 2011

GARY LAWRENCE SCOOPS JERWOOD DRAWING PRIZE FOR INTRICATE GREEK STUDY - @afternynemag on the #JDP17 winning works https://t.co/R8ce56Jf5z pic.twitter.com/s7jYc9sy1C

— Parker Harris (@ParkerHarrisCo) 15 September 2017

Last time he won with a very complex 6ft by 4ft drawing called Homage to Anonymous - as a tribute to unknown artists. He produced a simple view of Pothea reflecting on his holiday to the principal town on the Greek island of Kalymnos

using a packet of ten Tesco Value budget pens which he used to ink his images onto the reverse side of old Woolworths advertising posters.Hard-up artist bags £6,000 prize after using 3p biro to create stunning landscape | Daily Mail

This time he's won by producing an equally large drawing - also of the town of Pothea on Kalymnos. This time he's used poster paint (I assume that's the yellow background) and felt pens.

The fridge magnet reference relates to the two boards of bridge magnets with "scenes from Greece" on them which are then reproduced in little 'thought' bubbles on the edge of the paper. Each is accompanied by a comment from the artist – ‘Athens – never been here’, ‘Cyprus ‘08 ok-ish’, ‘Zante Town – Euro Spar’.

It reminds me of some of the drawings produced in the past which used to illustrate a journey with small drawings around the edge showing scenes from the route.  Quite why it should be yellow is not explained.

Winner of the Jerwood Drawing Prize 2017
Gary Lawrence, Yellow Kalymnos with Fridge Magnets, 2017.
Felt pen and poster paint on canvas, 250 x 249cm. Photo: Colin Mills

The artist is from Wethersfield, Essex and was also shortlisted for the Derwent Art Prize 2015.

One of the panel of selectors, Michael Simpson, comments on the drawing as follows

“a brilliant evocation of a time capsule; of time squashed in on itself as a topographical romance in retrospect.”

While the drawing is an undoubted complex piece of work, I'm not quite sure how awarding the First Prize to somebody for the second time when the aim the Jerwood Drawing Prize is

promoting and celebrating the breadth of contemporary drawing practice

On the whole I prefer prestigious prizes which you're allowed to win once. My reasons are as follows:

• Such a rule means that the benefit of the prize, not to mention the prize money, is spread amongst the widest pool of deserving artists. Ultimately that means it has the scope to enhance the careers of more artists - and that's no bad thing.
• If you allow a prize to be won for a second time, then you begin to entertain scope for 
• the "Ant & Dec" problem (entertainers who have won the "most popular entertainment programme in the National Television Awards every year but one going back to 2003)
• accusations of favouritism

Nothing to stop other artists winning the other prizes more than once - but for me the rule of "win and that's it" for First Prize has a cogent rationale in the context of competitions generally and the aims of this one in particular.

Other Prizewinners

Evelyn Williams Drawing Award (£10,000) 

The final selection was made by

• Elizabeth Gilmore, Director, Jerwood Gallery, Hastings; 
• Anita Taylor, founding Director, Jerwood Drawing Prize, and 
• Nicholas Usherwood, Art Critic and Curator and trustee of the Evelyn Williams Trust.

Barbara Walker won this new prize - which incidentally has the most prize money.  (Is this the new name of next year's drawing award given this is the last year of Jerwood Sponsorship?)

She's a very impressive artist with an outstanding portfolio of 'proper' drawings. 

Her figurative drawings explore race identity, belonging, class and power.  This drawing comes from her Shock and Awe series of drawings about the contribution of Black servicemen and women to the British Armed Forces and war efforts from 1914 to the present day. It includes embossed lines to represent the non-Black service personnel.

She's currently exhibiting in the Diaspora Pavilion at the Venice Biennale. (see my blog post
Khadija Saye and 'The Venice Biennale: Britain's New Voices' on BBC2 which includes my comments on her drawings for this exhibition.)

Winner of the £10,000 Evelyn Williams Drawing Award
Barbara Walker, Exotic Detail In The Margin#2,
Graphite on embossed paper, 52 x 61cm. Photo: Colin Mills

Other Jerwood Drawing Prize Awards

Jerwood Drawing Prize 2017: Call for Entries

Registration is now open for entries for The Jerwood Drawing Prize 2017 which has a first prize of £8,000.

View of part of last year's Jerwood Drawing Exhibition 

This is the last year of Jerwood's sponsorship of The Drawing Prize project.

• The project was founded in 1994 as the Rexel Derwent Open Drawing Exhibition 
• Between 1996 and 2000 it was known as the Cheltenham Open Drawing Exhibition
• Then in 2001, the Jerwood Charitable Foundation became its principal benefactor. 

It's now a prize in search of sponsor for 2018.

In the meantime the 2017 exhibition for The Jerwood Drawing Prize is seeking entries for and exhibition and somebody to give the prizes to!

Those who entered the Derwent Drawing Prize in 2016 should certainly be taking a look below...

One of the Student Awards 2016
went to the drawings of "dreams and nightmares" by Amelie Barnathan

Jerwood Drawing Prize 2017 - Summary of Key Points

This open exhibition is a platform for drawing practitioners to showcase their work alongside other leading contemporary artists in the field, and provides those selected with the opportunity to help promote a wider understanding of drawing for future generations. 

Second Prize 2016: Sid in Bathtub
ball pen on tracing paper
by Anna Sofie Jespersen

• The deadline for registration of entries is 17.00 on 28th June 2017
• Significant cash prizes for drawing
• Up to 3 drawings
• Online registration - this is the online entry page
• Drawings must then be submitted to a number of Regional Collection Centres for drop-off and/or pick-up in Scotland, Wales, Northern Ireland and around the English regions - see end of this post
• Fees for submission vary between London and the Regions.
• Work can be for sale - but you need to allow for the 50% commission levied on all sales made at the exhibition(s).
• Notification of selection will via email by Friday 21 July 2017

For further information and links please visit

• the Rules and Guidelines
• the Downloads/Links.
• the Submission/Collection Timetable - between 14th and 26th July (each Centre has its own unique dates)

Eligible artists - Who can enter

The Jerwood Drawing Prize is open to

• artists resident in the UK
• everybody who works with drawing from students to established artists.

Only artists who have registered online by 5pm on 28 June 2017 will be eligible to submit their drawings to the Submission Centre.

The Jerwood Drawing Prize is open to all artists resident in the UK. (So you don't have to be born here but you need to be living here legally.)

Eligible Drawings - What you can enter

• Work MUST have made since January 2016
• You can submit up to three drawings (note you can change your mind about how many drawings you're submitting up until 28 June)
• Composite drawings must be presented within one frame.
• Work should not exceed 2.5m in any dimension when framed.
• There are specific requirements as to framing
• Each drawing must be authenticated by the artist in an appropriate place (eg signed and dated, on the reverse of the work or frame is acceptable). 

Note there is no stipulation as to what you draw with - or what you draw on or how you draw - and this is intentional.

Note that the First Prize in 2016 was won by a video - Singularity by Solveig Settemsdal (b.1984) - see BBC | Video Art wins Jerwood Drawing Prize

"which offers an almost sculptural digital rendering of the transformative and fluid drawing process."

The Selection Panel 2017

The Selection Panel will aim to create an exhibition that explores and celebrates the excellence and range of current drawing practice in the UK.
The Panel members are:

• Dr David Dibosa, writer, researcher and Reader in Museology at the University of the Arts London. A number of you may remember Dr Dibosa from the BBC's Big Painting Challenge. I was not impressed - as readers of my blog posts about each episode may recall. He's an academic and a curator not a practising artist. I'm guessing he might be better suited to this role.
• Helen Legg, Director of Spike Island, an international centre for the development of contemporary art and design, based in Bristol (who has got an interesting Twitter account @elenheggl) and 
• Michael Simpson, artist - who seems to have a connection to Spike Island - this is an interview with him

Last year the selection panel viewed 2,537 works submitted by 1,408 entrants over a two-day period.

The Exhibition

Up to 70 drawings will be selected for the exhibition.

It may be less. Last year 61 works by 55 artists were selected for the 2016 Jerwood Drawing Exhibition

The Jerwood Drawing Prize 2017 exhibition will, as usual, be at the Jerwood Space, 171 Union Street, London SE1.

• The Jerwood Drawing Prize winners will be announced on Tuesday 12 September 2017.
• The exhibition opens to the public on 13 September and continues until 22 October 2017.

It will then tour to venues across the UK.

The Jerwood Drawing Prizes 2017

• First Prize: £8,000; 
• Second Prize: £5,000 and 
• two Student Awards: £2,000 each 

All four prizewinners in 2016 were women.

• The second prize was won by Anna Sofie Jespersen (b.1992) for her ball pen on tracing paper work, Sid in Bathtub (studying for a Fine Art Degree at Chelsea College of Art)
• Two Student Awards of £2,000 each went to 
• Jade Chorkularb (b. 1971) for "That What They Would Do" a video of real-time drawings during interviews with people being asked what they would do if they only had an hour left to live.
• Amelie Barnathan (b. 1991). studying for her MA in Visual Communication at the RCA produced large-scale drawings which rendered dreams and nightmares. 

Collection Points

• London - Wimbledon College of Art 
• Bath - Bath School of Art and Design
• Belfast - School of Art University of Ulster 
• Aberystwyth - Aberystwyth University, School of Art
• Cheltenham - University of Gloucestershire Hardwick Campus 
• Glasgow - Centre for Contemporary Arts
• Leeds - The Tetley 1st Floor Galleries
• Newcastle-upon-Tyne - Fine Art Department, King Edward VII Building, Newcastle University
• Norwich - Outside Colman House, University of East Anglia
• Plymouth - Main reception Plymouth College of Art 

Please note that all Submission and Collection dates and times may be subject to change.

You can see past posts on this blog by reviewing posts tagged Jerwood Drawing Prize

Jerwood Drawing 2016 (Part 1) - Solveig Settemsdal wins First Prize

The Jerwood Drawing Prize "....aims to celebrate the breadth of contemporary drawing practice within the UK."

It also claims to have the longest and largest open exhibition for Drawing in the UK. It's certainly the longest (I think they might mean 'oldest') - but I think I'd dispute whether it's the largest without knowing the criteria for how this is measured!

For the record, this year the panel of selectors saw 2,537 works submitted by 1,408 entrants over a two-day period.

The selected artworks, and prizes, represent the selectors’ diversity of understandings and varied insights into contemporary drawing.

This year the selected artwork includes hand drawn, digital and three-dimensional works.

On Tuesday night the winners of this year's prizes for drawing were announced at a reception to which I was invited but was unable to attend.

In this post (Part 1) you can find below :

• the names of the prizewinners 
• the images which won
• the names of the artists whose work was selected for the exhibition
• where you can see the exhibition as it tours the UK
• the events associated with the Exhibition.

In tomorrow's post (Part 2) I'm offering a commentary on how this prize is run. I would like to make it clear I'm not critical of the prizewinners - but I do think there needs to be a major rethink about how this competition is run.

Jerwood Drawing Prize - The prizewinners

The prizewinners in 2016 come from Norway, Denmark, Thailand and Italy/France.

All live and work or study in London.

First Prize (£8,000)

a still from the video Singularity created by Solveig Settemsdal

Is a way of recording how a drawing is made a drawing? I would argue it is - but ONLY if this is stipulated in the rules (see Part 2 tomorrow)

This year the First Prize has been won by a video Singularity created by Solveig Settemsdal (b.1984). This is the first video to win this prize - which seems odd since I've been seeing videos about drawing in exhibitions for some time. However maybe the difference is that the videos I've seen have been of the process of drawing in 2D and this video is about transforming space in 3D.

The video offers an almost sculptural digital rendering of the transformative and fluid drawing process.

Settemsdal comes from Norway, graduated from Glasgow School of Art in 2010 and is currently based at Spike Island in Bristol.  She has been working between drawing, sculpture and photography starts her MFA in sculpture at the Slade School of Fine Art in September 2016.

She uses materials which are easily affected by their surroundings to engender sculpture with a certain liquidity; embodying a constant potential for transformation. Inorganic and biological substances are often pitted against each other to initiate a balance between conscious intention and unconscious material process.

In this instance the substances are white mineral ink and a lattice of the biological gelatine.

Does using ink make it a drawing? It's perfectly possible to capture the drawing process on video in other ways and I've seen many such videos - so what makes this one different - and why describe it as a drawing?

I'm not sure I'd call this a drawing so much as a video of a liquid 3D sculpture.  The movements which make it are not unlike those which make 3D art. It's only 2D because it was filmed.

The video is certainly teetering on the edge of the boundaries between drawing and sculpture and digital art and I guess it's this reason which won it the top prize.  However I'd love to know

• WHY it's in a drawing competition - as opposed to a sculpture competition - and 
• WHY it got the top prize.

Now if it had been an animation I'd be absolutely clear why is was a drawing. I guess what I'm looking for are comments from the judges which state explicitly why they consider this to be contemporary drawing practice. However there are none.  (How does this expand our knowledge about the scope of contemporary drawing practice?)

Maybe this could be remedied next year?

Below is a 45 second extract from the 9.31 minute film - from the very beginning of the film. Personally I think it's a pity that the section she made available to share on her website isn;t extracted from later in the film when it's clearer how the ink and gelative were manipulated.

Jerwood Drawing Prize 2016: Call for Entries

The 22nd Jerwood Drawing Prize, the largest and longest running annual open exhibition for drawing in the UK, is calling for entries from artists.

The deadline for registering up to three entries is 5pm on Monday 27 June 2016.

The Prize aims to promote the breadth in drawing practice and celebrate excellence in contemporary drawing in the UK. This post contains images from last year's exhibition.

EXHIBITION: You can see The Jerwood Drawing Prize 2016 exhibition at the Jerwood Space, 171 Union Street, London SE1 between 14th September and 23rd October 2016. It will then tour as an exhibition various venues across the UK (details to be supplied).

PRIZES: There are some significant prizes - for drawing which will be awarded at a ceremony on 13th September.

• First Prize – £8000
• Second Prize – £5000
• Two Student Awards of £2000 each

Jerwood Drawing Prize 2016

Who can enter?

The Jerwood Drawing Prize is open to

• artists resident in the UK
• everybody who works with drawing from students to established artists.

Only artists who have registered online by 5pm on 27 June 2016 will be eligible to submit their drawings to the Submission Centre.

What can you enter?

As usual, the competition says precisely nothing about what it considers to be drawing. You consequently are given the latitude to interpret it as you see fit.

Eligible works MUST:

Jerwood Drawing Prize 2015: Selected Artists

The names of the 58 selected artists for the Jerwood Drawing Prize 2015 have been announced.  Each has had one work selected apart from one artist who has had three selected.

The Jerwood Drawing Prize is the largest and longest running annual open exhibition for drawing in the UK

You can read more about the competition in my earlier blog post Jerwood Drawing Prize: Call for Entries (18 May 2015).

Jerwood Drawing Prize 2015: Selected Artists

The names of the selected artists - and links to their websites are detailed below.

The website link is my best guess from what I can find in a relatively short space of time. If I've got it wrong please let me know - comment on this post or send me an email (see side column) and I'll revise it.

As always I am completely amazed at how the 'art' gene seems to have bypassed vast swathes of people whose surnames start with letters in the second half of the alphabet!

• 40 selected artists (69%) have surnames which start with letters in the A-M range and 
• 18 selected artists (31%) have surnames which start with letters in the N-Z range

I make this point every time I see a range of names which vary very significantly from a 'normal' distribution. Maybe artists with names in the second half of the alphabet have given up applying for art competitions?

I've included below images from artists who have announced which drawings have been selected for the exhibition.

If anybody else would like their selected image included in this post please send me a jpeg (see contact details) and reference where I can see this on your website.

The selected artists for the Jerwood Drawing Prize 2015 Exhibition are listed below. If you've ever needed some stimulation for revamping your website you should try looking at some of their websites  - links are embedded in their names.

A

• Elisa Alaluusua
• Ian Andrews

B

• Robert Battams
• Frances Blane
• Hannah Blight-Anderson
• Pia Bramley
• Pete Burke

C

• John Close
• Julie Cockburn
• Daniel Crawshaw

D

• Gerry Davies
• Cinzia Delnevo
• Sammy Dent
• Hanna ten Doornkaat
• Emma Douglas

After Joseph Beuys' Wirtschaftswerte (Economic Values) by Bryan Eccleshall
16 panels = 100 cm x 100 cmif you click the above link you can read about the process used to construct this drawing of a painting

E

• Bryan Eccleshall + Facebook Page + 365drawings A drawing for every day of 2013
• Pennie Elfick
• Susan England
• Exchange + Draw (a collaborative drawing duo a.k.a Richard Lloyd & Alan Parsons)

F

• Mark Farhall previously exhibited in Jerwood Drawing Prize 2010
• Craig Fisher
• Nina Fowler - shortlisted for Jerwood Drawing Prize in 2008. These are some of her past exhibitions - so much more interesting that a list. Why don't more artists list their exhibitions like this?

G

• Thomas Gosebruch - he has his own particular interpretation of the word 'drawing'

Drawing by Roland Hicks
selected for the Jerwood Drawing Prize 2015 Exhibition

H

• Thomas Harrison
• Roland Hicks - see a view of his selected work on his website above 
• William Hughes
• Julia Hutton

J

• Mehr Javed
• Ben Johnson + Facebook Page  - I must confess I think of Ben Johnson as a photorealist painter (of large urban landscapes).  I wonder what he's drawn!  He won the Threadneedle Prize 2014 Visitors' Choice Award  This is an interesting blog post on the Jackson's Art Blog Blog 
  Painter Ben Johnson’s Review of the Year

K

• Ali Kayley
• Nigel Kingsbury

An example of Lois Landmead's work from her studies at Glasgow School of Art 
This is 'Anatomical Glove' - Glass beads of the dorsal venous network sewn onto a lady's evening glove.

L

• Lois Langmead - see an example of her drawing using sewing above
• Gary Lawrence - Gary won the Jerwood Drawing Prize in 2011 and generated a fair degree of press coverage as a result of the nature of his drawing and the fact that he does enormously complex drawings using 3p Tesco Value ballpoint pens (eg see Culture 24 article Jerwood Drawing Prize 2011 exhibition celebrates unknown in Homage to Anonymous and the Daily Mail article Hard-up artist bags £6,000 prize after using 3p biro to create stunning landscape. I'm wondering whether he's still doing very detailed and large drawings....
• Juliette Losq

This is a video of Gary Lawrence talking about how he produces his drawings

It includes a second version of his drawing which won in 2011

M

• William Mackrell
• Sean Maltby
• Grace McMurray - see her selected work below
• Anouk Mercier - absolutely fascinating drawings
• Mary Millner - she did a Residency at Dumfries House with the Royal Drawing School in 2014
• Joonhong Min

'Cutcomb Poleroid' by Grace McMurray
coloured pencil on graph paper

P

• Paul Peden
• Lee John Phillips - he's got a great project to drawn every single object in his Grandad's shed! Read more about it in How's this for an art project? Teacher Lee Phillips will spend three years drawing every single item in his late grandad's shed
• Ruth Philo

R

• Giulia Ricci - she has work featured in "Walk the line: The Art of Drawing" by Ana Ibarra and Marc Valli (great book!)
• Annette Robinson
• Jenny Ross

 S

• Gabriela Schutz 
• Sarah Seymour
• Caroline Shadbolt 
• Soheila Sokhanvari
• Charlotte Steel

T

• John Thole
• Caroline Truss
• Alan Turnbull

V

• Ronis Varlaam
• Rosie Vohra

W

• Roy Willingham RE

Z

• Martha Zmpounou

Announcement of Prizewinners

Prizes will be announced and awarded to the winning artists at the preview on 15 September 2015.

Jerwood Drawing Prize 2015 Exhibition

Dates: 16 September–25 October 2015
Address: Jerwood Space, 171 Union Street, London SE1 0LN
Opening Times: Mon–Fri from 10am–5pm, Sat & Sun from 10am–3pm
Admission: Free
Nearest Tube: Southwark, London Bridge or Borough
Website: www.jerwoodvisualarts.org
Twitter: #JDP15 @JerwoodJVA

The exhibition will start in London and then tour across the UK. You can see it at:

• Jerwood Space, London from 16 September – 25 October 2015
• Cheltenham Art Gallery (21 November 2015 - 31 January 2016), 
• Sidney Cooper Gallery, Canterbury (11 February - 9 April 2016), and 
• Falmouth Art Gallery (23 April - 25 June 2016).

Jerwood Drawing Prize Events

Jerwood Visual Arts will host a series of evening events to accompany the exhibition. Events are free but must be booked in advance, for more information please check the Jerwood Visual Arts website.

Jerwood Drawing Prize: Call for Entries

The Call for Entries has gone out for the Jerwood Drawing Prize 2015.  This is the largest and longest running drawing prize in the UK. Deadline for registering up to three entries is 5pm on 26 June 2015.

[Please note this post was revised on 19th May - I had a niggle about the terms and conditions which became defined more precisely after a good night's sleep!]

Also, I've now had confirmation that the Derwent Art Prize (for pencil art) is not running this year (regular readers may remember the controversy about the award of the prize last year) and will in future run on a biennial basis.

Which means that The Jerwood Drawing Prize is the premier prize for drawing this year.  

This open exhibition is a platform for drawing practitioners to showcase their work alongside other leading contemporary artists in this field, and provides those selected with the opportunity to help define a wider understanding of drawing for future generations. They will create an exhibition that explores and celebrates the diversity, excellence and range of current drawing practice in the UK.

To be honest, this prize always reeks to me of the academic and esoteric.  Last year an audio piece won the Jerwood Prize 2014 .

Alison Carlier was awarded the First Prize of £8,000 for her 1 minute 15 second audio work entitled ‘Adjectives, lines and marks’ which she describes as “An open-ended audio drawing, a spoken description of an unknown object”. See the BBC piece Jerwood Drawing Prize awarded to sound piece

Hopefully its judges will read its rules carefully before selecting artists and prizewinners - unlike those who judged the Derwent last year!

[NEW] EXCEPT the problem is that the rules say precisely nothing about what a drawing is - unlike the Derwent.

This is all the help you get. This statement (below) isn't even part of the General Information or Terms and Conditions which is a very odd way to run a competition. If you have no restrictions on how you define a drawing then this should be stated explicitly in amongst the information the judges are supposed to use as criteria for their judging.

IS THE JERWOOD DRAWING PRIZE RESTRICTED TO WORKS ON PAPER ONLY?
No, we do not specify what media work should be in. The nature of the exhibition is to generate debate about contemporary drawing practice and therefore work in any media is eligible for entry, if the artist considers it as drawing. Whilst debate about contemporary drawing practice is encouraged, the decision of the Selection Panel is final and binding.
HELP & FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS

So bottom line this is a prize for drawing which refuses to define what a drawing might be.  

The only criteria is that the artist considers it to be a drawing.

If you like these sort of rules then this is the competition for you. Enter whatever you feel like so long as you consider it to be a drawing!

Jerwood Prize 2015

For those who are serious about entering whatever they consider to be a drawing, this is a summary of what you need to know:

Who can enter

• the competition is open to all artists resident in the UK (ie overseas students at college here are eligible to enter; Brits living abroad are not)

What you can enter

• Only work made since January 2014 is eligible for entry
• All work submitted must be available from the date of submission in 2015 and for the duration of exhibition and tour in 2015-2016.
• Artists may register to enter up to three drawings
• Work should not exceed 2.5m in any dimension when framed.

How work must be presented

• Composite drawings must be presented within one frame
• Works that cannot be mirror plated must be accompanied by full installation instructions and if selected, the artist may be required to provide suitable fixings.
• Frames MUST be durable for handling and hanging purposes throughout the selection process, exhibition and tour.
• If work is unframed it should be packaged appropriately and robustly for transportation and storage throughout the exhibition and tour.
• see the Rules and Guidelines for additional and more detailed instructions

How to enter

• entry fees for students artists are reduced
• the deadline for registering entries is 5pm on 26 June 2015
• you must nominate submission and collection centre during registration and cannot change these afterwards
• Once registered, artists are invited to submit their works through one of the regional collection centres.

Selection

Drawings are considered for inclusion in the exhibition by a panel of three selectors who represent the perspectives of practitioner, curator and writer all with expertise in the field of drawing. Each year the selection panel changes, and the resultant exhibitions reflect differing priorities and focus for each panel in response to the work submitted for their consideration. The selectors act as independent arbiters of the works presented, and are tasked to identify and choose drawings that represent their combined prerogatives and values in response to the submission. The panel first select the drawings for the exhibition, and then collectively choose the drawings that will receive the awards. 

Jerwood Prize 2014 Catalogue | Introduction

• All artists will be informed by email of the Selection Panel's decision by Friday 17 July 2015.
• I can't say I've heard of any of the 2015 selectors who are: 
• Dexter Dalwood, artist; 
• Salima Hashmi, artist, curator and writer; 
• and John-Paul Stonard, art historian. 

Prizes

The prizes on offer include a First Prize of £8,000, Second Prize of £5,000 and two Student Awards of £2,000 each.

Exhibition

The exhibition will comprise c. 70 works - from emerging and established artists - at the Jerwood Space, London from 16 September – 25 October 2015 and subsequently it will tour to venues across the UK.

Artwork can be sold and the artist's price should allow for 50% commission charged

Winner of the Jerwood Drawing Prize 2013

Apocalypse (My Boyfriend Doesn’t Care)

Ink on paper, 183 x 150cm

© Svetlana Fialova

For further details and to register online please visit the Jerwood Drawing Prize Application Page where you will find

• General Information
• Rules and Guidelines
• Submission & Collection Timetable
• Work Submission Form
• Work Labels
• Help and FAQS

You can follow what's happening re. Jerwood Drawing Prize 2015 on Twitter by using the hashtag #JDP15 or following @JerwoodJVA

For all enquiries please contact project managers, Parker Harris:
Tel: 01372 462190
Email: jdp@parkerharris.co.uk

Jerwood Drawing Prize 2014 - online deadline is 5pm today

Just a reminder that today is the deadline for registration for the Jerwood Drawing Prize 2014. The deadline for online registration: 16 June 2014, 5pm.

You can read more about it in my blog post Jerwood Drawing Prize 2014 - Call for Entries.

Jerwood Drawing Prize - Winners and Selected Artists 2010-2013

Winner of the Jerwood Drawing Prize 2013
Apocalypse (My Boyfriend Doesn’t Care)
Ink on paper, 183 x 150cm
© Svetlana Fialova

These are the blog posts about artists who have won the prize or been selected for exhibition in previous years

• Svetlana Fialova wins Jerwood Drawing Prize 2013 11 Sep 2013
• Jerwood Drawing Prize 2013 - Selected Artists 29 Aug 2013
• Karolina Glusiec wins £8000 Jerwood Drawing Prize 2012 13 Sep 2012
• Jerwood Drawing Prize 2012: Selected Artists 06 Jul 2012
• Jerwood Drawing Prize 2011 - selected artists announced 18 Jul 2011
• Jerwood Drawing Prize 2010 won by Virginia Verran 29 Sep 2010
• Jerwood Drawing Prize 2010 - The Shortlist 23 Aug 2010

Plus my 2008 blog post about Antony Gormley on drawing - at the Jerwood - which includes some great observations about drawing.

NOTE: I'm been very busy finalising the content of my book at present - hence the infrequent posting....

Jerwood Drawing Prize 2014 - Call for Entries

The longest running annual open exhibition for drawing in the UK is The Jerwood Drawing Prize - worth £6,000 to the winner.

The call for entries has been made for the prestigious Jerwood Drawing Prize 2014. Online registration opened last week and the deadline for online registration: 16 June 2014, 5pm.

The Jerwood Drawing Prize exhibition represents and celebrates the diversity, excellence, and range of current drawing practice in the UK.

Key facts

• The Jerwood Drawing Prize is the country’s leading award in drawing

Selected from original art works it has established a reputation for its commitment to championing excellence, and promoting and celebrating the breadth of contemporary drawing practice within the UK.

• This is the longest running annual open exhibition dedicated to drawing in the UK. (It still claims to be the largest - but I have news for Jerwood - there were more drawings exhibited in the Derwent Art Prize!)
• Entries can be submitted by established or emerging artists who are resident or domiciled within the UK. 
• It's expected over 3,000 entries will be submitted  
• Last year's exhibition included 76 drawings by 76 artists - 24 of whom were students
• Prizes will be awarded to the winning artists at a ceremony on Tuesday 16 September 2014. They comprise.
• a first prize of £8,000,
• a second prize of £5,000, and
• two student awards of £2,000 each.

Winner of the Jerwood Drawing Prize 2013
Apocalypse (My Boyfriend Doesn’t Care)
Ink on paper, 183 x 150cm
© Svetlana Fialova

Read on to find out more about the prize and how to enter the 2014 competition.

Svetlana Fialova wins Jerwood Drawing Prize 2013

Svetlana Fialová (Svetlana Fialová) has won the £8,000 Jerwood Drawing Prize 2013 for her ink on paper drawing, Apocalypse (My Boyfriend Doesn’t Care).

The Second Prize of £5,000 has been awarded to Marie von Heyl. 

3,000 drawings were entered in the UK's most prestigious prize for drawing.

Winner of the Jerwood Drawing Prize 2013
Apocalypse (My Boyfriend Doesn’t Care)
Ink on paper, 183 x 150cm
© Svetlana Fialova

The winning works along with those of the other 75 selected artists will be on display in the exhibition at Jerwood Space, London from 11 September – 27 October 2013. The London exhibition is included in the London Design Festival programme, taking place from 14–22 September 2013.

Jerwood Visual Arts will host a series of evening events to accompany the exhibition. Events are free but must be booked in advance, for more information please check the Jerwood Visual Arts website.

The exhibition will then tour to venues across the UK
including

• the Hatton Gallery, Newcastle University (Nov 2013–Feb 2014); 
• The Gallery, Plymouth College of Art, and Plymouth Arts Centre (Feb–Mar 2014); 
• and the Sidney Cooper Gallery, Canterbury Christ Church University (Mar–Apr 2014).

It may surprise some people to learn that the scope of contemporary drawing practice and images selected for this exhibition a variety of different approaches to drawing.  Artists are working in various media from pencil, charcoal and graphite on paper, to drawings on textile, sheet music and wood, in addition to etching, stitching, video work, installation, digitally generated drawing and animation.

Jerwood Visual Arts and Drawing Projects UK  sponsor the UK’s largest and longest running annual open exhibition for drawing which aims to explore and celebrate the diversity, excellence and range of current drawing practice.

The First Prize Winner

Jerwood Drawing Prize 2013 - Selected Artists

The artists selected for the 19th Jerwood Drawing Prize (2013) have been announced.

76 drawings by 76 artists (see listing below) have been chosen from over 3,000 entries received for this Prize and associated exhibition. 24 of these were by those entering in the student category.

The Jerwood Drawing Prize is probably the most prestigious prize for drawing in the UK and awards the highest financial prize for drawing (£8,000).  It's certainly the country's largest and longest running annual open exhibition dedicated to drawing in the UK.

This is how the Jerwood Organisation describes it

Selected from original art works, and now in its 19th year in this format, the Jerwood Drawing Prize has established a reputation for its commitment to championing excellence and exploring the boundaries of contemporary drawing practice within the UK.

This competition is a platform for drawing practitioners to showcase their work alongside other leading contemporary artists in this field, and provides those selected with the opportunity to help define the concept of drawing for future generations.

'Experiments in black and white VII' by Neville Gabie
Video and chalk, 32 mins 47 secs

© Neville Gabie

The aims of the three jurors - Kate Brindley, Director of Middlesbrough Institute of Modern Art mima; Michael Craig-Martin RA, artist; and Charlotte Mullins, art critic, writer, broadcaster, and Editor of Art Quarterly - was to create an exhibition that explores and celebrates the diversity, excellence and range of current drawing practice in the UK.

Lanugo by Antony Crossfield
Graphite, 51cm x 54.5cm
© Antony Crossfield

The prizes will be announced and awarded to the winning artists at a ceremony on Tuesday 10 September 2013. These include a First Prize of £8,000, Second Prize of £5,000 and two Student Awards of £2,000 each

Protest Crowd, Tokyo 2012 (No. 26, Version 3) by Joy Gerrard
Ink and pencil on paper, 43cm x 56cm
©  Joy Gerrard

The Jerwood Drawing Prize Exhibition will be displayed at Jerwood Space, 171 Union Street, London SE1 0LN from 11 September – 27 October 2013.  The exhibition is free to enter and is open from Monday to Friday from 10am–5pm, Saturday and Sunday from 10am–3pm. Nearest Tube: Southwark, London Bridge or Borough. Twitter: #JDP13 @JerwoodJVA

Jerwood Visual Arts will host a series of evening events to accompany the exhibition. Events are free but must be booked in advance, for more information please check the Jerwood Visual Arts website.

The London exhibition is included in the London Design Festival programme, taking place from 14–22 September 2013.

The exhibition will then tour to venues across the UK including

• the Hatton Gallery, Newcastle University (Nov 2013–Feb 2014); 
• The Gallery, Plymouth College of Art, and Plymouth Arts Centre (Feb–Mar 2014); 
• and the Sidney Cooper Gallery, Canterbury Christ Church University (Mar–Apr 2014). 

Artwork (including media and size) and artists selected for Jerwood Drawing Prize 2013

The exhibition this year reflects a great variety of different approaches to drawing from practitioners working across the creative disciplines; from pencil, charcoal and graphite on paper, to drawings on textile, sheet music and wood, in addition to etching, stitching, video work, installation, digitally generated drawing and animation.

See the range of media used to make drawings in the listing of selected artists below.  You can also check out the size of the works produced - and selected.

The selected artworks - and artists are as follows.

• Click the links in their names to see their artwork on their websites or blogs.  
• Links in the entry title are to works identified on the artist's site.

Jerwood Drawing Prize 2013: Call for Entries

The UK's Largest & Longest Running Drawing Competition

On Monday this week, the 'Call for Entries' for The Jerwood Drawing Prize 2013 was published.

the Jerwood Drawing Prize has established a reputation for its commitment to championing excellence and exploring the boundaries of contemporary drawing practice within the UK.

It focuses on:

• UK based artists - both emerging and more established artists
• recognising the range and diversity in contemporary drawing practice
• celebrating excellence in drawing as demonstrated by contemporary artists

It was established in 1994 to promote excellence in drawing practice in the UK and is now in its 19th year and is the largest and longest running OPEN Drawing Competition - and exhibition - in the UK.

Jerwood Drawing Prize 2012
Second Prize - Ta - iL 28, Bada Song

Some people might be surprised by what the Competition counts as drawing. In 2010 I wrote a post about Contemporary Drawing Practice in response to some comments on this blog.

Exploring the boundaries of contemporary drawing practice in the UK

Details of the 'Call for Entries' are below - along with all the links to the relevant information you need if you would like to think about and/or enter one or more of your drawings in the competition.

Jerwood Drawing Prize 2012: Call for Entries

Earlier this week the 'Call for Entries' for The Jerwood Drawing Prize 2012 was published.  The Prize was established in 1994 to promote excellence in drawing practice in the UK and is now the largest open drawing exhibition in the UK.

The aim of the Jerwood Drawing Prize is to recognise and support all those UK based artists who currently work in the field of drawing.  It will explore and celebrate the diversity, excellence and range of current drawing practice in the UK.

Details of the 'Call for Entries' are below - with links to all the relevant information you need if you;re contemplating entering

But first a little about what last year's competition was like........

Jerwood Drawing Prize 2011

This is what the selectors had to say about the 2011 competition

To say we were bowled over by the response to this year’s Jerwood Drawing Prize would be an understatement. Last year we received the highest number of entries to date for this exhibition. By close of the deadline in June 2011, artists from across the UK had left these figures far behind. 1,779 artists from students to established practitioners submitted work for consideration. Our selection panel had an enviable and challenging task, physically reviewing 3,354 works across the two day process. As in previous years it was an impressive opportunity to survey a broad variety of ways of thinking, seeing and discovering through drawing, from a range of perspectives and practices.

This was the drawing done by Gary Lawrence the winner of the Jerwood Drawing Prize 2011. the drawing is titled Homage to Anonymous.

Jerwood Drawing Prize 2011 - selected artists announced

Those of you interested in drawing - and the variety of ways in which drawing can be pursued - will no doubt be interested in which artists have been selected for the Sherwood Drawing Prize 2011 exhibition.

The Jerwood Drawing Prize is the largest and longest running annual open exhibition for drawing in the UK. Judged by an independent panel of selectors, the Prize aims to recognise and support all UK based artists, from student to established, working in the field of drawing.

Below you can find the names of the 60 artists selected for the Jerwood Drawing Prize 2011 are listed below.  

Plus the hyperlinks within their names are to their own websites.  Links to the right of their name are to related sites.  I've selected websites based on content.

• Liam Allan
• Reginald Aloysius
• Gillian Anderson
• Iain Andrews
• Liz Bailey
• Adam Bainbridge
• Robert Battams - check out his handcut sketchbooks.  There's more than one way of drawing in a sketchbook!
  
• Karen Blake
• Jessie Brennan
• Tobias Buckel
• Ruth Chambers
• Sophia Crilly - link
  
• Kasia Depta-Garapich
• Clara Drummond
• Chris Eckersley
• Hilary Ellis
• Kristian Evju
• Louisa Fairclough
• Dave Farnham
• Kristian Fletcher
• Joy Gerrard
• Thomas Gosebruch
• David Hamilton
• Lottie Jackson-Eeles - link
  
• Gary Lawrence
• Mark Lawrence
• Simon Leahy-Clark - link
  
• Ka Wah Liu
• Bethan Lloyd Worthington
• Johanna Love
• Steven Lowery
• Brendan Lyons
• Ruby Manson
• Lorna McIntosh
• Paul Mcloughlin
• Richard McVetis
• Liam Murray
• Raksha Patel - link
  
• Tracey Payne
• Andrew Penketh
• Tooney Phillips
• Frank Pudney
• Alastair Rech
• Giulia Ricci
• Fran Richardson - you can see her selected drawing on her blog
  
• Arthur Roberts
• Nicki Rolls
• Janine Rook - link
  
• Daniela Sarigu
• Laura Smith
• Ash Summers - link
  
• Sally Taylor
• Samuel Taylor
• Amikam Toren
• Avis Underwood - link
  
• Felicity Warbrick
• Roanna Wells
• Mick Welbourn
• Polly Yates

Jerwood Drawing Prize 2011 - Call for Entries

The call for entries has been made for the prestigious Jerwood Drawing Prize 2011.  Online registration opened at the beginning of April and the deadline for entries is 20 June 2011.

The Jerwood Drawing Prize exhibition represents and celebrates the diversity, excellence, and range of current drawing practice in the UK. 

Key facts

• The Jerwood Drawing Prize is the country’s leading award in drawing
• This is the largest and longest running annual open exhibition dedicated to drawing in the UK. 
• Entries can be submitted by established or emerging artists who are resident or domiciled within the UK.
• More than 2,000 entries will be submitted.  
• 50 - 70 drawings from around 60-70 artists will be selected for an exhibition at JVA at Jerwood Space, London from 14 September – 30 October 2011. The exhibition will then tour nationally.
• Prizes are:
• a first prize of £6,000, 
• a second prize of £3,000, and 
• two student awards of £1,000 each.

Read on to find out more about the prize and how to enter the 2011 competition.

Contemporary Drawing Practice

People have been querying why certain submissions for the Jerwood Drawing Prize counted as drawing. My response was that contemporary drawing practice has moved well beyond what most people think of as drawing.

No longer limited to the preparatory sketch, contemporary drawing ranges from pencil on paper, to the conceptual, and to the three dimensional.

Axis - Drawing 1

The Oxford English Dictionary is still firmly rooted in the tradition of the past but contemporary practice has moved on.

So here are a few resources for those interested in learning more about the direction drawing has moved in.  I've taken two extremes as examples:

• what the Campaign for Drawing tries to do in promoting drawing to the unitiated and
• how academics and artists write about drawing today

Plus this is an article about Drawing conclusions: the rise of contemporary drawing

Drawing - Learning Revolution Groups

Below are a number of special projects of the Campaign for Drawing.  These are generally about:

• bringing people back to drawing who have little or no experience and 
• seeing how drawing can be used to enhance their lives.  Drawing is an important cognitive and potentially social process as well as a means to an end (ie a drawing).

My feeling is that these type of sessions can feel quite threatening to those who think they know about drawing - because some would challenge our more traditional concepts about what drawing "is".  I know I've felt unsettled in the past when confonted with new ideas about drawing.  I'm guessing quite a few people would probably be surprised to hear what counts as 'drawing' these days.

Click the links to see case studies of what happened in each project as people explored what drawing can mean today.  Bear in mind that these activities are mainly with people not used to drawing.

• A Dab Hand, Penrith, Cumbria - initiated drawing sessions in the middle of a hot local debate about Penrith’s proposed town-centre shopping development.
• Arts Action York, York - work with a group supporting young adults with ASD (Autistic Spectrum Disorder) using ’Tagtool’ digital drawing projection equipment
• Bristol Drawing School, Bristol - set out to bring drawing to a wider adult audience (including excluded, deaf and disabled people) by organising 3 events.
• De La Warr Pavilion, East Sussex, Bexhill on Sea, East Sussex - worked with four local groups for older people, helping them to reconnect with the pleasures of drawing.
• Harborough Artist Cluster, Market Harborough, Leicestershire - helped adults with learning difficulties, and support staff, to develop Photoshop and Power Point skills and create a ‘Virtual Tour of Market Harborough
• Ikon Gallery, Birmingham - worked with a local art appreciation group to plan 5 sessions for diverse adult groups to explore drawing afresh
• Manchester Museum, Manchester - used drawing to explore parts of the plant collection not on public view.
• Mill Yard Studios, Staveley, Cumbria - invited ’non-drawers’to draw circular views with the aid of cardboard tube viewfinders to concentrate the eye
• Museum in the Park, Stroud - aimed to make drawing an all-inclusive and accessible activity for the adults involved, and to change the minds of some who began by saying, ‘I can’t draw. The idea was to produce images of the old walled garden using seven different ways to ‘draw’ the scene, aided by a group of local artists.
• National Museums Liverpool, Merseyside - participants learned how to create a drawing that recorded something about a place in Merseyside that was special to them
• October Gallery, London - ran run nine creative training workshops
• Ordsall Community Arts, Salford - involved drawing dogs differently
• Prema, Uley, Glocestershire - worked with a county-wide arts and health project to make lifesize drawings of creatures: from butterflies to giraffes.
• Spacex Gallery, Exeter -  developed various activities including a public breakfast drawing workshop using breakfast ingredients as materials
• West Sussex County Council, West Sussex- ran a centrally co-ordinated programme of events which aimed to inspire adults in different times of life and a range of settings county-wide; from a day centre for adults with mental health problems, to a local primary school and a gallery in a town shopping centre

Contemporary Drawing Practice - in Books

Another way of gaining an appreciation of contemporary drawing practice - at a much more academic and professional level - is to examine various books about contemporary drawing practice

Here are some examples

• The Primacy of Drawing: Histories and Theories of Practice by Deanna Petherbridge (formerly Professof Drawing at the Royal College of Art and Visiting Professof or Drawing, University of the Arts London)
• Vitamin D: New Perspectives in Drawing (Themes) by: Emma Dexter
• Drawing Book: A Survey of Drawing : The Primary Means of Expression
• Drawing Now: Eight Propositions
• Writing on Drawing: Essays on Drawing Practice and Research by: Steve Garner
• Drawing Now: Between the Lines of Contemporary Art by: TRACEY

You can see descriptions of what they are all about in BOOKS: Surveys of Contemporary Drawing Practice on The Best Books about Drawing and Sketching. 

'Described crudely, contemporary art currently follows two main trajectories: the post-Conceptual and the neo-Romantic. Crucially, it is within the field of drawing that the inherent tensions and contradictions of these two directions are intriguingly played out'. 
Vitamin D: New Perspectives in Drawing, Phaidon: London, 2005

Next time you're in a good bookshop I recommend picking one up and taking a look - and you'll see the sheer diversity of drawing practice nowadays.

Plus there is 'Tracey' which is is an online peer reviewed journal, hosted by Loughborough University (School of Art and Design) that publishes and disseminates material concerned with contemporary drawing. Most of the content is found under the 'Research Themes' section.

How well acquainted are you with contemporary drawing practice?

Do leave a comment below - whatever your views.