Review: The 6th John Ruskin Prize

Yesterday I went to the exhibition for The 6th John Ruskin Prize at Trinity Buoy Wharf - and I was VERY impressed! I HIGHLY RECOMMEND paying this a visit if you like artwork which has been made by thoughtful artists who make you think!

Below you can find out about:

• what is the John Ruskin Prize
• why it's worth a visit 
• how to see it
• who won the prizes on offer
• names of artists shortlisted for the exhibition

What is the John Ruskin Prize? (In a nutshell)

Selected from over 4000 entries, the final shortlist of 78 pieces from 68 artists, makers and innovators have been given a platform for the unseen to be seen and the unspoken to be heard. 

The John Ruskin Prize:

• is a multi-disciplinary biennial art prize in the UK
• was inaugurated in 2012 by The Guild of St. George and visual literacy charity, The Big Draw. 
• Entry is eligible for all artists, designers and makers - especially those whose artwork defies easy categorisation
• encourages entries in a wide array of media
• requires all submissions to respond to the theme of the biennial exhibition
• The judging panel consisted of Narinder Sagoo MBE, Cornelia Parker CBE RA, Bob and Roberta Smith RA, Gary Hill, Julian Stair OBE, Dr Rachel Dickinson and Jane Barnes.
• Organised and delivered by The Big Draw

The prize aims to reflect a central thread of John Ruskin’s thought; as a writer and artist - and as an impassioned critic, not only of art but of society and life - he believed that art has the power to reveal and celebrate universal truths, and that a good artist and maker in any medium should always be guided by that search.

The Prize used to hold an exhibition every other year - but the pandemic made sure that didn't happen so this is the first one since 2019.

These are links to the past exhibitions on The John Ruskin Prize website

• 2012 (1st) A New Look at Nature - https://www.ruskinprize.co.uk/the-1st-john-ruskin-prize
• 2014 (2nd) Recording Britain Now - https://www.ruskinprize.co.uk/the-2nd-john-ruskin-prize
• 2016 (3rd) Recording Britain Now (Society) - https://www.ruskinprize.co.uk/the-3rd-john-ruskin-prize
• 2017 (4th) Master of all Trades - https://www.ruskinprize.co.uk/the-4th-john-ruskin-prize
• 2019 (5th) Agent of Change - https://www.ruskinprize.co.uk/the-5th-john-ruskin-prize - this attracted over 1260 entries / 3000 artworks.

If after reading this review and/or visiting the exhibition you're interested in entering the next one - in 2025 for an exhibition in 2026 - you may like to read the Submission Guidelines & FAQS for the 6th Exhibition

The 6th John Ruskin Exhibition

In summary:

• Artists were invited to respond to the theme for the 6th John Ruskin Prize Exhibition in 2024, Seeing the Unseen, Hearing the Unspoken. This could be explored and interpreted in many different ways. 
• Artwork for the 2024 Exhibition was selected from over 4000 entries from UK and international artists. You can see the Judges here.
• The final  shortlisted artworks of 78 pieces from 68 artists, makers and innovators can be seen at The Buoy Store, Trinity Buoy Wharf, until February 17th (more details below)

Entries were welcomed from artists, designers, architects and makers, at all stages of their careers. For the first time, entries were open to 

• the medium of photography 
• creatives across the globe (but only in respect of digital entries).

Why this exhibition is worth a visit

The 2024 John Ruskin Theme - Seeing the Unseen, Hearing the Unspoken

The theme for the 6th John Ruskin Prize

One of the requirements of this exhibition is that ALL artworks must respond to the set theme. 

WHAT DO I NEED TO SUBMIT FOR THE JOHN RUSKIN PRIZE? 

Make sure your work responds to the theme, Seeing the Unseen, Hearing the Unspoken? Submission Guidelines and FAQs

The exhibition theme is a major characteristic of The John Ruskin Prize. 

• It's very much NOT just a "send us your artwork" exhibition. 
• Hence, by definition, it appeals to a certain type of artist who has no problem creating artwork based on a concept.

It also means that the exhibition can include artwork which comment on current or recent topical issues.

The standard of artwork in this exhibition is unusual. In terms of thoughtfulness, imagination and creativity, in my opinion, it far exceeds artwork typically seen in most open art exhibitions. 

Count the number of art competitions that no longer exist....

The only thing that is certain in this world is "change".

Which is why, one of the things that is certain in the art world is that art competitions change over time.

What's surprising me right now is just how many of the more major competitions in the UK have completely disappeared in recent time. 

• I last wrote about this prior to lockdown back in early 2020 in The Disappearing Art Competitions 
• Since when we've had confirmation more have been lost and the art competition 'maketplace' has changed significantly in the UK.
  

I thought it was time for AN UPDATE. Below I list those art competitions

• which will not be taking place in 2021
• which still exist and will take place
• those replacing past competitions
• minor art competions

plus why art competitions are important to artists.

By way of a preamble, I am absolutely convinced this is all about two things:

FIRST we're still experiencing coronavirus interruptus syndrome, i.e. the very long "stall" associated with not knowing when things are going to get back to normal. Right now I don't expect thing to approach normal until 2022 - but I do also expect people to be planning for this right now!

SECOND there is an absolute DEARTH of key components for a prestigious art competition. These are:

• key people whose networks enable them to prize out sponsorship money from corporate bodies which can afford it
• strategic thinking within some regional museums - in relation to the traffic which can be generated by a good art competition
• organisations which want to be associated with significant art prizes.
• organisations with expertise and practical experience in developing efficient and effective art competitions with significant prizes (i.e. why are we losing all these top art competitions?)
  

By way of contrast, I am also noticing that some national art societies are getting very good at generating / replacing very good levels of sponsorship for prizes for their open exhibitions.  

• I now highlight clearly those national art societies which people should take a close look at on the basis of prize money alone.
• This should make artists think about whether they are applying for the right  open exhibitions!  PROMPT to my recent client: this is what I was talking about! :)

Art Competitions that no longer exist in 2021

BP Portrait Award

The last BP Portrait exhibition in the NP

4th John Ruskin Prize Shortlist announced

The shortlist for the 2017 John Ruskin Prize was recently announced - and the names of the artists are listed below

Theme for 2017

The theme of the 4th John Ruskin Prize is "Hand & Eye: Master of All Trades in The Age of Jack" - it's about the Artist as Polymath

This year’s theme: refers to the Artist as Polymath. Open to a range of interpretations and approaches, the theme is intended to lend itself to responses from artists and makers whose work celebrates the opportunity to marry diverse materials and disciplines.

In celebration of ‘Artist as Polymath’, 2017 marks the first year that The Prize will be open to makers and craftspeople, as well as fine artists. Alongside Ruskin’s own career as a polymath, the theme has been jointly inspired by The Year of Making in Sheffield, which took place throughout 2016, and The Big Draw’s year of STEAM Power, which celebrates the interconnections between Science, Technology, Engineering, Art and Maths

The Awards

The Award is £5000 with

• £3000 going to the winner, and 
• £1000 going to both the Second Prize and Student Prize & Recent Graduate winners.

The Shortlist

The shortlist of 26 artists, makers and innovators was selected from over 1,000 entries.

The artist / scientist parallel is apparent in the shortlist but there is also evidence of traditional craft combined with social commentary, skilful material manipulation and a visual wit within the selected artworks.

In my experience this is an art competition which throws up some of the more interesting artists working today.

• Louisa Boyd - primarily works as a book artist
• Holly Brodie - a self-taught landscape painter brought up in rural Somerset and now based in suburban West London
• Nuala Clooney - a sculptor and a visiting lecturer at Birmingham City University
• Andrew Ekins  
• Erin Dickson - a digital designer and fabricator. She's worked as the waterjet technician at National Glass Centre and is now the design and manufacturing technician at FabLab Sunderland.  Her Twitter account is @Archiglass
• Paul Hazelton - a British artist based in Margate. His sculptures are intricately constructed using household dust, cobwebs, hair or cut paper, stuffed toys or other materials.
• Marielle Hehir - Did an MA Painting at the Slade between 2014-2016 - and was awarded a Distinction

The original Midland Line Railway Works 2 
is the drawing which inspired Ann Howeson's work
selected for the exhibition

• Anne Howeson - an artist and a Tutor in Visual Communication at the Royal College of Art. Shortlisted for a stop frame 'moving drawing' called Regeneration and Revival at King's Cross

She devised the seminar series ‘DRAW’ which supports second-year MA students working on sustained drawing projects and welcomes a wide interpretation of ideas from any area or discipline

• Rebecca Ilett - Has a degree in sculpture and later trained to be a jeweller - trying to present jewellery as art and aims to create wearable art or wearable narratives

Rebecca Ilett 'Spinning Straw into Gold' (2016). Photo: Simon White

• Shelley James - Trained in textiles, pursued a career in corporate design for international clients; studied Printmaking at the University of the West of England and has developed new techniques for encapsulating prints in glass. Her work is currently inspired by conversations with scientists
• Debbie Lawson - born in Dundee and lives and works in London. Graduated from Central Saint Martins and the Royal College of Art. A multi-media artist. Difficult to describe what she does.... but it's interesting
• Emily Lazerwitz - graduated from Slade School of Fine Art with an M.F.A in Fine Art Media with Distinction, June 2016. She makes Machine Knit Scarf made of 100% reredacted CIA documents from the FOIA archives
• Sue Lawty - Textile Artist in Residence at the V&A in 2005
• Bethan Lloyd Worthington - Ceramics Artist in Resident at the V&A in 2016. A London based artist who works with drawing, objects and installation to explore themes of place and fragmentation through time
• Hugh Miller - an award-winning contemporary applied artist specialising in studio furniture in wood. Hugh’s work is based on a set of design principles, developed during his Churchill Fellowship in Japan in 2015
• Rosa Nguyen - a London artist with an established practice based in ceramics. She makes objects, installations and displays which include ceramic, glass and botanical elements.
• Kyle Noble - Graduated with a Masters in Fine art from Edinburgh College of Art in 2013. He received the RSA Highland Society of London Award 2014, the RSA William Littlejohn Award 2013 and was selected for the Jerwood Drawing Prize 2013. Over the last two years Noble has devoted his practice to the description of an imaginary ancient culture called 'The Meiklians', who built the stone circles around his home in Aberdeenshire.
• Briony O Clarke - Artist in Residence (2014-2017) at Portmeirion Village, North Wales. MA in Communication Art & Design (2009-2011) at the Royal College of Art
• Sumi Perera - an interdisciplinary artist whose work draws on her background as a doctor and scientist. She generates multiple series from a given set of plates by combining hybrid printmaking techniques (etching, aquatint, drypoint, monoprint, chine-colle, collagraphs, mezzotint, lithography, kiln-fired screenprint decals etc.) with stitch and Computer Numerical Controlled methods (laser-cutting/engraving, sandblasting etc.)
• Shauna Richardson - produces realistic life-size animal sculpture created using crochet
• Conor Rogers - graduated from Sheffield Hallam University 2014 and one of his degree pieces was selected for the John Moores Painting Prize. Paints photo realistic depictions of everyday life and landscape in acrylic on found objects (e.g. crisp, cigarette and condom packets and beer mats)
• Fi Smart
• Serena Smith - trained in fine art lithography at the Curwen Studio (1984-96), and studied Fine Art at Central Saint Martin’s School of Art (MA); work has been selected for numerous exhibitions both in the UK and internationally
• Harland Viney - born and raised in Australia, resident in the UK since 1999. Work with film, performance, drawing, painting, printing and photography
• Simon Ward & Robert Mach - foil wrapper from a Tunnocks teacake gratefully received...
• Ray Winder - a Surrey-based artist and sculptor specialising in miniature paintings and finely carved sculptures in wood

Selection Panel

The members of The John Ruskin Prize 2017 selection panel who selected the shortlist from over 1000 submissions are:

• Kirstie Hamilton (Head of Exhibitions & Displays, Museums Sheffield), 
• Zachary Eastwood-Bloom (Sculptor), 
• Mandy Payne (Artist), Julia Bell (Former Head of Partnerships, BALTIC Centre for Contemporary Art), 
• Dr Rachel Dickinson (Director for Education, Guild of St. George / Principal Lecturer, Manchester Metropolitan University), and 
• Kate Mason (Director, The Big Draw).

Private View and Prizegiving

The selection panel will announce the 1st Prize, 2nd Prize and Student Prize Winners (total prize fund of £5,000) at the Private View of the shortlist exhibition on 20th June 2017.

The Exhibition

The exhibition is being held at Millennium Gallery, Sheffield between 21st June and 8th October 2017

Reference

• John Ruskin Prize: http://www.ruskinprize.co.uk/

Previous posts on Making A Mark

• 2015​: ​
• The John Ruskin Prize 2015: Call for Entries
• ​ The John Ruskin Prize 2015: Shortlist
• 2014​: 
• The John Ruskin Prize 2014 - call for entri​es
• Recording Britain Now - exhibition and prizewinner
• 2012: The John Ruskin Prize - A New Look at Nature: Call for Entries

The John Ruskin Prize 2015: Shortlist

Thirty artists have been shortlisted for The John Ruskin Prize 2015. The Prize winners will be announced at the private view on 25 February 2016.

This is an annual art competition about drawing - with a theme. The Prize was established in 2012 to support emerging British artists. It aims to uphold Ruskin’s belief that drawing helps us see the world and its fragility more clearly.

The theme this year is Recording Britain Now: Society to re-assess their practice and focus on the prevalent social issues of 2015/16. 

In the same way that Recording Britain sought to map familiar townscapes and countryside under threat, this will be an invitation to engage with a society in rapid transition.

I published my post about The John Ruskin Prize 2015: Call for Entries back in June - and this set out some of the background to the Recording Britain now initiative associated with the Second World War.

“It is enlightening to compare the observations of our 30 finalists with those of the 63 artists commissioned by Sir Kenneth Clark (with funds from the Pilgrim Trust) to document Britain under threat during the Second World War. Creating an accessible online gallery from the V&A's historic Recording Britain collection and the contemporary imagery shortlisted for this Prize will make many more people aware of art's power to comment, provoke and urge action”.
Sue Grayson Ford, President, The Big Draw 

The John Ruskin Prize 2015: Short-listed Artists

Links below are to the 'about' pages on the websites of the shortlisted artists. These are:

• Timothy Betjeman -  graduated with a BA in Visual Art from the University of Chicago plus post-graduate diploma in Drawing from The Royal Drawing School
• David Borrington - His website says This website publishes latest artwork exploring strange unique analysis, of social political and current affairs.
  
• Julian Bovis - an Urban Landscape Artist who predominantly works in pen and ink on paper, producing large-format illustrations and limited-edition Giclee Prints. 
• Jessie Brennan - a London-based British artist whose practice explores the inter-relation between people and place, through drawing and dialogue. Last month she did a presentation of her project Regeneration - which describes the politics that led to the rise and fall of Robin Hood Gardens - from socialist-inspired post-war public housing to its eventual privation under neoliberalism

What’s highlighted are the dramatically different perceptions of the estate by academic/architectural institutions and the people who actually live there.

• Sally Cutler - a printmaker whose preferred medium is linocut. She's been developing a series of a series of heads of people living in different locations in the UK. Each head is a real person who lives in, works in or visits the region in the title.

Richmond, North Yorkshire Heads by Sally Cutler

Party Wall (2015)
Mixed-media.
copright Nathan Ford

• Nathan Ford -the blurb on his website makes for an interesting read. I've long been familiar with the amount of draughtsmanship and drawing that underpins his paintings - I always love looking at them. His work is above this bullet point - and is very different.

The John Ruskin Prize 2015: Call for Entries

The John Ruskin Prize 2015 invites artists to submit entries in a range of 2D media in response to the theme: ‘Recording Britain Now: Society’. The First Prize is £5,000 and there's a runner up prize of £2,000 and a student prize of £1,000.

The theme - Recording Britain Now

The theme for the third year of this competition is ‘Recording Britain Now: Society’.

This year we invite emerging and established artists to respond to the theme: Recording Britain Now: Society, to re-assess their practice and focus on the prevalent social issues of 2015/16. In the same way that Recording Britain sought to map familiar townscapes and countryside under threat, this will be an invitation to engage with a society in rapid transition. (my red)

Recording Britain Now - The History

Starting last year, the competition is riffing on Kenneth Clark's initiative during the second world war to "Recording Britain Now". This was an initiative which was an extension of the Official War Artist Scheme and I guess was the artistic side of the wish to record how life was being lived in the UK on the outbreak of war.

The aim was formally expressed as:

‘secure a record of historic scenes, site and buildings which may be endangered through enemy action or by utilitarian encroachment.’

• The collection of artwork which resulted from the initiative is now housed at the Victoria and Albert Museum. It includes more than 1,500 watercolours and drawings "of lives and landscapes at a time of imminent change".  If you visit the Prints and Drawings Study Room you make a request to see the artwork from the Recording Britain project (click the link to see examples of work in the collection)
• The Scottish end of the 'Recording Scotland' project is housed in the Museum Collections Unit at the University of St. Andrews.

Recording Britain Now - now!

I think it's a splendid idea to continue with this theme! For the 2014 competition the theme was very broad

The theme of the second prize exhibition is Recording Britain Now. Artists were invited to 

...present fresh, contemporary visions of their urban, rural or social environment.

The subsequent exhibition was shown at Sheffield’s Millennium Gallery for five months accompanying the V&A tour of Recording Britain. Then it moved to the gallery Trinity Buoy Wharf. in East London (next to the Royal Drawing Schools's annexe) for a second showing in November - which is when I saw it - see Recording Britain Now - exhibition and prizewinner.

Winner of the John Ruskin Prize 2014Slowly creeping by Maggie Hargreaves

Here it is (right) hanging in the exhibition at The Electrician's Shop Gallery
- the door gives some scale

The winning drawing was purchased by Architect Mike Davies, a founding partner of the Richard Rogers Partnership who has worked on the Pompidou Centre in Paris and the Millenium Dome now known as the O2).

Recording Britain in 2015

What makes it different for 2015 is the emphasis on "society". I'm guessing that might be because a lot of the work in last year's show had lots of unpeopled landscapes!

The John Ruskin Prize - how to enter

Who can enter

The John Ruskin Prize is open to anyone 18 or over, resident or domiciled in the UK.

What you can enter

The work entered MUST be:

• two dimensional 
• relief work and book art are also eligible 
• Time-based media, photography and sculpture are not eligible.
• should not exceed 2.5 metres in any direction (that's 8.2 feet for the old imperialists amongst you).  You might want to note that the work which won last year was BIG!

Note:

• how large some of the drawings are
• how some large drawings are not framed but rather are suspended from fishing wire lopped through small bulldog clips which attach to the sheet of paper. This seems to be have become an accepted way of showing large works on paper - if for no other reason than everybody avoids the problems with weight and the risk of broken glass!

Recording Britain Now - exhibition and prizewinner

• must be available for inclusion in the two exhibitions (see dates below)
• made in the last five years
• represented by a high resolution jpeg image submitted with the entry form and fee

Timeline

• Deadline for Entries: 23 November 2015
• Notification re. selection: 15 December 2015

How to enter

• decide how many artworks you are entering (the fees reduce as the number of artworks increase)
• complete the online entry form at the bottom of http://www.thebigdraw.org/ruskinprize
(Note you can also print out the form, apply offline and pay by cheque)
• complete the image details - title, date, media and dimensions
• submit the form
• pay the fees via PayPal.

The Selection Panel

The Selection Panel's job is to

• identify and shortlist 15 artists for the Prize and 
• select work by them for inclusion in 2 showings of the Recording Britain Now: Society exhibition.

For the 2015 competition the panel comprises:

• Adam Dant (Artist) - Won the Jerwood Drawing Prize in 2002. He produces monumental ink drawings. I assume heis currently working on an 11 feet by 8 feet 'narrative ink' drawing of the 2015 General Election campaign which he's been commissioned to do by the Speakers’ Advisory committee on Works of Art in the House of Commons
• Gill Saunders (Senior Curator of Prints,V&A Museum) - She's also the author of the 2011 publication "Recording Britain"
• Stephen Snoddy (Director, The New Art Gallery Walsall)
• Sue Grayson Ford (Director, The Campaign for Drawing)
• Clive Wilmer (Master, The Guild of St.George)

The competition is organised by the Campaign for Drawing in collaboration with the Guild of St George and The Pilgrim Trust.

The Exhibition

The exhibition can be viewed in 2016 at:

• The New Art Gallery Walsall, Recording Britain Now: Society, 26 February – 17 April 2016
• The Electrician’s Shop (Gallery), Trinity Buoy Wharf, London in early summer 2016.

Recording Britain Now - exhibition and prizewinner

Recording Britain Now is the John Ruskin Prize 2014 exhibition I never thought I'd get to see. However a generous sponsor enabled it to be brought from Sheffield’s Millennium Gallery where it was first shown on was. It can be seen until the end of the month at The Electricians Gallery at Trinity Buoy Wharf.

It's an exhibition of drawings, paintings, prints and textiles by 23 artists shortlisted for the second John Ruskin Prize

The theme of the second prize exhibition is Recording Britain Now. Artists were invited to

...present fresh, contemporary visions of their urban, rural or social environment.

There were some 600 entries and the selection panel agreed on 23 images that offer

an engaging mix of materials, techniques and topical commentary, exploring urban sprawl, dereliction and the endangered British countryside.

You have one more week to see it. The exhibition continues until 30th November and is free. 

• Sun 23 Nov 12-5pm
• Wed 26 Nov 12-5pm
• Thu 27 Nov 4-8pm
• Fri 28 Nov 12-5pm
• Sat 29 Nov 12-5pm
• Sun 30 Nov 12-5pm

Here are some of the photographs I took last weekend when sketching there.  Note:

• how large some of the drawings are
• how some large drawings are not framed but rather are suspended from fishing wire lopped through small bulldog clips which attach to the sheet of paper. This seems to be have become an accepted way of showing large works on paper - if for no other reason than everybody avoids the problems with weight and the risk of broken glass!

The John Ruskin Prize

Former scientist and recent art graduate, Maggie Hargreaves, was awarded the £1,000 prize for

"two huge drawings revealing nature’s revenge on man’s despoliation of the countryside."

(Right) 'Slowly Creeping' (2011) by Maggie Hargreaves
charcoal on paper, 150x212 cm

(Left) Changing Space II (2009) by Maggie Hargreaves
150x220 cm, charcoal on paper

Here, built structures encroach on natural environments but as those structures are abandoned, no longer required, the woods reclaim what was taken, creeping back and re-establishing territory.The level of detail and large scale of these drawings invites viewers to enter the space depicted and spend time exploring it. Concurrently, as the drawings are approached, the image dissolves and the materiality and process are established; the artifice of the image construction is revealed as a piece of paper with handmade marks, pinned to the gallery wall. Drawing and erasing with charcoal reflects the transient shifting nature of the relationship between people and the surrounding living environment.
Ruskin Prize for Drawing 2014 - Winner! Maggie Hargreaves' blog

More photographs from the exhibition. 

I'm afraid still trying to find the listing which identified which drawing is which artist

I LOVED the textile landscape drawing!

The selected artists in the exhibition are: Anny Evason, Alex Hamilton, Ben Lingard, Colin Maxwell, Catherine Sutcliffe-Fuller, Chris Shaw Hughes, Dr Dolores de Sade, Darren Reid, Evy Jokhova, Gillian Swan, Hannah Brown, Ian Chamberlain, Jennifer Morgan, Michael Cox, Maggie Hargreaves, Mandy Payne, Philip Sanderson, Ros Ford, Rebecca Upton, Roanna Wells, Sonia Stanyard, Sarah Taylor- Silverwood, Sean Williams.

The John Ruskin Prize 2014 Selection Panel:

• Gill Saunders - Senior Curator of Prints, V&A
• Laura Oldfield Ford - Artist
• Sue Grayson Ford - Director, Campaign for Drawing
• Kirstie Hamilton - Museums Sheffield
• Clive Wilmer - Master, Guild of St George.