OPEN EXHIBITIONS 2026 REMINDER #1: (Mall Galleries Jan - June 2026)

This is my 2026 List of summaries of ALL the current Calls for Entries for Open Exhibitions by the National Art Societies in the UK and Ireland published to date.

#1 TODAY: I'm publishing the first half of the list - about the national art societies based at the Mall Galleries who have exhibitions in the period January - June 2025.

#2 TOMORROW: I'll publish the second half of my list - of other FBA and national art societies and major art competitions.

# SUNDAY: I'll summarise the key things OPEN ARTISTS need to know regarding 

• why open artists can sell well if selected for open exhibitions
• what they need to know to do so

Calls for Entries by FBA Societies

TIP: Being exhibited in an important national exhibition is an excellent way of marketing yourself and your art.

I've seen a lot of amateur artists develop into professional artists and become officers - and even Presidents - of leading national art societies in the 20 years that I've been writing this blog.

 
Below are SUMMARIES of various Calls for Entries by Annual Exhibitions by the national art societies which are members of the Federation of British Artists.

• They are all holding exhibitions in the period January - June 2026
• Their exhibitions are all held at the Mall Galleries
• This is the page where you can find all the Open Calls for Entries

(Note: Tomorrow's post highlights the other FBA Art Societies and other national art societies. Not all who hold exhibitions at the Mall Galleries are members of the FBA.)

My summaries are NEVER ever a substitute for you taking your time to read ALL the Terms and Conditions of Entries very carefully. I've provided links to where you can read these below. REMEMBER!

• You can get selected and then not hung if you mess up.
• I recommend you remember to pay particular attention to framing / presentation for exhibition
• delivering artwork; and
• VAT before entering or pricing. (see note at end)

Royal Society of British Artists

Note - this one closes tomorrow at NOON!

• Website: https://www.therba.org/
• Call for Entries: https://www.mallgalleries.org.uk/open-calls/royal-society-british-artists
• Deadline for Entries: Friday 9 January 2026 (that's TOMORROW)
• Exhibition: 26 February - 7 March 2026
• Venue: Mall Galleries

You can read my blog post Open Call for Entries: Royal Society of British Artists - Annual Exhibition 2026

OPEN EXHIBITION 2025 REMINDER #1: (Mall Galleries)

I'm publishing a list of summaries of ALL the current Calls for Entries for Open Exhibitions by the National Art Societies in the UK and Ireland which have been published to date.

#1 TODAY: I'm publishing the first half of the list - about the national art societies based at the Mall Galleries who have exhibitions in the period January - June 2025.

#2 TOMORROW: I'm going to show you how well non members do at selling artwork at some of the Mall Galleries exhibitions IF:

1. they get selected
2. they price their work correctly
3. You may be very surprised! I'll be speculating on the reasons why....

#3 TUESDAY: I'll publish the second half of my list - of other national art societies and major art competitions.

Calls for Entries by FBA Societies 

Being exhibited in an important national exhibition is an excellent way of marketing yourself and your art. I've seen a lot of amateur artists develop into professional artists and become officers of leading national art societies in the nearly 20 years that I've been writing this blog. 

However, I've been remiss about writing Calls for Entries posts of late - so this is by way of making up for this.

Below are SUMMARIES of various Calls for Entries by Annual Exhibitions by all the national art societies which are members of the Federation of British Artists. 

• Their exhibitions are all held at the Mall Galleries 
• They are all holding exhibitions in the period January - June 2025
• This is the page where you can find all the Open Calls for Entries 

(Note: not all who hold exhibitions at the Mall Galleries are members of the FBA)

My summaries are NEVER a substitute for you reading ALL the Terms and Conditions of Entries very carefully. I've provided links to where you can read these below.

• You can get selected and then not hung if you mess up. 
• Pay particular attention to 
• delivering artwork and its presentation for exhibition and 
• VAT before entering or pricing. (see note at end)

Royal Society of British Artists

Royal Society of British Artists
 Open Call for Entries - Annual Exhibition 2025

• Website: https://www.therba.org/
• Call for Entries: https://www.mallgalleries.org.uk/open-calls/royal-society-british-artists
• Deadline for Entries: Wednesday 8 January 2025
• Exhibition: 26 February - 8 March 2025
• Venue: Mall Galleries
• Who can enter: Any artist aged 18 or over may enter, from anywhere in the world.
• What can you enter:  
• Painting, sculpture, drawing and original prints.
• nothing larger than 2.4m (longest dimension)
• all work must be for sale
• NOT previously exhibited in London
• original creation of the artist
• Pricing: 
• minimum price of £300 
• Prints only – framed £180, unframed £120
• 45% commission + VAT charged on all sales
• Entry Fee: 
• non-refundable submission fee of £20 per work 
• £14 per work for any artists aged 35 or under

Reasons to enter:

• lots of prizes - many of which are awarded to open artists
• RBA has a strong commitment to favouring the development of young artists

Royal Institute of Painters in Water Colours | 213th Exhibition 2025

Call for Entries: John Moores Painting Prize 2023

The John Moores Painting Prize is a very prestigious biennial PAINTING competition - with a £25,000 First Prize - plus a £5,000 prize for an emerging artist.

• It opened for entries for the 2023 exhibition yesterday.
• The Prize is open to all UK-based artists working with paint.
• The deadline for an entry is 24 March 2023
• All entries are judged anonymously over a two-stage selection process - but I strongly recommend you take a look at the Judges profiles first.
• It culminates in an exhibition next year at the Walker Art Gallery in Liverpool (16 September 2023 to 25 February 2024).

In the absence of all those art competitions which have fallen by the wayside in recent years, this is one art competition that all painters should take very seriously - not least because who has won it previously

Exhibition

The John Moores Painting Prize (JSPP) 2023 Exhibition will be on display at the Walker Art Gallery in Liverpool from 19 September 2020 - 14 February 2021

Kathryn Maple - who won the JSPP in 2020 - also has an exhibition Under a Hot Sun by Kathryn Maple at the Walker Art Gallery between 11 Feb 2023—30 Apr 2023

About the John Moores Painting Prize

The John Moores Painting Prize has awarded more than £685,000 in prize money across 31 exhibitions, which have showcased more than 2,350 works of art. It presents a rich history of post-war painting in Britain. The first exhibition was held only six years after the Walker Art Gallery re-opened following the Second World War.

Previous winners of the John Moores Painting Prize have included artists such as

• 1959: Patrick Heron - "Black Painting - Red, Brown and Olive: July 1959
• 1967: David Hockney - Peter Getting Out of Nick's Pool
• 1972: Euan Uglow - "Nude, 12 vertical positions from the eye"
• 1993: Peter Doig - "Blotter"
• 2014: Rose Wylie - "PV Windows and Floorboards"

See a virtual exhibition of John Moores Painting Prize Exhibition - Winners since 1957

Aims of the JMPP

The competition is named after the sponsor of the prize, Sir John Moores (1896 – 1993). It was originally intended as a one-off, however it's now a biennial event and this will be the 32nd exhibition since its launch in 1957.

The original aims of the John Moores Painting Prize was:

'To give Merseyside the chance to see an exhibition of painting and sculpture embracing the best and most vital work being done today throughout the country'

and

'To encourage contemporary artists, particularly the young and progressive'

Now the aim is

Supporting artists from all over the UK – whether they’re undiscovered, emerging or established in their careers – the prize provides a platform for artists to inspire, disrupt and challenge the British painting art scene today.

Hence the competition aims to support artists who paint with two important dimensions:

• all entries are judged anonymously
• to bring to Liverpool "the best contemporary painting" from across the UK

and after that it's whatever the members of the jury care to place an emphasis on.

In terms of "anonymous entry and judging" this competition is much more thorough than most. During the Stage 1 Review of the digital images the process is completely anonymous

• all artists are allocated a unique entry number
• jurors are not given the names of the artists
• jurors are only provided with information about the title, size and medium of the painting.

You can read more about the The Judges for the 2023 JMPP at the end of this post.

Prizes

All paintings included in the exhibition are eligible for a prize. The jury will select a final shortlist of five paintings and award the prizes.

• The first prize winner will receive £25,000 and a solo display at the Walker Art Gallery in 2025. 
• A shortlist of four other paintings will also be awarded £2,500.  
• Plus a NEW £5,000 Lady Grantchester Prize for emerging artists (see below) PLUS 
• a month-long residency and display space at Elephant West in West London  plus local accommodation and a basic allowance if the artist lives outside LondoN; and 
• £2,500 worth of art materials from Winsor & Newton.
• Professional mentoring by Winsor & Newton
• The Visitors’ Choice Award (worth £2023) sponsored by Rathbones. - Visitors to the  JMPP 2023 exhibition will be invited to vote for their favourite painting to win the popular 

New for the 2023 edition of JMPP, the Emerging Artist Prize has been re-named in honour of the late Lady Grantchester, an avid and loyal supporter of the John Moores Painting Prize, which was created by her father, John Moores in 1957.

The Lady Grantchester Prize is open to recent graduates, who are within two years of graduation, and students who are currently in their final year of a UK-based arts-related course, degree (eg. BA, MA, PhD) or alternative learning programme. 

Call for Entries

Summary of information provided by the organisers can be found on

• This the Guidelines for Artists page.
• This is the Terms and Conditions Page
• This is the Registration Page - which very oddly has no reference to or links to other important information about the competition!!
• The website - below is very difficult to navigate - as you an get very easily stuck on one page with no exit or backwards link. You MUST use this link to get back to this screen https://www.liverpoolmuseums.org.uk/jmpp/john-moores-painting-prize

Above is the short version. Below are the details.

Who can enter?

The last edition of the show had almost 3,000 entries including works by both established and early career artists.

Artists MUST be:

Tax Tips for UK Artists - a Zoom Talk

Two weeks ago I delivered a Zoom Talk to recent art graduates about "Tax Tips for UK Artists" - and walked them through the process of starting out with their tax affairs with the HMRC and what they needed to do. 

You can find out what the Talk covers below.

Any art society or group of artists who'd like to me to deliver a Zoom Talk can get in touch with me via the Contact Form at the end of my 'Would You Like Me to Help Page' on Art Business Info for Artists. 

As well as preparing the Talk, I've also been updating the pages on my Art Business Info for Artists website about

• UK Tax Tips for Artists
• UK: Self-Assessment Video Tips

Both of these contain much of what I cover in the Talk - plus HMRC Videos explaining specific aspects of importance.

Tax Tips for UK Artists - the Zoom Talk

The talk covers

Call for Entries: New English Art Club Annual Exhibition 2021

The deadline for open entries for the 2021 Annual Exhibition of the New English Art Club (NEAC) at the Mall Galleries is just over six weeks away - Friday 30th April, 12 noon.

The exhibition is currently scheduled for 25th June to 3rd July

I always go back to basics and look at how an art society describes itself. In principle this should help with determining what sort of art is appropriate for the exhibition.

Last year that the description had changed - but remains the same this year.

The New English Art Club is an elected society of contemporary painters whose ethos resides in art informed by the visual world and personal interpretation.

Our Annual Exhibition is a showcase not only for its members but also for aspiring artists: with a history going back more than a hundred years, it is an opportunity for work to be seen alongside some of the best artists painting today, held at Mall Galleries in London.

All the images in this post comes from the annual exhibition in 2020.

Paintings in the 2020 exhibition

    

The nature of the NEAC Annual Exhibition

I'll reiterate below a number of important points about this exhibition and the association open submission

If you are considering whether to submit art via the open entry, it's worth paying regard to various aspects of the NEAC Open Exhibition. These are:

• LOTS of artists want to be a member of NEAC. (This page explains their route to membership). For example, very many members of the OTHER art societies based at the Mall Galleries would like to be a member of NEAC - so your competition is people who have already been elevated to membership of other societies belonging to the Federation of British Artists.
• that's because historically it's had
• status - this art society was established by people who broke away from the Royal Academy of Arts
• a good reputation (historically) for displaying lots of good quality artwork. Latterly I've argued that this has wavered a bit at times. 
• over £10,000 in monetary awards are now available - some of which can only be won by a non-member or an emerging artist.
• around 75% of the artworks hung are by members of NEAC
• around 20% of artworks hung come from the open and are 
• by artists who are not a member of any art society based at the Mall Galleries. 
• This is a LOT LOWER than the equivalent percentage for ALL other FBA Societies.

You can read about the ethos of NEAC and the Metrics (numbers / performance indicators) associated with the club in my call for entries last year. There's no point in updating this yet as 2020 was such a very odd year.

Different perspectives and media

Prizes & Awards

There are a number of prizes and awards - which are open to all artists submitting work via the open entry. These include:

Monetary Awards

• The Doreen McIntosh Prize: £5,000. In order to reflect the best in figurative painting in British Art, The Doreen McIntosh Prize is for an artist whose work fulfils the New English Art Club’s ideals of rigour, immediate engagement with the visual and a searching attitude.
• Chris Beetles Gallery Prize for Figurative Art: £2,500 for a non-member artist. Selected by Chris Beetles of Chris Beetles Gallery, St James's, London
• The Hermione Hammond Drawing Award: £2,000 for a drawing by an emerging artist aged 35 or under
• The Bowyer Drawing Prize: £500

Art Materials

• The Winsor & Newton Award: Art materials to the value of £500
• The Peter Ashley Framing Prize, presented by The Artistic Framing Company: A bespoke handmade picture frame will be created for the winning work, to the value of £500

Publication Awards

• The Dry Red Press Award: The winning work will be published as a greeting card in the Dry Red Press 'Prize Winners' range, with royalties from the sale of the cards going to the artist

You can see what artwork won which prize last year in 

• the 2020 Prizes Page on the NEAC website - plus videos by the prizewinners
• my blog post New English Art Club - Annual Exhibition 2020 (Part 2) - in which you can see the artworks framed and hanging on the wall

This is the video by Jason Line, the chap who produced an excellent drawing to win The Bowyer Drawing Prize in 2020.

Call for Entries

This is an OPEN EXHIBITION. You can find Information about the NEAC exhibition on the Mall Galleries Website.

West Gallery

Eligible artists: WHO can Submit?

Artists are invited to submit work for exhibition alongside members of the New English Art Club at their Annual Exhibition 2021 

Any artist, over the age of 18 - living anywhere in the world - can submit artwork to this exhibition. Both members of NEAC and other international or British artists are invited to submit artwork for consideration.

NEXT there are two DIFFERENT sets of information.

• The first are the terms of entry which are specific to this NEAC exhibition are in "What can you submit?" below
• the second is the standard/universal Generic Terms and Conditions relevant to submissions to ANY exhibition at the Mall Galleries by a society which is a member of the Federation of British Artists re. How to Submit and other Terms and Conditions of Entry.

Eligible artwork: WHAT can you submit?

A List of Virtual Art Galleries & Museums #1 - in the UK

If you've been clicking your way through Google Trends (I aced it on the quizzes!) you'll have seen this.....

Virtual Museum was the top trending search in relation to virtual activity

"Virtual Museum" hurtled up the search query rankings to become a TOP TREND in 2020 for virtual activities

So I thought I'd make a list of Virtual Museums - for your delectation over the Covid / Christmas Break (take your pick - says woman sat in a 'Deep Purple' zone in Tier 4 London - who's going absolutely nowhere in the foreseeable future).

Here's some of the things I've learned through this process:

• some art galleries and museums are using the word "virtual" to rechristen their existing offering on the website. Doubtless after they realise that "virtual museum" was a search query which was hitting new heights during Covid. 
• I'm looking for either:
• pre-existing and genuine virtual tours (i.e. you get to decide where you go and what you look at)
• new initiatives aimed at making art galleries and museums more accessible via virtual tours.
• The process also told me which art galleries and museum 
• really think hard about "virtual" from the perspective of the viewer i.e. we want to decide where we go and what we do - just as we do when we visit for real
• have an online marketing team which does NOT look at trends in search queries - and 
• which have not used the downtime associated with museums being closed to get virtual tours started properly!

Initially I'm going to divide the listing into three posts covering museums and art galleries in different geographical area i.e. 

1. the United Kingdom
2. Europe
• France
• Italy
• Spain
3. the USA

However if you like these posts, I'll do more!  Plus these are posts I can come back to and add in more art galleries and museums with virtual tours - and I'll do an update post to tell you what's been added when I do.

Finally - this is very much a work in progress - broken off initially today because I need to make dinner - but I will return!

A List of Virtual Museums

This list of art galleries and museums is ordered on the basis of which museums I found had invested and produced the best results. 

• I'm starting today with London - but will add in more museums from elsewhere in the UK later - within a regional context
• Suggestions of Virtual Tours you know about elsewhere in the UK to me on my Facebook Page
  
  

LONDON

British Museum

The British Museum has some unusual ways of viewing its collection online.

UPDATE: Fine Art Transport Services and Couriers in the UK in 2020

I've spent some time today updating the UK Art Movers & Couriers & Fine Art Transport Services on my Art Business Info for Artists website (Ship Art section).

As part of my review of matters relating to the Recession, I wanted to check the current status of current providers of transport services for fine art.
Changes made include:

• CHECKING on current information provided and revising as required. (I've not quite finished)
• ADDING IN new providers - some new sole traders and private limited companies offering to pack/move art around the UK
• ADDING CAUTION NOTES - in relation to their current trading status and/or compliance with UK ecommerce regulations

I'm also looking for some help in keeping this page updated throughout the year - in order to avoid artists getting caught out by a business in the process of going under.  (please see the end).

Basic data checks and compliance checks re. regulations

I now check each service against a set of criteria - and a number of the services have noticed and have started to address their shortcomings!

Call for Entries: £25,000 John Moores Painting Prize 2020 + NEW Prize

The John Moores Painting Prize is a PAINTING competition 

• This week it opened for entries for the 2021 exhibition
• The deadline for an entry is 24 March 2020
• It's open to all UK-based artists working with paint. 
• It culminates in an exhibition next year at the Walker Art Gallery in Liverpool  (19 September 2020 - 14 February 2021)

The exhibition has consistently helped to raise the profile of the artists and in particular to further the careers of its winners

Its named after the sponsor of the prize, Sir John Moores (1896 – 1993) and was originally intended as a one-off!

It's now a biennial event and this will be the 31st exhibition in 60 years - since its launch in 1957.

You can view the previous winners of the John Moores Painting Prize on the past exhibitions page on the website They include:

• David Hockney (1967) - with 'Peter getting out of Nick's pool' - so no pressure! ;)
• Euan Uglow (1972) - 'Nude, 12 vertical positions from the eye'
• Peter Doig (1993) - with Blotter and
• Rose Wylie (2014).

Criteria for assessment - and how anonymity is maintained

The original aims of John Moores were:

'To give Merseyside the chance to see an exhibition of painting and sculpture embracing the best and most vital work being done today throughout the country'

and

'To encourage contemporary artists, particularly the young and progressive'

Now the aim is

Supporting artists from all over the UK – whether they’re undiscovered, emerging or established in their careers – the prize provides a platform for artists to inspire, disrupt and challenge the British painting art scene today.

Hence the competition aims to support artists who paint. There are two important criteria:

• all entries are judged anonymously
• to bring to Liverpool the best contemporary painting from across the UK

and after that it's whatever the members of the jury care to place an emphasis on.

In terms of "anonymous entry and judging" this competition is much more thorough than most. During the Stage 1 Review of the digital images the process is completely anonymous

• all artists are allocated a unique entry number
• jurors are not given the names of the artists
• jurors are only provided with information about the title, size and medium of the painting

The Jury

The Jury changes with every exhibition. They are selected and appointed by the John Moores Liverpool Exhibition Trust and National Museums Liverpool.

Members have included artists, writers, art critics, broadcasters, curators and musicians.

They are

• Michelle Williams Gamaker - an artist with moving image and performance. Plus Lecturer on the BA Fine Art programme at Goldsmiths and is Chair of Trustees of the visual arts organisation Pavilion in Leeds.
• Jennifer Higgie - Editor-at-large of frieze magazine. She has been a judge of the Paul Hamlyn Award and the Turner Prize, as well as a member of the selection panel for the British artist at the Venice Biennale and the advisory boards of Arts Council England, the Contemporary Art Society and the Imperial War Museum Art Commissions Committee. (which is when I start to think about the "usual suspects")
• Gu Wenda, an artist born in Shanghai. Wenda has lived and worked in both New York and Shanghai since 1988. Celebrated for merging traditional ink painting and experimental installations.
• Hurvin Anderson, a painter whose work explores spaces occupied by Caribbean immigrants, which function as sites for both social gatherings and economic enterprise. Has exhibited extensively and was shortlisted for the Turner Prize in 2017.
• Alison Goldfrapp is a British-based artist. Fine art, music and photography have played an equally vital role in her creative expression. Alison was chosen as the first ‘Performer as Curator’ for The Lowry, Salford, for her “remarkable synthesis of music and visual imagery”.

I make that two painters - for a painting competition!

The number of works entered has always been high: consistently over 1,000, frequently over 2,000 and for John Moores 25 (2008), a record 3,322 entries. The jury's task is therefore a large one, with judging taking several days.

I've always wondered whether the composition of the Jury is intrinsically linked to and limited by the number of people with other relevant expertise who can take off a number of days to judge a painting competition!

Prizes

All paintings included in the exhibition are eligible for a prize. This year there is also a NEW prize.

The jury will select a final shortlist of five paintings and award the prizes.

• First Prize: a cash prize of £25,000 and a solo display at the Walker Art Gallery.
• four prizes for the other shortlisted artists of £2,500
• a NEW £2,500 Emerging Artist Prize plus premium Winsor and Newton art materials of the same value. This is open to:
• open to recent graduates, who are within two years of graduation, and 
• students who are currently in their final year of a UK-based arts-related course, degree (eg. BA, MA, PhD) or alternative learning programme.

There is also a Visitors’ Choice prize of £2,018, voted for by visitors to the exhibition at the Walker and awarded towards the end of the exhibition period.

Call for Entries

• This the Guidelines for Artists page.
• This is the Terms and Conditions Page

Who can enter?

Call for Entries: New English Art Club Annual Exhibition 2020

The Open Submission for the 2020 Annual Exhibition of the New English Art Club (NEAC) is now open. Three big changes this year are as follows:

1) I think they've CHANGED the summary description of NEAC's purpose

The New English Art Club is an elected society of contemporary painters whose ethos resides in art informed by the visual world and personal interpretation. 
(my bold underlining)

compared to the 2019 catalogue (see below). What happened to the emphasis on figurative and drawing?

The New English Art Club Annual Exhibition is a chance to experience the very best in figurative, observational and painterly work in the UK.
It showcases paintings, drawings and prints from its elected members alongside work by emerging artists whose ethos reflects its own: informed by the visual world and personal interpretation; and underpinned by drawing. Mall Galleries Introduction

AND

2) artists may submit to the NEAC Annual Exhibition in one of TWO ways:

• Online Pre-selection (Route A) or 
• Physical Selection (Route B).

The New English Art Club now offers Route B for artists wishing their work to be judged physically at the gallery for the first time, bypassing the online shortlisting process.
This is in recognition of the fact that it can be difficult for the selection committee to fully appreciate an artwork on screen, but at the same time recognising that the online pre-selection may save artists the time and expense of framing and transportation. The submission fee is the same for both options.

I wonder how much this is down to requests from artists and how much due to selectors not liking selecting online and/or not having computers which are good enough to make a decent selection...

AND

3) They have some NEW sponsors and two NEW rather good new cash prizes - open only to either a non-member or an emerging artist under 35!


This post provides:

• my commentary on the nature of this open exhibition
• a reminder of the metrics associated with the annual exhibition in 2019 - including
• the number of works selected from the open entry, 
• the number of non-member artists who got to exhibit and 
• the average number of artworks hung by a non-members.
• a summary of what you can enter AND how to enter the next annual exhibition.

view of part of the 2019 exhibition

The nature of the NEAC Annual Exhibition

There are aspects of the NEAC Open Exhibition which are worth bearing in mind when considering whether to submit art via the open entry.

• LOTS of artists want to be a member of NEAC. For example, very many members of the OTHER art societies based at the Mall Galleries would like to be a member of NEAC - so your competition is people who have already been elevated to membership of societies belonging to the Federation of British Artists.
• that's because historically it's had 
• status - this art society was established by people who broke away from the Royal Academy of Arts
• a good repuation (historically)as having lots of good quality artwork. Latterly I'd argue that this has wavered a bit
• over £10,000 in monetary awards are now available (with two NEW prizes this year)- some of which can only be won by a non-member or an emerging artist.
• around 75% of the artworks hung are by members of NEAC
• around 20% of artworks hung come from the open and are by artists who are not a member of any art society based at the Mall Galleries. This is a LOT LOWER than the equivalent percentage for ALL other FBA Societies.

I'll unpick the metrics below. They are VERY IMPORTANT when thinking about how many works to submit and the competition for membership.

Call for Entries - Royal Society of British Artists Annual Exhibition 2020

This is my summary of the Call for Entries for the 2020 Annual Exhibition of the Royal Society of British Artists (RBA)

• Entries opened today Monday 30th September 2019
• The deadline for entries is Friday 29 November, 12 noon
• For full terms and conditions, click here.

It covers

• the exhibition
• cash prizes and awards
• who can enter
• what you can enter
• how to enter

The Royal Society of British Artists seeks submissions of work displaying the highest standards of skill, expression and concept of draughtsmanship

RBA Annual Exhibition 2019 - Small works in the Main Gallery - prints, drawings and paintings

Exhibition in 2020

The Exhibition in 2020 has been brought forward from July to February 2020 and will held, as usual, at the Mall Galleries.

In effect it's reverted to its normal slot.

It's usually held across all three galleries due to its size (485 artworks exhibited in 2019 - including a special exhibition for the RBA Star Students from schools and colleges across the country)

• Opens on Thursday 20 February 2020
• Open to the public every day from 10am - 5pm (except the last day)
• Closes at 5pm on Saturday 29 February 2020.
• The Private View will be on Wednesday 19th July 2019, 11am – 8pm - with speeches at 6pm.

Prizes & Awards (subject to final confirmation)

This a link to the artworks which won prizes and awards at the Annual Exhibition in 2019.

A variety of Prizes and Awards are on offer. These include:

Cash Prizes

• The De Laszlo Foundation Medal for Excellence and £1,500 will be awarded for the best artwork from life by an artist aged 35 or under
• The Patron's Prize: £500
• The Surgeon's Prize: £500
• The Gordon Hulson Memorial Prize: £250 for draughtsmanship, variety & exploration
• The Stuart Southall Print Prize: £250
• The Nathan David Award for Sculpture: £150

Publication Awards

• The Artist Magazine Award: The winner will be interviewed in The Artist magazine, print and digital editions
• The Dry Red Press Award: The winning work will be published as a greeting card in the Dry Red Press 'Prize Winners' range, with royalties from the sale of the cards going to the artist

Art Materials & Other Awards

• The Winsor & Newton Painting Award: Art materials to the value of £500
• The Michael Harding Awards: Two awards of £500 worth of Michael Harding art materials
• Hahnemuhle Fine Art UK Award: A prize of artist paper, worth £250
• Frinton Frames Award: £200 of picture framing at Frinton Frames bespoke hand-finished picture frame makers

Education Awards

• The London Atelier of Representational Art (LARA) Prize for a Young Artist: Free short course in London

Annual Exhibition of the Royal Society of British Artists 2019 -  some of the artworks in the North Gallery

While there is a some variation in quality between artworks - with some outstanding pieces - the overall standard of the exhibition is good to very good. The RBA continues to maintain its improvement in exhibition standards of recent years

Submitting an Entry

Artists are invited to submit entries via the open entry to this juried exhibition of work by members of the Royal Society of British Artists.

RECOMMENDED: This is an OPEN exhibition worth entering.

In the main exhibition, the split between members and open entries is respectable.

• 316 works (65%) are by Members of the RBA

• 169 artworks (35%) were selected from the Open Entry - out of c.1800 submissions - which is an increase from the 127 selected in 2017. Numbers are going in the right direction.

Which means around 9.3% of the artwork submitted via the Open Entry was selected for the Annual Exhibition. Review - Royal Society of British Artists Annual Exhibition 2019

Who can submit

• Any artist over 18 may submit - including artists who do not live or work in the UK.

What can you submit?

Call for Entries - Royal Society of British Artists 302nd Exhibition

This is a reminder that you have until Friday 15th March 2019 to submit an entry to the 2019 Annual Exhibition of the Royal Society of British Artists (RBA)

This post is about the Call for Entries. It covers

• how to become a member of the RBA
• who can enter
• how to enter
• the exhibition

Last year, the RBA selected a record number of 174 works from the open submission.

a view of part of the main gallery at last year's exhibition

Artists are invited to submit works for exhibition alongside members of the Royal Society of British Artists at their Annual Exhibition 2019.

This then is your opportunity to exhibit with the Royal Society of British Artists whose past exhibitions have included works by past members such as

• James McNeill Whistler (1834-1903) - who was RBA President 1886-1888
• Walter Richard Sickert, RA (1860-1942) - Elected RBA President 1928 - 1930
• LS Lowry, RA (1887-1976) - RBA Member 1935
• amongst a number of other well known artists

You too could have work selected from the open entry as Claude Monet (1840 – 1926) did when four of his works, each priced at £160, were included in the winter show of 1887/8!

303rd Exhibition in 2019

The 303rd exhibition in 2019 will be held in July 2019 at the Mall Galleries. It's usually held across all three galleries due to its size.

• Opens on Thursday 4th July  2018 
• Open to the public every day from 10am - 5pm (except the last day)
• Closes at 1pm on Saturday 14th July 2019.
• The Private View will be on Wednesday 3rd July 2018, 11am – 8pm - with speeches at 6pm.

How to become a member of the RBA

The RBA is a society where membership is often seen as a complement to membership of other national art societies. Indeed this was its original intention.

A group of painters met at Lincoln’s Inn Fields on May 21st 1823, to form the ‘Society of British Artists’, whose manifesto stated, ‘This organisation was not formed to rival existing societies but that every Member was to be at liberty to assist and support any other society.’

Those wanting to join the Society are invited to submit to the annual exhibition. You'll need to submit and be selected for several annual exhibitions before you are accepted as a member.

This is how to join the RBA

Candidates for membership are exhibited in one part of the exhibition (and of the five people who exhibited at the 2018 exhibition who I said I hoped to see as members of the RBA after the exhibition, four of the five now are!)

On average, there are 110 members elected to the RBA, all of whom are entitled to exhibit in the Annual Exhibition which is held at Mall Galleries in London. The membership procedure is competitive; candidates will normally be expected to have previously exhibited several times with the Society after which they may apply for election to the RBA.

artwork in the north gallery last year

Call for Entries Royal Society of British Artists 2019

Prizes

There are many prizes and awards available to win, including:

Cash Prizes

• The de Laszlo Foundation Prize: The de Laszlo Medal and £1,500 will be awarded to the artist aged 35 or under for the best art work from life
• The Patron's Prize: £500
• The Stuart Southall Print Prize: £250
• The Gordon Hulson Memorial Prize for Draughtsmanship, Variety & Exploration: £200
• The Nathan David Award for Sculpture: £150
• The Davison Award for Oil Painting: £100
• The Geoffrey Vivis Memorial Award: £100
• The Anthony J Lester Art Critic Award: £50

Tuition Prize

• The LARA Prize for a Young Artist: Short course at London or Bristol

Publication Prizes

• The Artist Magazine Award: The winner will be interviewed in The Artist magazine, print and digital editions
• The Dry Red Press Award: The winning work will be published as a greeting card in the Dry Red Press 'Prize Winners' range, with royalties from the sale of the cards going to the artist

Art Materials Prizes

• The Michael Harding Awards: Two awards of £500 worth of Michael Harding art materials, and 10 painting starter sets
• The Winsor & Newton Painting Award: Art materials to the value of £500
• Hahnemuhle Fine Art UK Award: A prize of artist paper, worth £250
• Frinton Frames Award: £200 of picture framing at Frinton Frames bespoke handfinished picture frame makers

Who can Submit?

This is an OPEN EXHIBITION.

Any artist - over the age of 18 - living anywhere in the world can submit artwork to this exhibition.

• On the Mall galleries website you can find 
• Information about the exhibition 
• the full terms and conditions
• Below you can also find my summary of how to enter the next annual exhibition.

I recommend you also have a read of my review of last year's exhibition before deciding on your submission. It has LOTS of images of the exhibition.

What can you submit?

• Acceptable media: Any medium including sculpture and original prints.
• Age of artwork: no requirement
• No. of artworks: up to six - of which up to four will be selected
• Previous exhibitions: Work must not have been exhibited previously.
• Dry: Paintings should be completely dry at the time of delivery (or they won't be hung)
• Size: Works should not be larger than 2.4m along the longest dimension.
• For Sale: All work must be for sale
• Price: The minimum price is £300 (framed prints: £180, unframed prints: £120).

I'm a big fan of art societies who refuse to allow people to exhibit work they have previously exhibited elsewhere - it makes for a better exhibition of work which is fresh to the eye.

the RBA Exhibition in the Threadneedle Space last year

How to enter

Entry is digital - after the preselection, artists will be invited to submit work for the second stage review.

• All entries are via digital submission online. (You cannot bring your artwork to London to enter)
• Images must be in JPEG format and under 5MB]
• Entry fee is £18 per work payable at the time of submitting (£12 per work for artists aged 35 or under) and includes free admission to all artists SUBMITTING work to the exhibition (normally £4).

VAT

HMRC define you as an overseas seller if you sell goods stored in the UK to UK consumers and do not have a business establishment in the UK.  In this instance the Mall Galleries acts as your agent.

Those submitting from outside the UK must decide 

• whether they need to register for VAT in advance (see Overseas business and VAT)
• engage an art carrier to deliver their work

Timeline - submission to exhibition

• Submission closes: Friday 15 March 2019, 12 noon
• Pre-selection: Monday 18 March, 10am to 5pm
• Pre-selection notification: Friday 22 March, 12 noon
• Receiving Day: Saturday 27 April, 10am to 5pm
• Selection Day: Tuesday 30 April, 10am to 5pm
• Acceptance notification: Wednesday 1 May, 12 noon
• Collection of unaccepted work: Friday 3 May, 10am to 5pm
• Private View: Wednesday 3 July, 11am to 8pm (speeches at 6pm)
• Exhibition open: Thursday 4 July 10am to 5pm
• Exhibition closes: Sunday 14 July, 1pm

TIP: This is a link to images and details of the artwork in last year's exhibition which is on the RBA website. I've ordered it by price - starting with the lowest priced. You can see which ones sold.

I expressed the view last year that some of those who were exhibiting were using very silly prices.

I recommend you study carefully the price ranges for different sized work - and work in different media - and which sold.  That gives you some sort of context for a submission this week.

Call for Entries - New English Art Club Annual Exhibition 2019

The Call for Entries has gone out from the New English Art Club for its Annual Exhibition which will be held between the 14th and 22nd June 2019.

The New English Art Club seeks work which demonstrates excellence in both concept and draughtsmanship Mall Galleries

The deadline for digital submissions is Friday 22 February 2019, 12 noon.

Below you can find

• my commentary on the nature of this open exhibition
• a review of the metrics associated with the annual exhibition in June 2017 - including the number of works selected from the open entry, the number of non-member artists who got to exhibit and the average number of artworks hung by a non-members.
• a summary of how to enter the next annual exhibition.

One of the advantages of now having the NEAC Exhibition in June is it coincides with the first week of the Summer Exhibition at the Royal Academy of Arts - and lots of people now travel to London to see both exhibitions!  In fact you can easily walk between the two!

The New English Art Club

This is how NEAC explains its purpose and remit as follows

The New English Art Club is an elected society of contemporary painters whose ethos resides in art informed by the visual world and personal interpretation.

Our Annual Exhibition is a showcase not only for its members but also for aspiring artists: with a history going back more than a hundred years, it is an opportunity for work to be seen alongside some of the best artists painting today, held at Mall Galleries in London.

While some in the past have tended to see it as a staging post to entry to the Royal Academy, for my part, I tend to think of it more as follows

"NEAC" is after all the set of initials that other FBA society members want to add on to their existing signature member status - probably because it was originally a spin-off from the RA. Review: New English Art Club Annual Exhibition 2018 #1

For information on how to become a member see the NEAC website - Artist Membership Application Process 

An annual exhibition under a NEW President

The NEAC website "Calls for Entries" to submit work to the annual exhibition.
This is an image of the Selection Panel in action
in the basement of Carlton House Terrace, in the room where artworks  are delivered 

While selection is by a panel of members, I'd expect a new President to set the tone for what he'd like to see happen. However, bear in mind when submitting work that there is a limit to how much time each work submitted can be viewed - and that this is the distance that most works are generally viewed from! (see the pic above)

There was a point when most of the Presidents of the FBA Societies were older than me - and now I'm older and many are younger! However, in recent times, there's been a bit of a sense at the moment of the "new guard" taking up the responsibilities of President from the "old guard".

Pages of the Sea - the WW1 Beach Portraits

I only found out about Pages of the Sea Project at the weekend. Little did I realise when I was walking right behind Danny Boyle 10 days ago (he lives near me) that I'd be writing about him this week.

The Pages of the Sea - Beach Portraits Page

on 11 November 2018, communities will gather on beaches across the UK to say goodbye and thank you, to the millions of men and women who left their shores during the war, many never to return.

Pages of the Sea was the largest simultaneous coastal arts project ever to take place in the UK.

It's been a major public art project curated by Oscar-winning filmmaker Danny Boyle for the First World War centenary - with the aim that people all around the UK could get involved with a more informal commemoration of the centenary of the end of the war and a final salute to the people who gave their lives.  The aim of the project was to be open and democratic in a space which is open to anyone.

Watch this three minute video to see what happened across the UK on Sunday 11th November - the centenary of the end of the First World War.

THE WOUND IN TIME

It is the wound in Time. The century’s tides,

chanting their bitter psalms, cannot heal it.

Not the war to end all wars; death’s birthing place;

the earth nursing its ticking metal eggs, hatching

new carnage. But how could you know, brave

as belief as you boarded the boats, singing?

The end of God in the poisonous, shrapneled air.

Poetry gargling its own blood. We sense it was love

you gave your world for; the town squares silent,

awaiting their cenotaphs. What happened next?

War. And after that? War. And now? War. War.

History might as well be water, chastising this shore;

for we learn nothing from your endless sacrifice.

Your faces drowning in the pages of the sea.

Carol Ann Duffy, 2018.

Where the beaches were

Pages of the Sea was  commissioned by 14-18 NOW, the UK’s arts programme for the First World War centenary and was supported by The National Lottery through the Heritage Lottery Fund, Arts Council England and Big Lottery Fund, and the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport.

The Sand portraits designed by Sand in your Eye. (You can see examples of their sand drawings on their website)

You can also see what happened on Sunday in the Facebook Live Page It lasts just over an hour.

Click here to watch our Facebook Live of the day so far, including Danny Boyle’s introduction to the project, Fiona Shaw reading Carol Ann Duffy’s poem The Wound In Time, Greg Jenner exploring the history of Folkestone, historian Kenneth Cromie at Murlough beach and footage from Folkestone, Colwyn Bay, Murlough, Blackpool, West Sands.

You can also read about the portraits of people who contributed to the First World War on www.livesofthefirstworldwar.org

The website for the Lives of the First World War Project run by the Imperial War Museum