Looking back at what worked in the art world in 2020

This has to have been one of the most stressful years for artists ever - and yet within that we have seen some remarkable achievements by artists.

In this post I'm going to try and highlight some of what I saw and heard about in 2020 which helped artists keep going....

• Artists Support Pledge
• Portraits for NHS Heroes
• The Art Teachers who learned fast how to deliver art lessons online
• Art Marketing and Website Makeovers
• The Virtual Online Art Exhibitions and Tours
• The Virtual / Online Conferences for Artists
• Online Resources
• My Contribution

Let's all remember going forward that we are not at the end - even with approved vaccines - and it's going to be a long time before things get back to normal. 

So we need even more innovation and endeavour and hard work in 2021 - but if what I've seen in 2020 is anything to go by, there's lots of artists who are up for that!

Artist Support Pledge #artistsupportpledge

Artist Support Pledge - the gifted keep giving

Matthew Burrows started the Artist Support Pledge on on the 16th March 2020 in response to the COVID19 pandemic.

I wrote about it in The Artist Support Pledge in May 2020.  Some artists have been regularly selling small works online all through the pandemic. More than a few professional artists have told me they've had more sales and generated more income this year than in some 'normal' years in the past.

Matthew Burrows was awarded with 

• an MBE in the Queen’s 2020 Birthday Honours List - for services to the arts during the Covid-19 response

• Personality of the Year in the Apollo Awards 2020

The online selling platform helping artists make a living now has more than 69,000 followers, has produced 447,000 posts and generated around £70m in sales. Burrows, Apollo’s Personality of the Year, was subsequently made an MBE in this year’s Queen’s Birthday Honours – and his no-frills initiative has been hailed as a lifeline for artists struggling in the wake of Covid-19. Personality of the Year | Apollo Magazine (19 November 2020)

In 2021 I'm going to pledge to do one post a week which will highlight the artwork of at least five artists whose work is posted for sale for £200 or less with the #artistsupportpledge.

Wouldn't it be wonderful if we all used other platforms to highlight the works of art that we liked - and continue to help those whose incomes have been decimated due to the lack of exhibitions.

Portraits for NHS Heroes #portraitsfornhsheroes

New VIRTUAL Exhibition of Portraits for NHS Heroes

One of the things I discovered this week when investigating the scope to produce online exhibitions was that there is now an online exhibition of portraits of NHS Heroes by 15 artists who all members of the Contemporary British Portrait Painters (CBPP)

Still of the Video of the exhibition 
GO TO https://thenetgallery.com/portraits-for-nhs-heroes/ TO SEE THE REAL THING

Tom Croft - the portrait painter who initiated the Portraits of NHS Heroes Initiative - partnered with The Net Gallery to create a VIRTUAL Exhibition showcasing portraits of NHS staff, created during the current crisis.

The virtual exhibition does two great things

• first it celebrates frontline workers through portraiture and 
• second it will help raise funds for NHS Charities Together, to help support to the ongoing COVID-19 relief effort.

The Covid-19 Urgent Appeal was launched by NHS Charities Together to acknowledge and support NHS staff, volunteers and volunteers impacted by Covid-19 across the country. The money raised is funding grants to help NHS charities support NHS staff, volunteers and patients in ways above and beyond what NHS funding can ordinarily provide, including wellbeing support and costs associated with travel, parking, accommodation and volunteer expenses. It also provides somewhere comfortable so staff and volunteers can take a break, use of electronic-tablets so patients, staff and volunteers can stay in contact with loved ones, and counselling support to protect mental health and help staff and volunteers process what they are dealing with.

The exhibition comprises 15 portraits of NHS staff. Some are painted in their normal work clothes. Others are painted in what they wore while treating and caring for Covid patients

The portraits were scanned and printed using a high res printer and then installed in the interior of the Fitzrovia Chapel in London, the former chapel of Middlesex Hospital and then both were scanned and the exhibition was constructed.

Each portrait has two circles bottom left and bottom right

• bottom left provides the name of the worker and a quotation from them
• bottom right provides a pop-out of the portrait with the title of the portrait and the name of the artist 

This is what you see when you click on the right hand circle below each portrait

There are also circles on the floor which allow you to navigate where you want to "stand" to view the paintings. Use you mouse to scan left and right.

This is what Tom said on his page about the initiative

So who should be immortalised today? Who should line the walls of galleries and have future generations look back on as the people who really made a difference and stepped up, in our latest darkest hour. The people who put self interest and self preservation to one side and literally risked their lives knowingly on a daily basis for our well being. The NHS workers. Absolutely.

So I posted a video on Instagram saying I would like to paint a free portrait to the first NHS Key Worker to contact me. I also suggested that other portrait artists might like to offer one too. Artists were asked to post their portraits under the hashtag #portraitsfornhsheroes so everyone could be seen online in a virtual exhibition. Then at the end of the pandemic, when restrictions are lifted and mass gatherings are allowed again, we could have a wonderful exhibition to celebrate and say thank you, to the heroes of the NHS. Hopefully this part will happen in time…

You can follow #portraitsfornhsheroes on Instagram - and see more portraits of NHS Heroes. There are now over 12,000 posts which carry this hashtag.  See some of them below