David Hockney on a personal virtual journey through 60 years

David Hockney: Bigger & Closer (not smaller & further away) opens at The Lightroom on 25th January 2023.

About David Hockney: Bigger & Closer

The difference about this new exhibition is it contains no drawings or paintings and yet it is all about drawing and painting and the processes Hockney uses and has used to create his art.

Using large-scale projection in a remarkable new space, David Hockney takes us on a personal journey through sixty years of his art.
Lightroom’s vast walls and revolutionary sound system enable us to experience the world through Hockney’s eyes.
His life-long fascination with the possibilities of new media is given vibrant expression in a show that invites us to look more closely, more truly and more joyously.

It features:

• the creation of a virtual reality using immersive audio and visual techniques to guide visitors into Hockney’s world
• a commentary by Hockney
• a specially composed score by American composer Nico Muhly
• six themed chapters

“I’m usually drawing or painting, it’s all I want to do now"

There are six main topics which are examined in this exhibition / experience which reflect his many and various interests and projects over the last 60 years or more.

• how he experiments with perspective
• how he uses photography as a way of ‘drawing with a camera’
• how he records the passing of time using:
• polaroid collages of spending time with people and 
• the joy of spring (on his iPad) in the Yorkshire Wolds
• why paint is the only medium to properly convey the hugeness of the Grand Canyon
• driving up his audio-visual Wagner Drive into the San Gabriel Mountains
• an opera which includes animated re-creations of his stage designs

VIEW an interview with David Hockney about this exhibition on the BBC website.

The BBC's Katie Razzall spoke with the 85-year-old as he put the finishing touches to his show at its new venue, Lightroom, in London's Kings Cross.

There's a huge team which has been working on this three year project - and you can find the credits on the webpage.

Exhibition details

• Website: https://lightroom.uk/whats-on/david-hockney/
• Dates: 25 January - 23 April 2023
• Venue: The Lightroom, 12 Lewis Cubitt Square, London, N1C 4DY (this is an 8 minute walk from Kings Cross and London St Pancras stations)
• this is their Your Visit Page
• Get Directions in Google Maps
• Get Directions in Apple Maps
• Nearest Station: King’s Cross St. Pancras (Circle, Hammersmith & City, Metropolitan, Northern, Piccadilly, Northern line; National and International rail).
• Tickets: £25 during the day; more expensive in the evening
• discounts for groups
• can be booked in advance - and some dates and times already have low availability (for those who like to have seen the "must see" show before everybody else)
• pre-booked tickets can be exchanged for a different time slot of a different date or a credit note
• ALL TICKETS ARE E-TICKETS AND EMAILED TO YOU

About The Lightroom

Lightroom is located in King’s Cross on Lewis Cubitt Square, adjacent to Coal Drops Yard and Central St Martin’s. It was designed by Haworth Tompkins as a sister space to the award-winning Bridge Theatre. Along with a generous Foyer and gift shop, the space also contains a bar and seating area run by St John.

Lightroom is

• a joint venture between 59 Productions and London Theatre Company.
• backed by a group of investors led by Danny Cohen, President of Access Entertainment, and Mike Sherwood, former CEO of Goldman Sachs International.

Call for Entries: Wildlife Artist of the Year 2022

If you're a wildlife artist and want to raise your profile you should consider entering the Wildlife Artist of the Year Competition - sponsored by the David Shepherd Wildlife Foundation is association with BBC Wildlife. The deadline for entries is 11.59pm (UK time) on the 31st March 2022.

Last year the DSWF's Wildlife Artist of the Year competition broke records with 

• entries from 1,199 talented artists 
• from 70 countries 
• who submitted a total of 2,307 pieces.

This post is about:

• the prizes
• who can enter
• what to enter - in the different categories
• how to enter and the deadline

I've previously written about this competition - when it was exhibiting at the Mall Galleries - and you can read my past posts about the exhibitions at the end .

Prizes

DSWF has introduced a new emerging artist award for 2022 which celebrates first time entrants.

Prizes include 

• Overall winner and Wildlife Artist of the Year: £10,000 (including a £5,000 conservation donation to a DSWF project of the winner’s choice), 
• Runner-Up: £2,000 (including a £1,000 conservation donation to a DSWF project of the winner’s choice). 
• Each of the category winners and the winner of the newcomer award will receive £500.

The Exhibition

You should note that in 2022 - as in recent years - the exhibition is virtual and artwork can no longer be seen in person.

The sale of all shortlisted artworks will be via the DSWF website (davidshepherd.org) and other virtual media. Accordingly the quality of the digital image will be critical to the selection of an entry

No allowance will be made for poor digital images, bad quality photographs or low resolution videos. 

This was the video introducing the 2021 virtual exhibition

 

How to enter

Categories

Entries must correspond to one of the seven categories described below.  Detailed descriptions of each category are available in the Terms and Conditions.

Call for Entries: ING Discerning Eye 2021

This post is about the Call for Entries for the 2021 Exhibition of The ING Discerning Eye Exhibition which will be held at the Mall Galleries and Online between 11 and 21 November 2021

The Deadline for Entries is Tuesday 7 September 2021 (5pm)

The ING Discerning Eye is an educational charity, established in the UK in 1990, to encourage a wider understanding and appreciation of the visual arts and to stimulate debate about the place and purpose of art in our society, and the contribution each one of us can make to its development.

The exhibition comprises both publicly submitted works and works independently selected by six prominent figures from different areas of the art world: two artists, two collectors and two critics. Each section is hung separately to give each its own distinctive identity. The impression emerges of six small exhibitions within the whole.

Last year - due to the exhibition being held online only - there was a there were the number of entries was larger than usual and there were over 600 artists and nearly 1000 works.

 

Which seems odd to me - I'd expect there to be much more entries than this given the numbers received by other open exhibitions and competitions. 

 

I've criticised this competition in the past for having too many artworks by artists selected by the selectors from OUTSIDE the open entry. 

• Maybe that changed in 2020. 
• Maybe it will return back to the normal bias away from the open entry in 2021. 
• Who knows? It would be nice if they were much more EXPLICIT AND TRANSPARENT about something which is a competition with paid entries!
  

 

What stays the same in 2021

The ING Discerning Eye Exhibition in 2021 will: 

• be OPEN to all artists resident in the UK 
• who can submit up to six original works 
• accept digital only entries
• include only 
• works constrained by size i.e. only small works are permitted (it must be less than 20 inches (50cm) in its greatest dimension.)
• which MUST be an original creation by the artist
• comprise works independently selected by six prominent figures from different areas of the art world: 
• two artists,
• two collectors and
• two critics
• each selector is solely responsible for their own selection
• AND all artwork submitted via the open entry MUST be for sale

In addition, the DE continues with the Discerning Eye bursary of £1,500
Plus the Call For Entries site will be via ArtOpps

What will be different in 2021 

Wildlife Artist of the Year 2021

I have no idea how the Wildife Artist of the Year competition and exhibition passed me by.

Maybe it's because the David Shepherd Foundation have this year teamed up with the BBC Wildlife Magazine so what used to be two different art competitions is now one.

Anyway - the bottom line is you have just over one day left to view the artwork online

The virtual exhibition closes on 29th June 2021.

• You have to complete a form to get access to the exhibition
• they then send you a link

Alternatively you can view via the gallery for the Wilflife Artist of the Year 2021 on the David Shepherd website.

Wildlife Artist of the Year 2021:
“Orcas, Blackfish Sound”  by Darren Rees

 

You can also view the Prizewinners - images and story - on 

• The David Shepherd website in Wildlife Artist of the Year 2021 winners announced
• the BBC Wildlife Magazine website

 

some of the selected artworks in the online catalogue

 

Prizes

Overall winner sponsored by Neil & June Covey – £10,000*  

• “Orcas, Blackfish Sound” (acrylic painting) by Darren Rees
  

(The £10,000, consists of a £5,000 cash prize and £5,000 conservation voucher to be donated in the Wildlife Artist of the Year 2021’s name to a DSWF species of their choice.) 

“the gentleness of the orcas swimming by such a spectacular backdrop reminds us of the beauty of our planet and how vitally important both land and ocean are to our very survival”.  Melanie Shepherd

Overall Runner-up sponsored by Neil & June Covey – £2,000

Three Virtual Views of the New English Art Club Annual Exhibition 2021

If you're unable to visit the Annual Exhibition of the New English Art Club - which opened last week at the Mall Galleries in London (closes 3rd July) - you can view it online - in three different ways

ONE. You can take the Virtual Tour - which requires navigation. 

NEAC Virtual Exhibition Tour

 

As previously, once you click the arrow (above) the Matterport software for some reason makes the colours seem much lighter and less intense that when artwork is seen in the Gallery. As a result I find it more difficult to recognise artwork by different artists - when normally it's no problem (i.e. colour and tone is part of their signature style). I keep noticing this with Matterport Virtual Exhibitions so can only assume it's the software. Or maybe somebody needs to review the settings?

However you can view the artwork in the galleries in a number of ways

• via the 3D Space - which gives you the sense of being inside the Gallery 
• or via the plan
• both of which are located in the bottom left hand corner
• on the bottom right you can expand the picture to fill your screen which is much the best way to view
• use your cursor to navigate - it takes some getting used to.
  

West Gallery

East Gallery

North Gallery

TWO: You can also view the Artwork selected for the exhibition on the Mall Galleries website - albeit you have to 

• scroll down on the NEAC exhibition page
• then page through (using the arrows at the bottom) the pages of artworks selected for the exhibition - from members and those selected from the open entry
• all artworks are ordered by the surname of the exhibiting artist. I always feel sorry for those whose surname is at the end of the alphabet given I know not everybody who starts looking makes it to the end....
• if you click the artwork you access a larger version with more details
  
• You can also see which artworks have sold. (Bearing in mind the exhibition was online for some time before it opened for real at the Mall Galleries). Initial review would suggest that my perennial advice about pricing is being borne out yet again.
  

However, there's no option to look at artworks grouped by:

• artist
• subject
• media

which is a pity as I like looking at all the landscapes (or whatever) at the same time. 

What's even more odd is that this facility is (partially) available on the website for the Artist Explorer - where you can search via artist name or medium.

I think that now that the buying public is switched on to online buying AND those of who are older are going to continue to be rather cautious re outings for quite some time, it's maybe time for the Mall Galleries to decide whether it's time to upgrade the software for viewing artwork to that employed by other galleries - to make it MUCH easier for people to view what they want to see.  

That's the pathway to more sales - making art more accessible. 

THREE: View it on the NEAC website

I personally find it much easier to view the artwork in the exhibition on the NEAC website - which has got HORIZONTAL arrows which advance groups of artwork automatically. Much, much easier with no scrolling involved!

Royal Society of British Artists - Annual Exhibition 2021

The Annual Exhibition of the Royal Society of British Artists is the first exhibition actually hung on the walls of the Galleries this year.

I'll be going to see this exhibition soon - but in the meantime 

• BELOW you can find out more about it.
• View the artwork online - in various ways (links below) 

Next week I'll write my review of the exhibition - focusing on 

• the overall impression
• artwork which impressed me

The Annual Exhibition on the RBA website

Exhibition Details

The exhibition opened to the public on Thursday and continues until Saturday 24th April

You MUST have a ticket booked in advance to see the exhibition. You can book tickets here

There is no cafe - and there appear to be no seats in the Galleries - which means I'm not going to be staying long given my ankle. I hope they were only moved out for the filming of the Virtual View and have not been removed. There's a lot of older people who visit this exhibition - and many of us need to sit down from time to time.

Here's Mick Davies PRBA Hon RBSA President - the President of the RBA (and a lovely man!) - with a few words about the exhibition

We have all been challenged by the 2020 pandemic and adverse weather conditions, so it makes it all the more exhilarating and joyful to engage in something as uplifting and inspiring as this exhibition.

Our Patron, Sponsors and Prize-givers have reaffirmed their support for this prestigious event and we thank each and every one of them. This year we have had a record-breaking number of works submitted by non-members and I wish to congratulate those whose work is represented in the show. There were many others we would like to have included, had we had the space to do so – it was such a difficult task for our Selection Committee.

 

The Online Exhibition

You can see individual artworks on

• the Mall Galleries exhibition webpage - clicking an image takes you to options to see bigger versions and sales details and how to make an enquiry about an individual work in the show.
• The RBA website 2021 Exhibition webpage - which I actually much prefer as 
• you can keep scrolling down and the images grow and them recede as you pass then
• there's no need to keep clicking through to the next page (very irritating after the first few clicks)
• if you click an image you can see more artwork by that artist - and also enquire about it.  I always think artwork has more appeal when you can see it alongside other works by the same artist. For those with lots of available artwork, you still have to click through pages to see it all.

You can also view a virtual view of the hung exhibition on the Mall Galleries website.

Virtual view of the East Gallery
Still too bright and "flashed out" for my liking - the gallery is NEVER this bright

You need to navigate the galleries using the dolls house or plan view (bottom left of above image) 

Unfortunately the virtual view is deficient in two aspects - compared to other software I've used in the last year:

• if you click on an artwork in the virtual view, it does NOT tell you the basic details i.e. title / artist / media / price.
• if you share a link to a view it only provides a link to the whole exhibition - which takes you back to the predetermined starting point in the West Gallery

Awards and Prizes

The Mall Galleries blog posts (below) show you who won what - which is great because I'll miss this bit out of my review! :)

Congratulations to all those who won an award

Royal Society of British Artists Prize & Award Winners 2021

• Part One
• Part Two
• Part Three
• Part Four

View five prizewinners and the paintings selected for the John Moores Painting Prize 2020

 You can now:

• view the paintings selected for the John Moores Painting Prize 2020
• see who's been shortlisted for the £25,000 First Prize
• find out who has won tomorrow , Thursday 4th March, at 4pm

This post follows on from my two earlier posts relating to this exhibition:

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

A Virtual Tour of the Exhibition

As lovely as it would be, to be able to open our doors and welcome you in to enjoy #JMPP2020, you can experience all of it virtually from wherever you are.

Drop in 👉https://t.co/pfp2NUSVan pic.twitter.com/f9rpONFiPY

— John Moores Painting Prize (@JMPaintingPrize) February 28, 2021

The Walker Art Gallery has got one of the best approaches to viewing art hung in an art gallery.

So for the exhibition of the John Moores Painting Prize 2020

• they're using the Matterport video system for a Virtual Tour via online viewing
• it has all the normal options (dolls house, floor plan, full screen) 
• you can just press go and it will take you round the exhibition. It takes you round at a reasonable pace i.e. fast enough you scoot past the ones you're not impressed with - with scope to stop and take a closer look when a painting captures your fancy!
• or you can navigate yourself 
• it ALSO has each individual painting identified with the artist's name running below the virtual view of the gallery (and superimposed on the paintings). You can use the up down (tail less) arrow bottom left to switch this on and off
• plus a price list for all the paintings with all the artist's names, thumbnail, title of the painting and price

The John Moores Painting Prize brings together the best in contemporary British painting right now.

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.

All entries were judged anonymously over a two-stage selection process by our panel of judges.

Prizewinners

The five prizewinners (clockwise from top left):
Robbie Bushe, Michele Fletcher, Kathryn Maple, Stephen Lee and Steph Goodger

The longlist i.e. the names and artworks selected for the exhibition - was announced last November.

The five prizewinners eligible for the £25,000 First Prize (or the consolation prize of £2,500 each) were announced in February. 

• This is a film about them
• They are listed below - with images of their selected painting.

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

THE MISSING LINK to ING Discerning Eye Virtual Exhibition 2020

The ING Discerning Eye Annual Exhibition is online this year.

You'd be hard put to find it though.  That's because the normal website makes no obvious link to the actual exhibition!

So what we have is

• the normal ING Discerning Eye website https://www.discerningeye.org/home/index.php - which, on its home page......
• references the exhibition 

For the first time this year the ING Discerning Eye exhibition is being held online. A virtual gallery of the works selected this year is live online where you can view and buy this year's works .....

• and includes a link described as DEINGexhibition.org
• so you click the link and go to this site which for some reason has this link https://www.ingdeexhibition.org/exhibition (i.e. not the domain name referenced) 
• BUT you are not at the actual exhibition. Instead what we have are 
• ENORMOUS photos of the six selectors and 
• a top line menu 
• as if the whole thing is about the selectors and NOT THE ART!

This is as much as I can see on my 27" iMac screen - really bad design!!!

• so then you click the "Exhibition" tab on the top line menu.....
• .....and you wait
• .....and nothing happens
• .....which is puzzling

So I'm really not sure after following this tortuous route how people are supposed to find the exhibition!

The people involved with creating the new virtual exhibition obviously do not have a clue that simply because you create a website does not mean people will find it.

For example - here is the top half of the first page of Google for the search query "ING Discerning Eye 2020 exhibition". The two websites which get a mention are:

• https://www.discerningeye.org/ i.e. the conventional domain name for this exhibition which has been used for years and fulfils all the requirements for it to be top of Google for this query
• https://makingamark.blogspot.com/2020/10/ing-discerning-eye-2020-selected-artists.html i.e. my blog post about the Call for Entries - because my blog ALWAYS features on the first page of Google for this type of search query because I have been covering it for so long - plus of course my blog has Google "weight".

This presumably explains why this week I was approached by a PR person who wanted me to highlight the proper URL for the exhibition

I thought what they were doing was asking me to review the exhibition in advance - in much the same way as I've been invited to PR previews for exhibitions and hence see them before they open, write a review and then people turn up because I've recommended it (or not as the case may be)

However it turned out that I wasn't allowed access to the website in advance! 

All they wanted me to do was tell people about the correct URL!!!

I pointed out to them yesterday that my blog is not an advertising vehicle and this is not the way it works.

However - because very many artists have artwork on the site - I am now going to tell you THE MISSING LINK - because I have it even if you don't!

THE MISSING LINK IS https://www.ingdeexhibition.org/ 

i.e. the domain URL MINUS the extension which links to "the page about the selectors"

- and nothing like the domain name URL it purports to be i.e. DEINGexhibition.org does not exist! 

If writing or linking to a domain name URL you need to do it correctly!! 

Plus "www" prefix does matter if that's how the site is setup!!

However if you click the link I was supplied with https://www.ingdeexhibition.org/  you get this home page

A Virtual New English Art Club Annual Exhibition 2020 - online now!

There are three different ways of viewing the art selected for this year's Annual Exhibition of the New England Art Club right now. 

Hopefully at some point I'll get to see it in person - because it has now been cancelled twice. 

• The exhibition was originally planned for 12-20 June 2020 at the Mall Galleries - and got caught by the first lockdown. 
• Then it was rescheduled for the autumn and an exhibition from Wednesday 11 November to Saturday 21 November and was knobbled most unfairly by the second lockdown!

So it looks as if a bit of effort has gone into surviving lockdowns and getting exhibitions seen online if not in person.

we've been absolutely determined to put this show on Pete Brown PNEAC

That's why there are now two additional ways to view ONLINE the works selected for the exhibition

1. the normal way - scroll down this page until you come to the first page of artworks in this exhibition. This gives you an image - as submitted by the artist - of the artwork,. But it's very slow to scroll through the pages and it's very difficult to imagine the size of the real artwork
2. the BRAND NEW virtual exhibition provides a way to see the artwork hung on the walls. 
3. the Filter Lists provide a partial perspective on the Full Exhibition.

View of a Virtual Main Gallery

Here's a video of Peter Brown, the President of the New English Art Club to explain what's happening. 

PLUS details below that provide you with a guide for how to view it.

I'll reserve my review until I see it on the walls for myself!  My overall conclusion about the online version is "Good effort but there's scope for improvement" - and some issues need to be addressed now.

I've provided some comments and suggestions at the end as to how technology and presentation might be tweaked in future.

The Virtual Exhibition

The exhibition showcases paintings, drawings and prints from our elected members alongside work by emerging artists whose ethos reflects its own: informed by the visual world and personal interpretation, while underpinned by drawing.

The brand new VIRTUAL Exhibition can be viewed online. You can take a walk around the exhibition in an interactive virtual tour. You get to

• navigate around the exhibition as you choose
• select the artworks you want to look at more closely.

It takes a little while to get used to the tools available for navigation but once you're used to it, it's easy to move around.

You can navigate to specific parts of the Mall Galleries using:

Royal Ulster Academy sets new standard for Online Annual Exhibitions

The Royal Ulster Academy's website has set a NEW standard for the online annual exhibition.

This is the VIRTUAL 139th Annual Exhibition of the Royal Ulster Academy. 

Virtual Arts Media are providing the virtual exhibition - as they did last year when they created a digital twin of the actual exhibition - with digital images of artwork positioned in precisely the same space of the virtual copy of the gallery. They explain what they do in What is a Virtual Exhibition and show the actual exhibition and digital twin side by side

For me it's 

• a much more convincing replica of an art exhibition and 
• seems to be much easier to navigate than some of the others I have seen. 
• if you click on an artwork while navigating around, it provides a new window with
• details about the artwork, 
• who created it
• the sale price
• how to buy it

For example, it also provides a:

• list of artists by surname - you click the name and it takes you straight to the artwork (very speedily!). I'd be consulting this in the real exhibition if I knew the artists!!
• an exhibition map - click on the room and it takes you straight to the room so that you can start viewing the work

It takes a little getting used to but if you're patient and work how it works it's a very rewarding experience

139th Annual Exhibition of the Royal Ulster Academy

Founded in 1879, the Royal Ulster Academy of Arts (RUA) is the largest and longest established body of practising visual artists in Northern Ireland. One of its founding principles is to organise, promote or join in organising and promoting in any fashion an Annual Exhibition of work by both members and non–members.

For information: This was the Call for Entries for this exhibition and submissions of work completed in the last two years were invited from visual artists aged 18+ working in any medium. 

For those who find navigating technology rather difficult here are some shortcuts to seeing the art.

Click the view/Buy menu option. This takes you to the categories of artwork

There are 263 artworks in total of which there are:

• 159 Paintings
• 29 Sculptures
• 20 Fine Art Prints
• 17 Drawings
• 7 ceramic and glass pieces
• 5 digital artworks
• 4 textiles

I have to say my overall impression is I am impressed by the quality of the artwork in the exhibition.

Ones which stood out for me included the following (and yes I can spot a plant painting at 50 feet!)

• Mater Natura by Jennifer Trouton - which superimposed plants on the body part they help. The series of nine watercolours were made whilst on an artist residency at Xi'an Jiaotong Liverpool University , Suzhou, China and awarded the Watercolour prize at this Year’s Royal Ulster Academy exhibition at the Ulster museum. 
• but where are you REALLY from? by Lynn Kennedy - tackling an issue which maybe passes people by in a land where your origins are so often rooted in religion. Her social commentary includes an impressive painting in the National Gallery of Ireland
• Pulveli by Anushiya Sundaralingam - an interesting monochome paintings of a tangle of plants. The artist is originally from Sri Lamka but now lives and works in Belfast. 
• September Dundrum Bay by Hamish Moyle - a large landscape painting of rural Northern Ireland. A bit of a "feel good" painting for many I suspect.  He seems to have a pretty solid track record of selling paintings of wild flowers in their habitat despite his anti-social website with no proper navigation menu!
• Tea in the time of Coronavirus by Amanda Croft (although a tad overpriced) - which featured in the Belfast Telegraph!
• Fishing Nets by Helen Kerr - which is a batik and stitch textile artwork

Interestingly one of the paintings in the exhibition seems to have been generated by the Sky Portrait Artist of the Week session with Akram Khan - see Akram Khan, dancer and choreographer. by Laura Cronin and see what you think!

ING Discerning Eye 2020: Selected Artists

The list of artists selected for the online ING Discerning Eye 2020 Exhibition have been produced in the most anti-analytical form possible!

Hence many hours and much effort was employed in producing this listing of artists who have had artwork selected for the exhibition in order of 

• number of artworks selected
• alphabetically by surname

There is no indication of which selector chose what - which is a pity.

I'm listing the names below in the order of the number of works selected - but am not including the titles of work selected. If you want to view the full listing see ING Discerning Eye 2020 - Selected Artists
 

If you'd like an image of your selected artwork included in this post   please get in touch (that's a pic not a live link under my mugshot) or message me via my Making A Mark Facebook Page

You can see what people had to enter in my Call for Entries: Virtual ING Discerning Eye 2020 post

The Virtual Exhibition will be online 24/7 from 19 November until 31 December 2020.

I haven't yet counted but I just know from sorting and typing the names that there are WAY MORE artists and artworks selected this year. Must have the fact that being online means there's no limits to how many you can have. (I wager somebody may think differently after they have all been uploaded to the exhibition site!!)

I've picked out some of the people I know below - and linked to their websites - and invited some of those whose artwork I spotted on Twitter and Facebook to send me images for this post.  If I missed your name do let me know in the usual way.

Six artworks selected

• Rae Birch Carter - I'm bemused by this one. Her theme for the six works selected is "Performing in a Pandemic" - which all appear to be images on Zoom.  No website and one mention on Instagram which goes as follows. 

Maker Rae Birch-Carter worked as a costume designer for film and period dramas before starting Agnes Hart, her Etsy shop. Now her bridal accessories take center stage.

Five artworks selected

• Martha Zmpounou

Four artworks selected

It appears that those who have four artworks selected have a very clear theme to their works including using art as social commentary

• Brian Adams 
• Victoria Atkinson - trained as a sculptor at the City and Guilds of London Art SchooHer group exhibitions have included: Royal Academy Summer Exhibition; Society of Portrait Sculptors FACE; Affordable Art Fair, Battersea; Royal Society of British Artists, Mall Galleries; The Towner, Eastbourne; Royal West of England Academy, Bristol. I've seen her work before in exhibitions - and you always notice it.

Four sculptures by Vicki Atkinson

• Disabled Artist
• Christy Burdock
• Kimberley Gundle
• Habib Hajallie
• Georgia Peskett
• Suzie Stone

Three artworks selected

• Roger Adams
• Sarah Adams
• Ruth Addinall
• Jonathan Alibone
• Louise Anscomb
• Margaret Ashman
• Roger Aslin
• David Aston
• Lilias August RI

• Sarah Bale
• Christine Bangert
• Deborah Batt
• Harry Bell
• John Bell
• Sean Bennett
• Jemima Brown
• Lorraine Brown
• Chris Bruce 
• Clive Bryant
• Trevor Burgess
• Clare Burnett
• Corinna Button
• G Calvert
• Kathryn Campbell
• Simon Chalmers
• Felix Chesher
• Wayne Clements
• Julie Cross - a multi-award winning artist living in Yorkshire. She is a figurative, expressionist painter who mostly uses female figures and faces. Her work is usually highly textured, often incorporating layers of cold wax and oil paint.

A Safe Distance? by Julie Cross

Oil and Cold Wax on Wood Panel 30cm x 30cm

• James Dearlove
• Sally Doyle
• Jill Eisele
• Nicholas Gentilli
• Imogen Hawgood
• Beverley Healy
• Michelle Heron - an urban landscape painter from Norfolk whose artwork has been praised by Kathleen Soriano

by Michele Heron

• Marguerite Horner
• Barbara Jackson 
• Hamley Jenkins
• Judith Jones
• Simon Klein
• Rickey Leaver
• Allan Martin - participated in the Inveraray Castle episode of Landscape Artist of the Year in 2018 - and got to the Final

Pleased to have three works selected for #INGDisceye@ParkerHarrisCo at @mallgalleries an annual exhibition of small works independently selected by six prominent figures: two artists, two collectors and two critics. So very complimented all sold! Exhibition on till 24 November pic.twitter.com/ce7tWe1CMp

— Allan Martin (@AllanMartinArt) November 15, 2019

• Anna Mazzotta  
• Elizabeth Meek MBE - Past President of the Society of Women Artists and the Royal Society of Miniature Painters
• Andrew McNeile Jones - graduated from Oxford University’s Ruskin School of Art, with a first in Fine Art, in the 1980’s and worked in the film industry for many years where he won a number of awards. He now lives and works in Oxfordshire and focuses on his art and exhibitions. His website is very interesting because he hs grouped his paintings into years which allow you to follow the path of his thinking behind how he approaches painting.

Neon by Andrew McNeile Jones

• Liz Middleton
• Elizabeth Nast
• Clare Palmer
• Sumi Perera
• Philippa Robbins
• Karin Schösser (I think the listing is spelt incorrectly i.e. Karin Sch√∂sser)
• Latifa A Stranack
• Tracy Ann Williams

Two artworks selected

The Royal Society of Miniature Painters, Sculptors and Gravers goes virtual for its 2020 exhibition

The Royal Society of Miniature Painters, Sculptors and Gravers (RMS) is an art society which normally exhibits at the Mall Galleries - but this year they've decided to go online.

It appears they won't be exhibiting at the Mall Galleries in 2020 and instead are having an online exhibition in place of their normal 2020 Exhibition.  

I'm not quite sure why this is - but note that of the exhibitions which have been relisted at the Mall Galleries there's no doubling up (i.e. two art societies exhibiting at the same time).  It's also very reliant on its members attending to help with the exhibition in the North Galleries and I'm guessing social distancing requirements and age may well have played a part of the decision to go virtual.

Anyway, for whatever reason, you can see their online exhibition here

• this is the exhibition of miniature paintings (note the dimensions relate to the image and not the frame)
• this is the exhibition of miniature sculpture

Reference

You can find out more about previous exhibitions and previous prizewinners in the posts below

• Review: Annual Exhibition 2019 of the Royal Miniature Society
• Annual Exhibition by the Royal Society of Miniature Painters, Sculptors & Gravers
• Review: Annual Exhibition 2015 - Royal Society of Miniature Artists, Sculptors and Gravers
• Review: Royal Society of Miniature Painters, Sculptors and Gravers Annual Exhibition 2014
• Review: Annual Exhibition 2013 of The Royal Society of Miniature Painters, Sculptors & Gravers
• Review: 2012 Annual Exhibition of the Royal Society of Miniature Painters
• REVIEW: Miniature Art Society Annual Exhibition 2011
• REVIEW: Miniature Art Society - Annual Exhibition
• The Royal Society of Miniature Painters, Sculptors & Gravers - Annual Exhibition 2008
• The Royal Society of Miniature Painters, Sculptors & Gravers - Annual Exhibition

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