Threadneedle Prize - exhibition goes online today

Beck at the table by Aishan Yu
Oil on board (£3,000)
copyright the artist

Today's the day that the 87 paintings and sculpture selected for this year’s £25,000 Threadneedle Prize exhibition go online at www.threadneedleprize.com/exhibition. Images have been published however voting by the public will not start online until 1st September.

The Threadneedle Prize is the most valuable art prize awarded by votes from the public in the UK and your vote really makes a difference. The seven works shortlisted by the panel of selectors to win the valuable £25,000 Prize are also published today as well as full details about how to vote.

Details of the exhibition and event are at the end of this post. There are 87 works in the exhibition. There is just one drawing ('Corner Shop Customers' by Beatrice Haines, which is pencil on paper bags) and 11 sculptures. The rest are paintings as there are no prints this year).

"Fast becoming real art's equivalent of the Turner Prize"
The Times, May 2009

"Rival to the Turner Prize... full of constant surprises"
BBC Radio 4, Front Row

"This new prize is capable of achieving a greater good than any other"
Brian Sewell, Evening Standard

Shortlist

The shortlist is as follows:

• Jaemi Hardy - Clara with Chinese Horse
• Lucy Jones - Over the hil
• Melanie Miller - Green hydrangea
• Tim Shaw - The Middle World (who was also short-listed last year and won the selector's prize)
  
• Louis Smith - St Peter on the cross
• Sheila Wallis - self portrait
• Rose Wylie - The Manufacturers
  

The 2009 panel of selectors has included five artists:

• Daphne Todd and Michael Leonard (both highly regarded figurative artists),
  
• last year’s Threadneedle Prize winner, Nina Murdoch,
  
• Jock McFadyen, the realist and former artist in residence at The National Gallery and
  
• the artist, writer and curator, Cathy Lomax (Cathy Lomax).
  

They were joined by Desmond
Shawe-Taylor, Surveyor of The Queen’s Pictures.

The panel are solely responsible for a NEW £5,000 Emerging Artist Prize to the artist aged 18-28 who submitted the most outstanding work.

Details of the selected artists

I asked the Mall Galleries for details of the selected artists and they were very kind and supplied me the following data.

Submissions and selected artists: This year over 2,100 artists submitted work to the Threadneedle Prize and only 87 works were selected. That means around 4% of submissions were accepted. It also means that if you're good enough, you have about the same chance as getting selected as artists submitting work for the BP Portrait Award and it's probably slightly easier getting selected for the Royal Academy's Summer Exhibition!

Gender: The panel have selected 40 male and 40 female artists which is really good news for the women as many big competition panels have been biased towards men in the past. (Not an issue commented on my many - however I do the sums!)

Countries and Regions: Art competitions displaying work in London always tend to attract a disproportionate amount of entries from London and the south east simply because of the problems of physically getting work to place where work is being selected. However competitions which do regional pick-ups - as this one does - tend to fare rather better.

Submissions have to be from artists living or working in the UK, but for a break down into regions here are some details of the origins of some of the selected artists and where they live now.

Scotland

• Faye Anderson – Selkirk, Aberdeen, now Newtongrange (near Edinburgh)
• Philip Gurrey – Glasgow
• Barry McGlashan – Aberdeen
• Helen Wilson – Paisley, Glasgow
• Marie Harnett – Herfordshire, now Edinburgh

Wales

• Sarah Ball – lived in South Yorkshire, now Monmouthshire
• Joseph Paxton – grew up in Monmouthshire

Northern Ireland

• Tim Shaw (now in Cornwall)
• Sheila Wallis (now Surrey)
• Shauna Richardson (now Leicester)

Cornwall

• Tim Shaw
• Bridgette Ashton
• Jason Walker
• Lisa Wright

Artists with connections to other countries include:

• South Africa: Bronwyn Carr – Cape Town
• Australia: Gary Smith – Cheshire, Tasmania, Manchester, Florence
• China: Aishan Yu – China/ London
• Italy: Michele Del Campo – South Italy, now London
• Holland: Sara le Roy – The Hague, now London
• Norway: Marianne Morild – Norway, now London
• Germany: Sara Rossberg – Germany, now London
• Canada: Jaemi Hardy – Canada, now London

Exhibition details and event

The exhibition opens at the Mall Galleries on Wednesday 2 September 2009. Voting closes at 12 noon on Monday 14 September 2009. As last year, I'll be writing about each of the shortlisted entries after I've seen them and about the exhibition generally too.

Exhibition Event: YBAs are dead – what next? (Thursday 3 September, 6pm – 8pm)

I've had an invite to attend an event on the Thursday after the exhibition opens. A debate will be held in the gallery between leading Brit artist Bob & Roberta Smith, writer and broadcaster Brian Sewell and realist painter and Threadneedle selector Jock McFadyen. Arts columnist Karen Wright will chair the panel.

Questions up for debate include:

• Where is British art heading?
  
• Are the YBAs really dead?
  
• Who or what is going to replace them?

You can tickets (priced at £7 /concessions £5) online here.

Links: Threadneedle Prize 2009

• Threadneedle Prize Registration Opens

Links: Threadneedle Prize 2008 - Links to posts on this blog about last year's exhibition

• the exhibition for the new Threadneedle Figurative Prize (part 1) (August).
  
• Threadneedle Figurative Prize (part 2) - Green, Mills, Murdoch and Schierenberg and
• Threadneedle Figurative Prize (part 3) - Brandford, Shaw, Williams and the DVD

Exhibition/Gallery details:

• The Threadneedle Prize for painting and sculpture,
  
• Address: Mall Galleries, 17 Carlton House Terrace,London, SW1Y 5BD
• Telephone: 020 7930 6844
• email: threadneedleprize@mallgalleries.com

Exhibition review: RWS and RI - High Watermark 2009

RWS & RI Landscape paintings in watercolour
- including works (in the centre) by Ronald Maddox PRI, Hon RWS, FCSD, FSAI
President of the Royal Insitute of Painters in Watercolour
paintings - copyright the artist
photo - copyright Katherine Tyrrell

For the very first time in 178 years, the Royal Watercolour Society and the Royal Institute of Painters in Watercolour are currently holding a joint exhibition of watercolour paintings. High Watermark 2009 is, uniquely, also going to be on view at the TWO galleries in London which are the normal homes for exhibitions by the two organisations.

• Bankside Gallery - 5th August 16th August 2009
  
• Mall Galleries - 18th August - 28th August 2009

Why a joint exhibition?

I was intrigued as to why it had taken 178 years for a joint exhibition and found the answer in the catalogue which I'm reproducing below as I'm sure it will be of interest to many watercolourist painters.

...in 2003 the Turner Watercolour Award was launched at the Royal Academy Summer Exhibition, but since then fewer and fewer watercolours have been accepted and 'hung' by the omnipotent RA. In 2008 it was proposed to divide the Award, given by a private sponsor, between the RWS and RI. This resulted in three members from each Society selecting a work from each of the Societies annual exhibitions. This informal link prompted Ronald Maddox, the RI president to discus with Richard Sorrell, at the time the RWS President, the idea of the two organisations mounting a shared exhibition promoting the professional skills of painters in watercolour and water soluble mediums. The result is High Watermark 2009 - an event that those with a passion for watercolour will warmly applaud.
High Watermark 2009 - Exhibition Catalogue

The catalogue then goes on to explain the history behind the existence of two watercolour societies - which I shall leave for another day!

Leslie Worth PPRWS 1923 - 2009

Landscapes - including two by Leslie Worth (on far right)
paintings - copyright the artist
photo - copyright Katherine Tyrrell

Before reviewing the exhibition, a quick note to say that tomorrow's post will be about Leslie Worth former President of the Royal Watercolour Society who died on 21st July 2009. There are two works by Leslie in the exhibition which are quite sublime.

Exhibition review

The exhibition will promote watercolours and water-soluble media, bringing the very best of professional British watercolour painting to a wider audience

I was pleasantly surprised by the exhibition which seems to have much more 'traditional watercolour' painting than I've been used to seeing of late at the Bankside Gallery. By which I mean traditional watercolour paints used with the techniques associated with traditional watercolour painting. I'm sorry - I'm very much 'old school' when it comes to watercolour and so far as I'm concerned acrylics are a completely different medium! I'm also not sure what waterbased oils are doing in a watercolour show. I'd still like to see an exhibition which is devoted to 100% watercolour with any other medium limited to a very small percentage of the work. I also rather suspect I'm not alone in that wish!

So for those who 'old school' like me you're likely to enjoy this show which includes a lot of 'proper watercolour' paintings - although there is also some acrylic work on display.

Being a numbers person I did a count-up and the split between different media is as follows:

Medium	No. of works in exhibition
watercolour	110
watercolour and acylic	4
watercolour and bodycolour	2
watercolour and gouache	20
watercolour and ink	4
watercolour and pencil	4
watercolour and pastel	2
watercolour and collage	1
watercolour, pigment and acrylic gel	2
watercolour and mixed media	2
gouache	5
gouache and pencil	2
acrylic	13
acrylic and inks	2
mixed media	9
water based oil	2
Source: catelogue

As the exhibition is combining the work of the members of the two organisations, work has been limited to two pieces by each member and (in the case of the RWS) associate member. There also seemed to be some size ruling in operation as every member who had a larger than average piece included also had a smaller than average piece balancing it out.

A wall of paintings including figures
paintings - copyright the artist
photo - copyright Katherine Tyrrell

The exhibition was very nicely grouped so that themes - such as landscapes, still life and work including figures all had a specific place within the gallery.

Then within the genre hung on each wall the works were completely mixed as to whether they were by RI or RWS members.

A wall of paintings including figures
paintings - copyright the artist
photo - copyright Katherine Tyrrell

I think I'm going to pay this exhibition another visit when it does to the Mall Galleries and it'll be interesting to see how it gets hung there. I always tend to think of the Bankside Gallery as being much smaller than the Mall Galleries when in fact the really important distinction is that it is much narrower!


I've included my photos of the exhibition and have tried to give a sense of the work on display. I think I'll comment on individual artists after seeing the exhibition again at the Mall Galleries where it opens next Tuesday after closing at the Bankside on Sunday.

Links:

• Bankside Gallery: 48 Hopton Street, London, SE1 9JH (see location map)
• Mall Galleries: The Mall Galleries are on The Mall towards Admiralty Arch by Trafalgar Square. (see location map). Admission £2.50, concessions £1.50 (free to FBA Friends, Art Fund Members, Westminster Res-card holders and under 16s)

MAM Poll: What's the MAIN way you have sold art in the last 12 months?

Artists may use a variety of methods for marketing and selling their art - but at the end of the day it's often the case that one way tends to be more successful than others. The Making A Mark Poll for August focuses on the way you have actually achieved results in terms of sales of your art.

This month the Making A Mark Poll also will provide data which will updates a very similar Poll done in August last year - see What's the MAIN way you sell your art? - The Results. The analysis of the results last year provided an indication of two key 'need to know' aspects of selling art:

• What works - the more successful ways of selling art
• What works less well when it comes to selling art

A slice of allium
graphite pencil on mountboard
copyright Katherine Tyrrell

I've slightly revised the categories to take account of some of the comments last year. These are:

• Gallery - gallery artist
• Gallery exhibition - "rent a space"
• Juried Exhibition (Art Society / Art Competition)
• Art Fairs
• Studio sales / Open Studios
• Commissions
• Word of mouth / friends and family
• Via traffic from own website / blog
• Online Gallery / Shop - eBay
• Online Gallery / Shop - Etsy
• Other Online Galley / Shop

It's probably worth noting that if you think the bulk of your traffic to an online site is actually generated via your own personal website or blog then that is what's achieving the sale not the online gallery/shop.

You'll find the survey in the right hand column in the usual place - just below the Blogger Followers widget.

The poll closes early on 31st August and the analysis of results will be posted the same day.

What's the MAIN way you have sold art in the last 12 months?

• Please feel free to comment on what your experience has been and what changes you've observed or experienced in the last 12 months.
  
• If you've got a helpful tip for others trying make decisions about what theis the best way to sell their art please share it.

MAM Poll (July) Results: Preferred media for studio painting

Types of painting media used in the studio: % share of a total of 306 stated preferences

copyright Katherine Tyrrell

Which is your preferred media for studio painting? The answer is "watercolour" which was a clear winner in this month's poll. However traditional oils only just scraped into second place ahead of acrylics.

In June we looked at which was your preferred media for painting plein air (see MAM Poll June: Which is your preferred media for painting plein air?) and all the difficulties that context can pose if using certain media. In July, the poll shifted focus to an environment which offers much more scope for control and the question was Which is your preferred media for studio painting?

Rather later than usual these are the results of last month's Making A Mark Poll.

I've produced two charts this month. The poll allowed multiple responses based on media used on a regular basis rather than those you might use occasionally. The two charts reflect different perspectives based on the fact that 147 people provided 306 responses in total - which is not bad considering this we're in the middle of the slow-down for the summer season.

You can see both of the charts more clearly while you read if you right click on the image and then open in a separate tab. That's how I write this post! :)

• Chart 1: shows how 306 responses are distributed across the different types of media
• Chart 2: indicates how the 147 painters favoured different types of media in terms of their stated preferences (which total 208%).

In both charts the analysis clearly demonstrates that:

• watercolour is the most popular medium in the studio. This is probably because this blog is read by a lot of people who paint for their own enjoyment and watercolour tends to be favoured by the non-professional artist.
  
• traditional oils just edge into second place ahead of acrylics. It's very clear that acrylics have become a very popular medium. I find it very surprising that this isn't reflected in the art instruction books or media art societies specifically for the acrylic medium.
  

Types of painting media used in the studio:
Percentage share of stated preferences of 147 people (totals 201%)

copyright Katherine Tyrrell

Key findings

• In general, people are more flexible about the media they use in a studio compared to painting plein air. Plein air artists identified an average of 1.4 media they preferred to use while 147 studio painters identified 306 media - an average of 2.1 media per studio painter. This isn't in the least surprising. All but the most dedicated "everything and the kitchen sink" artists are unlikely to take all their studio contents out into the field if they are happy using just one medium.
  
• Watercolour is the most popular and adaptable medium: in both polls, watercolour was the most popular medium. However it was much more popular for plein air use than studio use - 29% of all plein air responses compared to 18% of studio responses favoured. One possible reason for this is the issue of drying time.
  
• Traditional oils just beat acrylics for studio use. While there is a strong tradition of using traditional oils plein air (24% of all stated preferences), it would appear that the problems with solvents has made them much less popular in the studio (only 15% of all stated preferences) where acrylics look set to overtake them in time (given a result of 14% of all stated preferences)
  
• acrylics are favoured for studio use: artists are much happier using acrylic in the studio compared to painting plein air (14% compared to 6% of all stated preferences fpor studio and plein air respectively)
• mixed media artwork is five times more likely to occur in the studio 10% of all stated preferences for studio working compared to 2% plein air. This is possibly because people cut down on the media they take out with them and/or prefer the control over mixing media which is possible in a studio.
• pastellists are slightly more likely to use soft/hard pastels plein air compared to a studio setting - 16% compared to 9% of all stated preferences use them in the field and in the studio respectively. Oil pastels continue to be a minority interest in the studio as they are when used plein air.
  
• coloured pencils are popular for use in a studio setting - coloured pencils were identified by 13% of all stated responses. However this needs to be considered in the context that this blog has many more coloured pencil artists reading it than most. I included coloured pencils in the sketching survey but they were not included as an option in the painting plein air poll
• water miscible oils and alkyds are slightly more popular in a studio setting compared to plein air - however most people don't use them. 5% and 4% respectively of all stated studio preferences. I can only imagine this is possibly down to them not having a major profile in, for example, articles by the most popular artists and/or on their websites and blogs. (Note: If you're using them please say so and highlight any good blog post about them!). The increased popularity in a studio setting may well be due to the problems which some people experience with the use of certain solvents with oil paints.
• Gouache and artist quality inks have a strong minority following in a studio setting. They represent 5% and 4% of all stated preferences.
  
• Casein, egg tempera and encaustic are used by very few artists - This media provides an opportunity for your work to stand out in a crowd of oil painters and watercolourists! :)
  

Later today or early tomorrow I'll post a new poll for August.

9th August 2009 - Who's made a mark this week? #107

This has been a very momentous week for an artist turned author friend of mine who has been prominent on this blog in the past.

Love among the Lupine is the way that the New York Times chose to characterise Shiver - Maggie Stiefvater's 2nd published novel which, a week after publication on 1st August, DEBUTED at #9 in the New York Times best seller list - see New York Times Best Sellers: Children's Books - Chapter Books (7th August 2009). That was after it got the starred review from Publishers Weekly!

Many of the people who have been subscribing to Making A Mark for quite a while will remember various posts about Maggie's success as an artist and how she achieved as much as she did. You can still read Maggie's thoughts on making art (scroll down)

Since becoming a full-time author Maggie keeps her hand in on the artistic front by making video trailers for her new book. (Plus she composed & performed the music with her sister Kate!)



That was then. Everything she did was with a view to being able to make it as a full-time author.

This is now and art was always a means to an end. The intermediate end goal was always about making it on to the New York Times best seller list. She's now made it and she's still only 27!

I created Is Maggie Stiefvater the next JK Rowling? some time ago. It answers some of the questions about Maggie and how she does it.

A new profile of Maggie on a blog which is about marketing for shrinking violets answers a few more in Shrinking Violet Profile: Maggie Stiefvater - which has a few words to say about how blogging works as a marketing tool.

I have to say though that I think my question is beginning to look less and less like a rhetorical question!

Shiver is a contemporary fantasy for young adults. If you don't live in the USA, get your kids or grandkids to watch out for the foreign editions of Shiver in:
German: LOEWE VERLAG (forthcoming Fall 2010)
Italian: RIZZOLI
Dutch: DUTCH MEDIA/ MOON
French: HACHETTE
Greek: PATAKIS PUBLICATIONS
Indonesia: PT GRAMEDIA
Japanese: SOFTBANK CREATIVE
Portuguese: PRESENCA
Spanish: SM EDICIONES
Swedish: WAHLSTROHMS
Catalan: CRUILLA
Danish: GYLDENDAL
Finnish: WERNER SODERSTROM OSAKEYHTIO
Korean: MUNHAKDONGNE
Norwegian: GYLDENDAL
Portuguese—Brazil: EDIOURO
Serbian: LAGUNA

This a single item "who's made a mark this week?" because I'm not officially "back to blogging" until tomorrow. See you then!

Links:

• Maggie Stiefvater - the website
• Maggie Stiefvater - Words on Words Blog
• Is Maggie Stiefvater the next JK Rowling? - a profile of Maggie Stiefvater