Tips for entering art competitions

View of the inaugural Derwent Art Prize Exhibition
for pencil art at the Mall Galleries
see The 2nd Derwent Art Prize - Call for Entries

Here's my blog post 20 tips for entering art competitions which I wrote three years ago.

However, in the last three years, art competitions have changed quite a bit in terms of:

• NEW competitions - for example we now have a new competition for pencil art and the range of artwork submitted last year was amazing
• an increase in prizes - top prizes seem to keep increasing. Even when shared, as happened last year with the Threadneedle Prize, they're still a significant sum
• the nature of submissions - many more are now digital and depend on the quality of the image presented
• the increase in submissions - more artists are beginning to realise that there are numerous art competitions which are open to international entries - and the international entry appears to be ever-increasing
• the challenge of shipping artwork - to another part of the country or even another country. Communal courier arrangements have fluctuated within the UK. Elsewhere it's one thing to be able to enter a competition in another country.  It's still a major challenge to ship overseas especially if you've not done it before! However packaging is changing and improving all the time

What tips about entering art competitions have you learned in the last three years?

Pleas leave a comment below.

Below are links to blog posts and websites related to the above

• Major UK Art Competitions - see the page at the top of this blog
• How to pack, post and ship art - Resources for Artists

Packaging and posting artwork #2

Daffs #2
copyright Katherine Tyrrell

The front end of my 2008 post Packaging and posting artwork - relating to the mail and parcel people - has been updated for subsequent changes in their website links.

So mail and parcel links are now fresh (and Parcelforce which is very concerned about its backlinks will now get an email to this effect!  
[UPDATE 16th March 2015: They finally replied a year later!!!)

However

• It's clear I need to do a bit more work on both this topic "post book".
• if you review this VERY LONG post and find any of the extensive links about packaging are doolally, I'd very much appreciate it if could you let me know and I'll find the right one and update again.

Since the original post I also developed a website which has lots more information.  See How to pack, post and ship art - Resources for Artists

Ban kids from art museums vs. encourage learning opportunities

Following on from the recent "child climbs on very expensive sculpture" incident at the Tate, the Telegraph today published an article - Should children be banned from museums? - calling for a debate on whether or not children should be banned from museums.

Article in The Telegraph 18 February 2014

It stimulated quite a few comments on my Facebook Page when I posted the link to this article on Facebook

I also see that the article has today generated 208 Comments. (Somehow or other a sub-strand seems to have turned the debate into whether or not Tate Modern is really a museum!)

Are you persuaded by any of the pro or con arguments put forward for banning children from museums?

There's more than a few expressing a view - with which I very much concur - that parents should be taught how to behave when bringing their children to a museum. How about some classes for parents on how to visit a museum with children?

I also rather like the notion that parents should be liable for any damage their children cause.  Seems to me that could create quite an incentive to ensure that their children are properly supervised in all areas where artwork is not protected - or handed over to museum employees who might do the job of supervision rather better!

Learning Opportunities for Children and Families in London Museums

I do think it's a very great pity that more parents and families don't avail themselves of the wonderful education opportunities offered by most publicly funded art galleries and museums in London (ie you can't benefit from the tax exemptions unless you do actually educate!)

Below you will find links to the opportunities for children in the top art museums in London

• British Museum - Learning | Family Visits
• Tate Modern - Kids and Families
• National Gallery - Learning and Activities for Families
• Tate Britain - Kids and Families
• Victoria and Albert Museums - Families \ Education Centre
• National Portrait Gallery - Families | Young People
• Wallace Collection - Families & Young People
• Courtauld Gallery - Young People

LINKS:

Art Galleries and Museums

• Top 10 Art Galleries and Museums in the World
• The Top Ten Museums in London

The original incident which led to the debate

• Eveining Standard"
• Horrified art lovers watch as children climb all over $10m work of modern art at the Tate Modern
• Our nine-year-old was just being 'anti-establishment', say parents of girl who climbed on $10m Tate Modern sculpture
•  Huffington Post: Parents Of Child Who Climbed on $10m Tate Modern Sculpture Hit Back

Art recording 'The Deluge of 1607' and 'Winter Storms in 2014'

The recent flooding in the UK make a post I wrote three years ago about Portraying the Bristol Channel Floods 1607 on my Art of the Landscape blog relevant again.

Interestingly this also occurred in January.

Woodcut image from
"A true report of certaine wonderfull ouerflowings of Waters, now lately in Summerset-shire, Norfolke and other places of England...",
printed in London 1607

I wonder if the Winter Weather of 2014 will generate similar drawings, paintings and prints about the flooding around the UK and the amazing coastal storm waves in the months to come?

Or the amazing cold weather being experienced in North America?

Or does the omnipresent photographer recording events as they unfold eliminate the need to reproduce the impact of this winter's weather in art?

Does the artist have a place in telling the story of the Winter Storms of 2014?

Do you have any plans for any artwork?

Making A Mark - in January and February 2014

A visit to the Courtauld Gallery last week

I'm busier than usual at the moment due to trying to meet publisher's deadlines for my book which is due to be published in the UK and USA later this year.  I'm getting an occasional outing in - like a visit to the Courtauld Gallery last week.

Consequently "Who's made a mark this week" is currently suspended until after my publisher's deadline of 31 March.  Posts are also a bit more intermittent than usual and/or reference "golden oldies" from the last 8 years - there's two compendiums listed below! 

However I am also posting a lot more 'good art information' links on my Making A Mark Facebook Page.  :)

What follows are the my blog posts since the beginning of the year for any of you may have missed some or are accustomed to reading them once a week.

Art Business

• Where to sell art is the wrong question - a perspective on where and how to sell art - via galleries and online
• Most Revenue or Best Profit? What was the Best Place to sell Art in 2013? - Selling Art in 2013: Two polls to identify the places which made the most revenue and the most profit.
• What can artists claim as business expenses - for tax purposes? - A review of what can normally be claimed as business expenses by artists
• Ten More Tax Tips for Artists - A review of some more practical tips for artists doing their tax returns
• How can an artist find out who bought their painting? - A review of why it's very difficult to find out who bought an artist's painting
• Westminster consults on a Special Planning Policy to protect Art Galleries - Art Galleries in Mayfair & St James - Highlights Westminster City Council's invitation to comment on planning proposals

Art Competitions

• Major Art Competitions in the UK in 2014 - List and overview of Major Art Competitions in UK in 2014 (ie £10k prize money or more)
• British Pathé film of Stanley Spencer - A video of British artist Sir Stanley Spencer in Cookham following his decision to return to exhibit at the Royal Academy of Arts in 1950 (following his resignation in 1935)

Call for Entries

Art Competitions

• £15,000 Lynn Painter-Stainer Prize 2014 - deadline approaches - Overview of the Call for Entries for the Lynn Painter-Stainer Prize 2014 and review of past exhibitions and prizewinners
• RWS Contemporary Watercolour Open Competition 2014 & Associate Membership - Royal Watercolour Society 2014 - Open competition for non-members and application for election to members - commentary on processes
• David Shepherd's Wildlife Artist of the Year 2014 - deadline extended to 5th February - Summary of the Call for Entries for David Shepherd's Wildlife Artist of the Year 2014 - exhibition at Mall Galleries in June 2014 (now for reference only for next year)
• The 2nd Derwent Art Prize - Call for Entries - Call for Entries - an overview and commentary - plus review of last year re. selected artwork, prizewinners and exhibition for this art competition dedicated to pencil art

Chrys Allen with her winning entry re. the Inaugural Derwent Art Prize in 2013

• The Great British Paint-Off: BBC1 searches for best amateur artists - BBC1 searches for the best amateur artists in the UK to participate in a brand new competitive art series. This has been UPDATED for the definition of "amateur artist" for the purposes of the competition

Art Societies

• Society of Botanical Artists - Annual Exhibition 2014 - Call for Entries - Overview of the Call for and Conditions for Entries to the Annual Exhibition 2014

• UKCPS Open International Exhibition 2014: Call for Entries - Overview of the Call for Entries for the UK Coloured Pencil Society's Open International Exhibition - deadline 5th February 2014

Drawing

• What's your favourite tip about drawing? - Favourite tips about drawing - three of mine and a request to hear about yours.

Exhibitions

• Major Art Exhibitions in London in 2014 - My top ten listing of the new art exhibitions in London in 2014 - plus links to an overview of all major exhibitions in London in 2014.
• Sensing Spaces - pictures from an exhibition at the RA - A review of the Sensing Spaces exhibition at the Royal Academy of Arts in London
• Drawings of Holocaust Survivors - A project to draw holocaust survivors and an associated exhibition - plus more about Holocaust Art
• Hockney, Printmaker - Preview (Part 1) - A film by Dulwich Picture Gallery previewing the "Hockney Printmaker" exhibition 5 February 2014 - 11 May 2014
• Hockney, Printmaker (Review #2) - The Etchings - first part of a review of the Hockney Printmaker exhibition at Dulwich Picture Gallery
• Photorealism - artists, an exhibition, a video and 71 photos - an overview of a retrospective exhibition of Photorealism - including links to the websites of leading artists participating in the exhibition (Richard Estes et al) and the exhibition

Making A Mark

• The Best Picture of 2013 on an Art Blog - Making A Mark Awards - announces 4 winners of the Best Picture categories and one overall winner of The Best Picture of 2013 on an Art Blog
• Making A Mark notches up 5 million Pageviews! - Overview of how the art blog Making A Mark achieved 5 million pageviews as at January 2014.
• A Compendium of Composition and Design - Resources for artists: A summary of makingamark posts about Composition and Design - plus links to two related websites
• A Compendium of Colour - Compendium of links to blog posts on this blog providing detailed information about colour - designed as a resource for artists. (This was a Making A Mark blog project in 2008)

Top Lists

• Do you think these are the sexiest works of art ever? - Critical comment on Jonathan Jones' list of 10 works of art purporting to be "the sexiest works of art ever"

Who painted this?

Making A Mark Weekly Art Challenge: Identify a painting, who painted it & where it is now. Plus provide the best answer about the art & artist.  Includes the answer to the previous week. (Also listed in the page at the top of the blog)

• Who painted this? #56
• Who painted this? #57
• Who painted this? #58
• Who painted this? #59
• Who painted this? #60