Call for Entries: International Original Print Exhibition 2023

The International Original Print Exhibition, established by the Royal Society of Painter-Printmakers (RE), is an international open submission exhibition celebrating the best of contemporary printmaking. 

The exhibition is:

• organised by the Royal Society of Painter Printmakers (RE)
• sponsored by Jacksons Art
• held at the Bankside Gallery (next to Tate Modern) in the Autumn 2023.

The deadline for entry is 3rd July 2023

As an art organisation run by artists, the RE is constantly working to create long-term opportunities for artists and promote printmaking to a wider audience.

There are a number of prizes awarded to some of those whose work is selected for exhibition

Education / Studio Time Award

• Thames-Side Print Studio Prize - Annual membership of studio, 50 open access sessions & a place on a print course of choice worth circa £650
• Hole Editions Publishing Award, (Newcastle) - An invitation to collaborate on a lithographic project for three days. Accommodation included, but not travel
• Hot Bed Press Award - One year’s membership at Hot Bed Press, Induction and exclusive time with their technician, 100 hours workshop usage and £50 worth of materials to use at Hot Bed Press

Profile : Exhibition / Publishing Award

• Woolwich Contemporary Print Prize - work exhibited as part of Woolwich Contemporary Print Fair 2024
• GreatArt Award - Solo exhibition in Hoxton Store
• Printmaking Today Award - An editorial feature in the magazine

Art Supplies Award

• Jackson’s Art Supplies Award £250 Jackson’s voucher
• Hawthorn Printmaker Supplies Award - Materials to the value of £150
• Ironbridge Fine Arts Printmaker Prize - A spindle roller to the value of £180
• Intaglio Printmaker Prize - Materials prize of £100
• John Purcell Paper Award - Materials to the value of £150
• St Cuthberts Mill Award - 20 sheets of Somerset 250gsm paper 56 x 76cm

Membership Award

• Royal Society of Painter-Printmakers Prize - One year’s guest RE membership for an outstanding work
• Society of Wood Engravers Prize £100 plus a one-year subscription and free entry for selection process to SWE Annual Exhibition
• East London Printmakers Prize - One year's associate membership

Works from the International Original Print Exhibition 2022

Call for Entries

All the information that you need to know regarding preparing your works for the exhibition and sale of your work is available in 

• the application guidelines which are available as a PDF
• the detailed list of FAQs

Who can enter

• Artists must be 18 or over on 6 March 2023
• Artists from any country may enter - provided they are willing and able to get their work to and from the designated drop off and collection venues at their own cost 

What you can enter

• Any form of original printmaking is eligible. 
• Reproduction prints are not accepted. 
• All artwork must have been made in the past 3 years, dating from 6 March 2020 
• There are no limitations on style or subject matter 
• The work must have been made by the entrant 
• All work must be for sale 

Do you accept digital prints?
We do absolutely accept digital prints, as long as they are limited edition prints created using digital processes, not digital reproductions of another work. (FAQs)

Number of entries

• Artists may submit up to 6 recent prints - for a non-refundable fee of £16 per picture. 
• Students in full-time education (ID required) can submit up to 6 recent prints - for £10 per picture. 

(Note: Students will be required to show student ID when delivering the work to the drop-off location)

How to enter

• Take a good quality digital photograph or scan of each print. The judges will make their decision based on this photograph. 
• The print should be photographed unglazed and evenly lit, and cropped to the edge of the work. 
• View the photograph on a computer to make sure you are happy with the picture quality on a larger screen. 
• As a guide, the file size should be minimum 1MB and not exceed 3MB
• Go to https://www.re-printmakers.com/competitions/ and follow the onscreen instructions to make your entry. You will be asked to provide:
• An image of each artwork 
• Artist’s name (exactly as you wish to be known on the works list and labels)
• Contact email address for the artist (please be sure to spell this correctly!) 
• Title of the work 
• Framed dimensions in centimetres 
• Medium 
• Framed and unframed price for each print (latter only if applicable) 
• re. Pricing - Remember to take into account 
• framing and transport costs, 
• Bankside Gallery’s commission of 45% should the work sell. 
• If you are registered for VAT, please also include this in your price. 
• No changes to your price(s) will be possible after the competition deadline so please ensure they are correct. 
• Unframed price for each print (only if applicable ie. Do not fill in this field if further prints in the edition are not available or if it is a monoprint / monotype) 
• Availability of further unframed prints in the edition (if applicable)
• When submitting student work online, please also 
• scan your student ID and 
• email a copy to info@re-printmakers.com. 
• Any works found to be falsely submitted as student work will not be hung. 
• Pay the non-refundable entry fee using the secure online payment service. 
• Make sure you click the blue ‘Submit entries’ button. 
• Your entry is not complete until you complete this step. 
• Acknowledgement of your entry and payment will be sent to you

You won't be able to access your entry after the deadline has passed do be sure to make a record of the complete entry (I always print off the entry and then also save it as a pdf file in the folder for the competition on my computer)

Incomplete entries or those made without payment received by the competition deadline, will not be shown to the judges. If you encounter difficulties, you can get in touch at info@re-printmakers.com.

Works from the International Original Print Exhibition 2022

Important Dates

Call for Entries

• Monday 6 March, 12 midday | Competition opens for entries
• Monday 3 July, 11.59 PM | Entry deadline
• Thursday 27 July by 6pm | Results posted on www.re-printmakers.com/competitions and successful artists contacted via email

Delivery

• Friday 15 or Saturday 16 September, 11am-5pm | Delivery of successful entries to 23 Blue Anchor Lane, SE16 3UL

Exhibition

• Wednesday 20 September 6-8pm | Private View & Prizegiving
• Thursday 21 September – Sunday 1 October, 11am-6pm daily | Exhibition of successful entries at Bankside Gallery
• Sunday 1 October, 6 – 8pm, or Monday 2 October 11am – 6pm from Bankside Gallery | Collection of unsold work

Selection & Panel

These digital submissions are assessed by a panel of judges who can select up to a maximum of 3 artworks for any one artist. The judges’ decision is final.

The 2023 Selection Panel comprises:

• Rob Ryan (artist) 
• Dr Mark Golder (collector & academic)
• Sharon Lloyd (co-founder of FACE)
• David Ferry (RE President)
• Michelle Griffiths (RE Vice President)

A list of prints selected for the exhibition will be published on www.reprintmakers.com/competitions by 6pm on Thursday 27 July. 

Artists whose work has been selected will be sent an email confirming arrangements for the exhibition.

Preparing work for delivery and exhibition

There are detailed instructions for those who need to know in the guidelines about presentation, framing, mirror plates, labels and insurance.

Note that poorly presented prints or works that differ significantly from the photograph that was entered will not be accepted. 

Exhibition 

The exhibition of works selected will take place at the Bankside Gallery from 21st September to 1st October 2023.

Works from the International Original Print Exhibition 2022

Portraits of Dogs: From Gainsborough to Hockney

Last week, I went to see the new exhibition of Portraits of Dogs: From Gainsborough to Hockney at the Wallace Collection in Marylebone.

Crop of Landseer's Laying down the Law (or Trial by Jury)

Whether you are a dog fan or not, it's a very interesting exhibition for a variety of reasons. Here are some of them:

• the paintings in the show are exclusively portraits of dogs - no humans allowed!
• some of the portraits are extremely impressive - on any level
• artists included in the show include some very well known names - including some you may find surprising
• the exhibition has an excellent narrative in terms of themes which tell the story of dog portraits over time
• it's very well presented with good labelling
• you get to see a well known artist trying to draw a dog - who isn't always co-operating!

Oddly, this is an exhibition which had been planned for some time - and then had to be postponed due to the Pandemic. What happened next is 

• the Wallace Collection decided to publish the catalogue anyway (see below)
• a huge number of people became very new owners of dogs! 

I fully expect this exhibition to be very popular and attract a lot of visitors from both old and new fans of dogs - particularly during the school holidays. I recommend all those who specialise in dog portraits to see an upsurge in interest - and they'd better go and see it to see what has prompted a commission!

General consensus seems to be it's well worth a visit which I would endorse

• ★★★★★ 'A treat for art-lovers and dog-lovers alike' – The Telegraph
• ★★★★ 'Charming' – The Evening Standard

About the Artists

I'd heard of most of the artists. They include:

Famous painters of animals 

• George Stubbs (1724 - 1806) - he's best known as a painter of horses - but he's a brilliant painter of dogs too and demonstrates an excellent understanding of their anatomy. He's also a painter of dogs renowned for their bloodline.

Stubbs’s animal portraits were family records intended for personal consumption and not for great public rooms.

George Stubbs (1724-1806) Ringwood, a Brocklesby Foxhound (1792)
Oil on canvas, 100 x 126 cm
Private Collection

• Sir Edwin Landseer (1802-1873) - a very well known painter of animals - about whom I learned something new - his use of allegory in his paintings of groups of dogs. For example, Landseer's painting Laying Down The Law (1840) satirises the legal profession through anthropomorphism. It shows a group of dogs, with a poodle symbolising the Lord Chancellor. This is one of the most celebrated dog paintings of the 19th century. It was exhibited at the Royal Academy in 1840

Edwin Landseer Laying Down the Law or Trial by Jury
one of the most popular paintings of the 19th century

In the picture Landseer uses the individual characters of the breeds of dogs to satirise various members of the legal profession. The white poodle, with the similarity of its long ears to a legal wig, parodies the pomposity of a judge.

The painting was recognised at the time as a satire on the Court of Chancery, set up to deal with common law problems such as contested wills. The endless delays in the court exhausted the finances of the litigants while enriching its lawyers, an issue memorably taken up by Charles Dickens in Bleak House.

and 

Aesops Fables Sculpture Exhibition at RHS Hyde Hall

Very large gardens have been a perennial favourite of those wanting to exhibit sculpture since they provide both space and a nice setting.

RHS Hyde Hall is currently the location for a selection of life-size animal sculptures by Susan Bacon and Marcus Cornish - which I saw yesterday. It's called Aesop’s Fables sculpture exhibition

The life size bronzes of animals exhibited in the Dry Garden are by Marcus Cornish and are very impressive and I'm uploading my photos of these to a Facebook Album

Boxing Hares by Marcus Cornish

However I was less impressed by the display on the slopes - which, given it's both a very different style and material, I assume is by Susan Bacon.

WHY place a sculpture on the ground - if you're going to fence it off?

Horse and foal sculpture

The entire sculpture is fenced off - which is quite ridiculous. In fact it looks totally naff! 

Plus it has two very silly posters either side which say 

Important: Do not play on or pass this railing

I think they're assuming all small children can read!

Have those who erected it never seen exhibitions of sculpture in large ground eg the Yorkshire Sculpture Park?

Somehow I got the impression this was maybe out of concern for potential damage to the sculpture rather than any concern about health and safety of the visitors to Hyde Hall.

Of course an alternative and a much more professional approach would have been to use a plinth if they needed to avoid any potential damage to sculpture or small child.

I hasten to add, Hyde Hall is somewhere I enjoy sculpture - from the leaves in the Winter Garden to the Kinetic Sycamore Seed Sculpture by David Watkinson - which I love!

About the Sculptors

Susan Bacon studied sculpture and drawing at the City and Guilds Art School and the Royal Academy, and is based in the East of England.

I must confess I'd ever never heard of her and could not find a website. 

THEN I came across a page which indicates she's a noted sculptor and wife of RHS President Sir Nicholas Bacon - who was president for 2013-2020. His wife is Lady Bacon. Conclusion: It appears the RHS are not above a bit of "being nice to the relatives" aka nepotism.

Marcus Cornish trained at the Royal College of Art and now practises from his studio in Sussex. 

Both artists have taught at the Royal Drawing School, a not-for-profit educational organisation.

It would be nice to think that the RHS could also find a way to 

• avoid nepotism
• be "nice to the sculptors" 

Maybe have an open competition for those wanting to display their art in the RHS Gardens? I'm sure they'd get some excellent entries.

Royal Institute of Painters in Water Colours Annual Exhibition 2023

I visited the Royal Institute of Painters in Water Colours 211th Exhibition twice last week - once for the preview and again the next morning when it opened to photograph the artwork without hordes of people in front of it!

This is the biggest exhibition of paintings in water colours in the UK and it's well worth a visit. I've always enjoyed visiting this exhibition - and missed it last year due to surgery

RI Preview Evening in the West Gallery

MY APOLOGIES: I had planned to be posting this review rather earlier but last week turned out to be VERY busy for five days straight and I woke up on Sunday feeling very distinctly under the weather. I need to get better at pacing myself! The fact I can now walk again without pain (in my ankle) does not mean I'm getting any younger!

Deborah Walker RI and Chris Myers PRI - both displaying four artworks in the West Gallery
I was particularly impressed by Deborah's paintings of the water's edge
and Chris's painting of snow

For artists - both members and those selected via the open entry, this exhibition offers:

• several prizes and awards (see below)
• the chance to have your work seen alongside artwork by RI members
• the opportunity to exhibit at a prestigious gallery in the heart of London
• have your work seen by very many visitors - some of whom regularly buy watercolour paintings

I've decided to adopt a different approach and write the key conclusions up front and then follow up with images.

Key Conclusions about the RI 211th Exhibition

Respite & Recommendations

After five very full days of "full on" art gallery visiting, two press views, two private views and photographing five exhibitions, plus a hospital appointment to get my pre-assessment done for more surgery next month, I woke up this morning feeling really very weird, which then turned into feeling really rather ill for most of this morning. I'm unable to eat much of anything.  Basically I'm nearly brain dead and my body is rebelling I think! 

So...... My partner pointed out I'd obviously overdone things (he is apt to do things like that!) - and we've cancelled today's Sunday Roast.

So...... Despite the fact I'd planned to do my review of the annual exhibition of the Royal Institute of Painters in Water Colours today I'm going to restrict myself to brief recommendations relating to the exhibitions I've seen this week.

If you like dogs...

HIGHLY RECOMMENDED: Portraits of Dogs from Gainsborough to Hockney

website: https://www.wallacecollection.org/whats-on/exhibitions-displays/

Two exhibitions are worth seeing - they're a total one off and they've never been done before.

• Portraits of Dogs from Gainsborough to Hockney (paintings and videos) - lots of really good portraits of dogs only (i.e. no humans in sight - apart from this one photo mural on one wall). I learned a lot - about artists and dogs! You can find this exhibition on the Lower Ground Floor
• The Queen and her corgis (photography) located to left of entrance on ground floor. For real fans of corgis and/or the late monarch.

If you like Paintings in Water Colours 

Royal Institute of Painters in Water Colours | 211th Exhibition | Mall Galleries

This RI Annual Exhibition is well worth seeing and can be found in all three galleries at the Mall Galleries until next Saturday.

• It includes 449 artworks on the walls
• It had c.4,000 entries - so those selected from the open entry are mostly very good quality

I've already uploaded a folder of prizewinners and I'm trying today to upload the photos I took as I walked slowly around the exhibition - by Gallery

• Prizewinners
• North Gallery
• East Gallery
• West Gallery

I'll embed a link to the latter two when I've uploaded them.

Royal Watercolour Society | Spring Exhibition | Bankside Gallery

If you're coming to London for the RI Water Colours Annual Exhibition, don't forget that the Royal Watercolour Society also has its Spring Exhibition on at the same time at the Bankside Gallery next to Tate Modern - until 22nd April

I've not seen it - but the artwork which you can see online suggests they continue to pick artworks by painters with different 'contemporary' styles in recent times. 

It's emphatically NOT the exhibition it used to be...... They've still to find halfway adequate replacements for people like Leslie Worth and David Prentice!

If you've only got time to do one, then go to the RI Exhibition.

NEW Exhibitions about Plants

• Plants of the Qu'ran - a series of 25 botanical paintings by Sue Wickison
• The Wonderful World of Water Plants - botanical art and illustrations
• All the Flowers Are for Me - two installations by Anila Quayyum Agha

ALL three Exhibitions are on display at The Shirley Sherwood Gallery | Kew Gardens until Sunday 17 September 2023.

They opened yesterday, while I was there and there were lots of people flooding in...

HIGHLY RECOMMENDED: Plants of the Qu'ran 

This is a series of 30 large botanical watercolour botanical paintings by Sue Wickison. All of them are scientific botanical illustrations for a ground-breaking book of the same name which will be published next month.

This is the sort of watercolour painting rarely seen in the exhibitions of the RI or RWS. More's the pity. 

This photo, after posting to my Botanical Art and Artists Facebook Page  is currently drawing international admiration from botanical artists from all over the world - and breaking lots of my FB Page records for adulation! It's an exhibition which is going to get a lot of visitors!

I'm also going to be reviewing it next week on my News Blog on Botanical Art and Artists. I'll also be publishing a video interview I did with Sue yesterday morning before the gallery opened.

Sue Wickison with two of her paintings

The Wonderful World of Water Plants - botanical art and illustrations | Gallery 6

This exhibition focuses on plants which are found:

• growing in the water
• on the margins of rivers and ponds
• in damp boggy areas