How to submit art to the Summer Exhibition at the Royal Academy of Art

Yesterday, the Royal Academy of Art opened for registration and submissions to the Summer Exhibition 2025.

The submission deadline is 23:59 (GMT) on Tuesday 11 February. However read the first "need to know" item below - because it's might actually be much earlier than that!

The RA Summer Exhibition is the largest open exhibition in the UK - with well over 1,000 exhibits - so you need to take the statistics around selection into account before deciding whether or not enter.

This is about

• key things you need to know about the Call for Entries
• aspects worth bearing in mind if you're thinking about submitting

IMPORTANT Things You Need to Know

How many people enter?

The cap on the number of submission entries is 18,000. Once that limit has been reached you cannot enter. So you need to register and pay your entry fee - to access an entry form - quickly if you want to be sure of being able to enter. (In 2024 it was 16,500).

In effect this means the deadline for entries is not as stated, the ACTUAL deadline for entries is when all the forms for 18,000 entries have been purchased!

You can 

• enter one or two works, 
• for a fee of £40 per work and 
• you can pay online by credit or debit card.

Once the 18,000 digital entries have been reviewed, 4,000 will be asked to submit their artwork for the final selection in front of the team of selectors.

However most people do not get selected!

Basically a LOT of people do NOT get selected for the Summer Exhibition.

• 18,000 entries reduces to
• 4,000 shortlisted - and need to submit the actual artwork for further judging
• BUT ?? from the open entry get exhibited. I'd guess maybe 1,000?

Many people overprice their artwork - including RA members!

Eight years ago I wrote a post about how pricing and sales were related for different categories and price ranges. This is it RA Summer Exhibition - a curious exercise in pricing and sales. It provides very clear guidance on pricing for all those submitting artwork via the open entry. Regular readers may be able to guess what it says! ;)

I might have another go at last year's exhibition which is still online
 

How do I know what I need to know?

The overall process - from beginning to end - is MUCH MORE COMPLICATED than anything else you apply for so you need to get it right.

The RA have been doing this for a long time and have LOTS of information for you - and you do need to read it. 

So if you're not a fan of reading get a friend who is picky about details to do it for you. 

The RA provides some 

• helpful guides (see below) plus 
• lots of answers to the very many FAQS (see next item)

How to Enter - The Basics

You must first register and buy your entry form. Next you complete it before the deadline for entries. 

• Terms and Conditions of Entry - Why they can't make this a PDF I do not know. I recommend you "print to PDF" and save it as it's something you'll be wanting to use as a checklist. Do NOT rely on reading it just once!
• Instructions for Entering Work - Ditto, this also needs to be a PDF
• Exhibition Schedule - this lists all the dates for what happens when
• Suggested Transport Agents - list of recommended art couriers. None list their prices - which will vary depending on how far they are transporting. Remember their prices will include the time for packing and unpacking.

Very Useful Things to Know 

Making A Mark is 19 years old today!

 Making A Mark was born in December 2005 but first went public on January 7th 2006

Which makes it 19 years old today. 

The actual first post Making a Mark said

This is a new journal which will reflect on how my paintings and drawings are created.

It will also introduce small works of art which will be available for sale from my website from the New Year.

That was the idea at the time - but was soon revised! I subsequently decided it was probably a better idea to learn more about art - and my Making A Mark blog started to transform.

In December 2005, I started learning how to use Blogger (in private!) and so, that first post was followed in December, by a few which became much more typical of what I used to post at the beginning.

• Two of my favourite occupations
• Drinking Tea and Drawing People
• Drawing and Flu

Drinking tea and drawing people - in the RA Friends Room
(Who remembers the big black chesterfield sofas?)
drinking tea and drawing people became a perennial theme for sketches
- which subsequently transferred to another blog
Travels with my Sketchbook in....

Drinking tea and drawing people at the RI Exhibition at the Mall Galleries (2010)

on Travels with a Sketchbook in....

This sketch subsequently appeared on page 103 of my book Sketching 365
I can even remember that those blue paintings on the back wall
were by Bob Rudd
Sadly this blog was knobbled by my growing mobility issues

However, in terms of birthdays, I always count the day it first went public as it's actual birthday. Making A Mark went public to the world at large after I'd recovered from flu and got through Christmas 2005.   

So the actual FIRST PUBLIC POST was Catnapping on January 5th 2006.

Catnapping #2
Cosmo sleeping on the lap of JR (he loved his Daddy!)

I've been pondering about whether I've opted for the right blogger software and whether, if I need to change, I need to do it sooner rather than later. But every time I look at all the alternatives I get a headache. And as the flu bug has only diminished rather than disappeared I think I'll leave that for when I'm feeling a bit more invigorated and generally up for a bit of cyber thingummies. Especially as I've just managed to lose all my refinements of the basic template because I fancied looking at what it looked like in blue! Grrrrrrr!!

What I now value very much is I have a complete record of a lot of my life over the last 19 years - where I've been, what I've seen, who I've met and all the art along the way. If I get bored or cannot get out I just start to look through my archives in the side column - year by year and month by month. 

In the lead up to Making A Mark's 20th birthday, I think I might start regular reminders of posts from the past - because they're useful or a visual feast.

Then there's all my photographs of art and exhibitions........

NEW BBC Art Programme about buying and selling art

I'm not sure what I think about this new BBC Art Programme but what follows is what I've found out so far!

From Facebook

A NEW BBC Art Programme about buying and selling art

I've seen other approaches for people to get involved in television programmes which look way more professional than this one.

There's 

• an individual on Facebook called Cara Doré (the name makes me suspicious to start with!) 
• who posted the following on the Art Teachers UK Facebook Group (why are they asking teachers?) 
• just before Christmas (who would post anything they want a response to on 22nd December?!!)

I'm currently casting on a brand new BBC art show and we are keen to here from any art teachers or retired art teachers to take part.

We’re looking for competitive pairs to take part in a new BBC Art show. Whether you are a pair of best mates; mother and son; nan and granddaughter; stepsisters or a couple… if you reckon you make the ultimate dynamic double act, we want to hear from you!

To apply email – takepart@stellifytv.com

The notion is that is a new BBC programme where you:

• put your sales skills to the test (so why are they asking teachers to participate?)
• play the art market (really?)
• try to win a life-changing amount of cash (this has got daytime written all over it so the definition of "life-changing" might be up for debate)

So the facts are:

• somebody is touting for participants 
• who has a very unusual name (name change for the media maybe?) 
• who doesn't appear to be very media savvy and/or professional (dreadful image)
• but is apparently a Casting Researcher at Trilogy Casting
• far too little information as to what the programme is about e.g. what are they actually going to DO?
• stellifytv.com does not exist as a website - so how can that email work?

HOWEVER Stellifymedia is "an award winning multi-genre unscripted production company" set up as a joint venture with Sony Pictures Television.

and that's the ONLY this bit which finally led me to publish this post.

It all sounds VERY WEIRD to me. If anybody finds out what it is do let me know. I just know somebody out there will want to know more....

Royal Watercolour Society - FINAL CALL for RWS OPEN

You have until midday on Monday 6th of January 2025 to submit an entry to the RWS Open 2025.

This post covers:

• what is the RWS Open?
• why enter the RWS Open?
• how to enter

What is the RWS Open?

The RWS Open is run by the Royal Watercolour Society (RWS). 

It was formerly known (until recently) as the Contemporary Watercolour Competition.

The RWS chooses to invite open entries for an exhibition at the Bankside Gallery via a SEPARATE open competition rather than, as most art societies do, via an annual open exhibition dominated by artwork by members.

The RWS has FINALLY stopped calling it the "the largest open-submission water-media exhibition in the world". I'm guessing that's because I kept calling them out on this - EVERY SINGLE YEAR - because it simply isn't. My last comment on the topic being.....

I think the RWS would be well advised to read and study carefully The UK Code of Non-broadcast Advertising and Direct & Promotional Marketing (CAP Code) which is the rule book for non-broadcast advertisements, sales promotions and direct marketing communications (marketing communications).

FACT: In the UK, the annual exhibition of the Royal Institute of Painters in Watercolours selects and exhibits far more artists via the open entry to its Annual Exhibition which is way, way bigger than anything held at the Bankside Gallery. It's such a very silly idea to boast about something which it is so easy to disprove.

Around half of the 465 artworks on display in their 2024 (RI) Exhibition ....are by non-members.

Whereas, the RWS Open in 2024 exhibited 144 paintings in total - although it never ever quotes numbers for the actual entries received and the actual number hung. Nothing like numbers to bring some reality to the situation!

Instead this year, the RWS are now saying (my underlining)

the RWS Open is one of the largest open-submission water-media exhibitions in the world, attracting thousands of submissions nationally and internationally each year.

Which is fine. So I'll now stop sniping on this topic and reserve my comments for the calibre of the artwork they select instead. 

See my Review of the RWS Open 2024 for extensive comments on the quality of the artwork.

Frankly, speaking in my best "Emperor's New Clothes" voice, some might be OK in a teenagers school art exhibition - but nothing more than that. "Scrubby" and "scruffy" were two works which came into my head as I looked at some of the artworks.

I am also total dumbfounded at some of the prices people are asking for so little work, effort and/or skill. As I often comment, one can only assume that these are works by people who have no idea what price to put on their work - and what else people can buy for that sum of money.

I'm somewhat puzzled by the calibre of the thousands of entries if the artwork that was selected and exhibited was the best on offer. 

Also if (let's say - because we don't know) 2,000 entries were received, that means that only just over 7% were selected. 

I live in hope that this potentially important open exhibition will turn a corner. 

Maybe 2025 will the year?

Why enter the RWS Open?

The primary benefit of this competition is it acts as a platform for applying for membership of the Royal Watercolour Society. 

Another Portrait Competition - for Self Portraits

The biennial Self Portrait Prize - sponsored by The Ruth Borchard Collection - opened its Call for Entries yesterday.

The deadline for entries is 2nd May 2025.

From the artworks submitted the 2025 prize judges will select

• a winner of the £10,000 Ruth Borchard Prize and
• a number of distinguished entries will be acquired for the "Next Generation Collection".

Below you can find:

• a synopsis of what I think about the exhibition 
• a summary of what you need to know to enter.

You don't have to be a portrait artist to enter. Just an artist capable of producing an interesting self portrait.

The Self Portrait Prize: What I think

The aim of this biennial art competition is to promote and celebrate the art of the self portrait.

So far as I am aware, this is the ONLY self-portrait competition which has been going for a while. Other self portrait competitions pop up from time to time, but none last.

This one offers the following features which I think makes it very credible:

• The biennial Ruth Borchard Self-Portrait Prize was launched in 2011. The website contains links to the past competitions. The winners to date are:
• 2011: Celia Paul
• 2013: Thomas Newbolt
• 2015: Shanti Panchal
• 2017: Benjamin Ogbebor
• 2019: David Dawson
• 2021: Lucy Jones
• 2023: Colin Davidson

• It offers a prize of £10,000 - which, for me, is the threshold value for taking an art competition seriously. Notwithstanding all those who do seem to have forgotten that we've had a fair bit of inflation of late (as in the Portrait Artist of the Year Award of a £10,000 Commission should now be offering nearer £15,000 given the number of years it's been offered)!
• It is sponsored by The Ruth Borchard Collection. Ruth Borchard (1910-2000) was a German writer who decided, at the end of the 1950s, to start a collection of self-portraits by artists.  She had a budget (£21 guineas) and collected 100 by 1971. READ MORE about she went in search of artists on the website. 
• The panel of judges for each competition include those with serious credibility in this field - as well as some who might be thought of coming "from left field"
• The exhibition is generally held in a reputable art gallery - and this year it will be the Southampton Art Gallery.

That and the fact that I enjoyed visiting the exhibition when it was held in London. What I particularly liked about it was the criteria are very open and the artists take advantage of this - and consequently there is 

• more diversity in approaches to the self portrait
• a huge range in the nature of the self portraits selected for exhibition - from size to the wide variety of media employed in artwork on view

It's very much for those who like to be innovative and dare to be different - as the first prize (see above) in the 2023 competition exemplified. Or as one commentator put it - it includes artists who like pushing the boundaries!

You can see examples of artwork in the 2015 and 2019 below - and see more on the website.

View of the 2015 Ruth Borchard Self-Portrait Prize 2015 Exhibition at Piano Nobile

This is a video about the 2021 Self Portrait Exhibition