A top art blog for artists and art lovers: news about major art competitions and exhibitions, interviews with artists, techniques and tips for art and business
There have been a number of television programmes over the years about creating/making things in a competitive context and I've commented on a lot of them (see my Art on Television page)
I've been writing reviews of the Portrait and Lansdscape Artist of the Year series (and others) since 2018 and I've been watching The Great Pottery Throwdown since it started - but never reviewed it.
However this year, I feel prompted to say why I think Pottery Throwdown is a better programme
This is in the context of the multiple criticisms over the years of PAOTY and LAOTY, many of which are shared by viewers.
The Love Productions pic for The Great Pottery Throwdown
This is my 2026 List of summaries of
ALL the current Calls for Entries for Open Exhibitions by the National Art
Societies in the UK and Ireland published to date.
#1 TODAY: I'm publishing the first half of the list -
about the national art societies based at the Mall Galleries who have
exhibitions in the period January - June 2025.
#2 TOMORROW: I'll publish the second half of my list - of other
FBA and national art societies and major art competitions.
# SUNDAY: I'll summarise the key things OPEN ARTISTS need to know
regarding
why open artists can sell well if selected for open exhibitions
what they need to know to do so
Calls for Entries by FBA Societies
TIP: Being exhibited in an important national exhibition is an excellent
way of marketing yourself and your art.
I've seen a lot of amateur artists develop into professional artists and become officers - and even Presidents - of leading national art societies in the 20 years that I've been writing this blog.
Below are
SUMMARIES of various Calls for Entries by Annual Exhibitions by
the national art societies which are members of the
Federation of British Artists.
They are all holding exhibitions in the period January - June 2026
Their exhibitions are all held at the Mall Galleries
(Note: Tomorrow's post highlights the other FBA Art Societies and
other national art societies. Not all who hold exhibitions at the Mall
Galleries are members of the FBA.)
My summaries are NEVER ever a substitute for you taking your time to
read ALL the Terms and Conditions of Entries very carefully. I've provided links to where you can read these below.
REMEMBER!
You can get selected and then not hung if you mess up.
I recommend you remember to pay particular attention to framing /
presentation for exhibition
One of the things the Royal Academy of Arts does extremely well is to provide model instructions on "how to" for its call for entries for the Summer Exhibition (see yesterday's blog postCall for Entries: The RA Summer Exhibition 2026)
One aspect of that relates to the information they now provide for all those who MUST present a digital image of their artwork - which is
how an artwork is judged in the first round
how it appears for sale on the online exhibition on the RA website
If you aspire to being one of those 4,000 artworks which makes it through the first screen sift of digital images then:
as well as producing a good artwork
you also MUST produce a good digital image of it!
So this is by way of a reminder of what people need to know.
Various art societies having open exhibitions would do well to take a look!
How to Photograph your Work - by the Royal Academy of Arts
The entry opens this Wednesday and the number of entries is limited!
First, a preamble before we get on the details of the Call for Entries.
I've always been quite ambivalent about
the Summer Exhibition
held by the Royal Academy of Arts each year.Which has not stopped me
analysing and writing a LOT about it. See the end of this post for links to past exhibitions - and some very useful information for would-be exhibitors.
On the one hand, I think it includes quite a lot of utter rubbish.
However, it
also includes art with incredible impact that you might not otherwise see -
and that's not just by the member RAs.
However it is ABSOLUTELY HUGE and I now find it to be exhausting.
Probably my age (I'm now 71 and have osteoarthritis) to some extent,
but also something to do with the numbers visiting, the noise and the lack
of seats in what is a VERY large exhibition (well over 1,000 artworks - some
of which are large).
In the end it becomes a complete sensory overload. I'm pleased to say
I can cope with other smaller exhibitions very much better - so not just me
being older!
Of late I've stopped visiting - but I do watch the videos AND I do look at the online exhibition!
Partly because I refuse to subscribe to the RA any more - which I did for
years and years and years - because frankly I don't find
the annual subscription cost (currently £148)in the context of
what's on offer to be persuasive any more.
That and the fact they took away the Chesterfields in the Friends Room. After
a long visit viewing art you want a comfy seat - and Fortnum & Masons over
the road now fulfils that need at a much reduced cost!
Call for Entries
Entry opens for the 2026 exhibition on Wednesday 7th January 2026.
Hence why I'm writing this now - as you will see if you read on.
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.
It's always worthwhile to keep an eye on what's changing in the upper echelons of the art genre/business - what's changing and what's not.
The turn of the year is a good time to reflect on how things are changing....
ArtReview's Power 100 is an annual ranking of the most powerful people in Art and is always worth a look.
The core concept of the list revolves around the mechanisms and impact of influence in the art world.
A lot of what changes tends to filter down over time - so it's a bit like looking into the future.
Changes in the ArtReview Power 100: who was at the top in the last 20 years (see FULL TABLE below)
This post looks at
who are the Power 100 in 2025
how the list has changed RADICALLY in the last 20 years.
and gives me an opportunity to give my very analytical brain a work out - and to look at the trends over time.
The Power 100 is ArtReview’s annual portrait of power in the artworld. It is an attempt to describe the individuals and groups that have shaped what art has been seen and how it has been seen over the past 12 months (broadly speaking, the calendar year). And yes, that is an indication that ArtReview views the artworld as, essentially, a social structure: a network of relationships that are triggered by the actions of individuals.
They define this further
The criteria for inclusion are:
that each person of the Power 100 has had an active influence on the art being made and shown now;
that influence has to be active
Of course, it really all depends on WHO you ask.....
