Artist Opportunities

The 21st National Open Art Competition will be open for 2017 Registration and Entries from 1 March 2017 until 9 July 2017.

To enter the main competition, you must be 15 years of age by 1 September 2017; to enter the Children’s Competition, you must be 14 years of age or younger on 1 September 2017. You must live, or be professionally based, in the United Kingdom or the Republic of Ireland (England, Scotland, Wales, Northern Ireland and Éire).

Registration for the adult competition costs £20, which includes your first submission. You may enter up to three more submissions at a cost of £20 each.

Artists who are under 24 as of 1 September 2017 and over 14 as of the same date, will pay a standard rate of £12 for registration and submissions.

Registration for the Children’s Competition costs £5, which entitles you to enter one submission. Children may enter up to two more submissions at a cost of £5 each.

We accept the following mediums:
• Paintings
• Drawings
• Miniature Drawings, Paintings or Wall Hung Installations
• Original Prints
• Photography
• Wall Hung Installations
• Digital art
• Moving Image

For more information, please see the National Open Art website.

The Natural World Art Group invites submissions for its 2017 open exhibition. All wildlife artists working in 2D and 3D media are invited to submit work to what is now the only zoo-based open exhibition of wildlife art in the UK.

The submission fee is £5 per work (NWAG members) or £8 per work (non-members). Each entrant may submit up to 6 framed originals, paintings or sculptures, plus up to 3 smaller works.

The closing date for submissions is Saturday 1 July 2017.

The successful works will be shown at Banham Zoo, Norfolk, from Saturday 15 July to Sunday 17 September.

Commissions on sales go to Zoological Society of East Anglia to support conservation projects around the world.

For more information see the Natural World Art Group website or contact Viv Rainsbury 01493 440972.

Submissions are invited to the Royal Society of Marine Artists (RSMA) Annual Exhibition 2017 at Mall Galleries. The RSMA seeks submissions of art inspired by the sea and marine environment, including harbours and shorelines, traditional craft and contemporary shipping, creeks, beaches and wildlife.

All work must be submitted online via the Mall Galleries submission portal. Pre-selection from online entries will take place, after which pre-selected entries should be delivered to Mall Galleries, London, for final selection. For more information, see the Mall Galleries website.

Submission opens: Monday 27 March 2017, 12 noon

Submission closes: Friday 30 June, 12 noon

Conditions are as follows. Any artist over 18 may submit.Acceptable media: Oil, acrylic, watercolour, original prints of any media, drawings, pastels, or sculpture.

Submission fee: £15 per work (£10 per work for artists aged 35 or under).

Works should be no larger than 2.4m along the longest dimension.Paintings should be completely dry at the time of delivery. Maximum of six works submitted per artist, from which a maximum of four works may be selected. All work must be for sale.

Minimum price: £300, except for prints – unframed £120, framed £200. Print editions must not exceed fifty.

Submissions are invited to the Society of Wildlife Artists 54th Annual Exhibition 2017 at Mall Galleries. The Society of Wildlife Artists seeks submissions of works that depict wildlife subjects and evoke the spirit of the natural world.

ALL work must be submitted online via the Mall Galleries submission portal. Pre-selection from online entries will take place, after which pre-selected entries should be delivered to Mall Galleries, London, for final selection. For more information see the Mall Galleries website.

Submission opens: Tuesday 18 April 2017, 12 noon

Submission closes: Friday 21 July 2017, 12 noon

Conditions are as follows. Any artist over 18 may submit. Acceptable media: Work may be in any medium including painting, sculpture and original prints (if prints, please detail edition and how many are available). The SWLA is keen to embrace new and innovative mediums and will accept computer-generated images as ‘original prints’. However, a digital print is only considered an original print if it was created by the artist to be realised specifically as a print. Reproductions of paintings or photographs will not be accepted.

Submission fee: £15 per work (£10 per work for artists aged 35 or under).

Maximum of six works submitted, from which a maximum of six works may be selected. Works should not be larger than 2.4m along the longest dimension. Paintings should be completely dry at the time of delivery. Work must have been completed within the last three years and not exhibited previously in London.

Work will not be accepted if it is of botanical subjects, pets and domestic animals, decorative wares (such as vessels or tiles), work in metal frames, poorly framed or badly presented. Photographic reproductions or mechanical prints, giclée prints, etc., that are often promoted as ‘limited edition prints’ are not acceptable. The selection committee’s decision is final and no correspondence shall be entered into.

All work must be for sale for a minimum price of £200 (except for prints: framed £120, unframed £95).

Now in its 30th year, The Sunday Times Watercolour Competition is the largest and most prestigious prize for contemporary watercolour painting in the UK. Whether it be through abstract or figurative, contemporary or traditional, the competition aims to celebrate and redefine the beauty and diversity of watercolour and water-based media.

 Open to all UK-based artists, the competition offers a diverse and generous range of prizes including a First Prize of £10,000, the Jackson’s Young Artist Award worth £500 and the St Cuthberts Mill Prize for an outstanding work on paper.

Approximately one hundred works which are deemed to reflect the true breadth of the medium, will be selected by a panel of leading figures from the art world. The 2017 judging panel includes Sarah Long, Director of Long and Ryle Gallery; Kathryn Maple, artist and 2016 First Prize Winner; Louis Wise, critic and writer for The Sunday Times and Andrew Wilton, Visiting Research Fellow at Tate Britain.

Entry is through an online entry process.  Entry fee is £15 per work.  Artists may enter up to 4 works only.

The closing deadline for online submission is 5pm, 26 June 2017.

The shortlisted works will be shown at the Mall Galleries, London from 18 – 24 September 2017, before going on tour to venues across the UK. The Winners will be announced in the Culture section of The Sunday Times.

Artists are invited to submit up to four works in any water-based medium by 26 June 2017, 5pm. Entry is £15 per work. For more information and to apply online, please visit: sundaytimeswatercolour.artopps.co.uk.

The Griffin Art Prize will be offered to one outstanding UK based candidate at their location of choice. The winner will receive; a cash stipend of £5000, £2000 in studio rent, materials of choice from supporting brands Winsor & Newton and Liquitex to value £3000 and a showcase of new work to be held alongside the Griffin Art Prize 2018 shortlist exhibition in November at Griffin Gallery.

The prize includes a professional support programme; three studio visits from the Griffin Gallery team and chief curator Becca Pelly-Fry, technical support from the Innovation and Development laboratory and a mentoring programme from an arts professional.

The judges will be looking for innovation in painting and drawing and for the applicants’ potential to benefit from the studio support. The Griffin Art Prize judges for 2017 are artist Ansel Krut, Lindéngruppen owner, Jenny Lindén Urnes, Griffin Gallery head curator Becca Pelly-Fry, Elephant magazine editor Robert Shore.

All UK based artists graduated B.A or above since and including 2010, and whose primary medium is painting or drawing, are invited to apply for the Griffin Art Prize 2017 by submitting images of 4 recent works, artists statement and CV. Entry is £15 per application. Applicants must be graduates and a UK resident or hold a valid work visa with right to stay in the UK during the whole of 2018.

The deadline is the 3rd July 2017.

For more information, please see the Griffin Art Prize website.

Call for Entries for the Hahnemuhle Mini Print Exhibition

Red Dot Art is delighted to announce Hahnemühle UK as the main sponsor for the 2017 Mini Print exhibition. As part of the sponsorship arrangement artists are invited to submit their work on paper supplied by Hahnemühle at no cost. Simply email here to request the paper  (3, 15cm x 15cm sheets of 300gsm 100% cotton traditional fine art paper) which will be sent to you by post with a submission form, so please remember to include your full postal address. Of course works on any and all other papers are also very welcome.

Deadline for entries Friday 11th August.

Entries are now open for New Light Prize Exhibition, one of the largest open exhibitions in the country with great prizes and awards, including the £10,000 Valeria Sykes Award, Emerging Artist Award and Printmakers’ Prize amongst others.

Shortlisted works will be exhibited in the North’s most prestigious venues: the Bowes Museum, Barnard Castle; Huddersfield Art Gallery; and Tullie House Museum and Art Gallery, Carlisle. Also, for the first time, all artists will be exhibited at Bankside Gallery, London.

The exhibition is intended for artists born or based in the North of England, as well as those who have studied there. Artists are invited to submit wall-hung work in a wide range of media, including prints, drawing and painting, online via the New Light Prize Exhibition.

The deadline for entries is 5pm on 31 July. Artists must be over 18 years of age to enter.

The Flourish Award was established in 2009 by West Yorkshire Print Workshop to champion and showcase excellence in printmaking across Yorkshire. The award now provides artists and printmakers from across the UK with the opportunity to exhibit their work in a group exhibition at the WYPW Gallery. The winner of the award goes on to present their own solo print exhibition at Huddersfield Art Gallery in 2017. The winner also benefit from a two-week residency at WYPW. The Flourish Award is now open for entries!

Submission fees apply: Standard entry fee for the Flourish Award 2017 is £15. For members of West Yorkshire Print Workshop entry is £10.

The submission deadline for this year’s award is Monday 3 July. Click here for Rules & Regulations for entering the Award.

Artists whose work is shortlisted will be invited to include their work in the Flourish exhibition held at West Yorkshire Print Workshop from 16 September – 28 October 2017. During the exhibition the panel of judges will select the winning printmaker – the Flourish Award Winner. In addition there are runners-up prizes; Jackson’s are again providing £100 worth of vouchers for our own prize as we did in the previous year.

Click here for more information and to enter, artists can submit up to three works for a single submission fee.

The artwork in the header image clockwise from R-L: ‘Fountain’ Carborundum with hand colouring 33 x 33cm by Amy Jane Blackhall, Winner of Flourish Award 2016 & Intaglio Printmaker Prize. Nadia Francis winning artwork which was awarded the Jackson’s Art Prize. ‘Inherited Guilt pt 2’ Mono print on canvas with oil paint and ink, 90cm x 170cm, 2015. ‘Infrastructure’ by Amy Jane Blackhall, Sugarlift etching & Japanese woodcut with laser engraving, 26 x 23.5cm.

A first prize of £20,000 and a solo exhibition is awarded for the best new work of figurative and representational art.

Enter your work now to the tenth anniversary edition of the prestigious Columbia Threadneedle Prize.

A further prize of £10,000 is awarded by visitors to the exhibition, which takes place at Mall Galleries in central London from 31 January to 17 February 2018. Five Shortlisted Artists each receive £1,000.

You are encouraged to submit fresh and topical paintings, drawings, prints, sculptures, collages, 3D works, sculpture maquettes, installations or reliefs.

Submission fee: £15 per work at the time of submitting (£10 per work for artists aged 35 or under).

The competition is open to all artists aged 18 or over, living or practising in the UK or Continental Europe.

A maximum of six works may be submitted.

Upload images of your work at http://mallgalleries.oess.uk/ between Monday 19 June and Friday 22 September 2017, 12 noon.

For more information, please see the Columbia Threadneedle Prize website.

The 2018 Shape Arts Adam Reynolds Memorial Bursary is an annual award set up in memory of the sculptor Adam Reynolds. It aims to support mid-career disabled artists; the winner will receive an award of £10,000 and a three-month residency at Pallant House Gallery, Chichester from 6 February to 29 April 2018.

Applications for the ARMB close on Tuesday 1 August 2017 at 12 noon.

Artists must submit a CV (maximum 2 sides A4) and a completed application form with up to 4 works for the selection panel.

Applications will be assessed on the following criteria:

• Evidence and quality of a committed and rigorous practice

• Clarity of intentions about engaging with Pallant House Gallery

• Evidence of how the bursary and residency will contribute to the development of the applicant and their work

• Clarity of intentions for how the bursary would be used

Shortlisted artists will be notified on 4 September 2017. Interviews will follow.

Please note, this award is exclusively for disabled artists. The definition of disability used is a social model which covers all physical, sensory and invisible impairments, learning disability, mental health and fatigue conditions. For more information please see the ARMB/Pallant House website.