established event in its 27th year,
is of consistently fine quality
while Cynthia Corbett's
exhibitions always unearth
intriguing new, young faces. A
dynamic figure, she is this year
adding to her workload with a
Young Masters Maylis Grand
Ceramics Prize – same time,
same place . . .
Top o’ The North
New Lights
, a North of England
charity supporting talented artists
in the region, is venturing down
to the supercilious South to
demonstrate to its often
unadventurous critics the quality
of work being produced 'up
there'. Initially helping emerging
artists in particular it has
broadened its scope by including
more established figures, who
often find it no less difficult to
prosper in the often over-
dominant South-East. The
London show reflects this
change of tack by showcasing
six of the North's top artists,
Norman Ackroyd, Emerson
Mayes and Mark Demsteader
among them, alongside six rising
stars from their biennial
competition. In short a really
worthwhile enterprise.
showcasing the very best work
created in pencil” (including
charcoal, pastel and coloured
pencils) and they now aim at an
international entry. With judges of
the calibre of Kate Macfarlane of
The Drawing Room and Anita
Taylor, co-founder of the Jerwood
Drawing Prize, this is one that is
also on an upward curve.
Co-incidentally the widely
respected
Jerwood Drawing
Prize
2014 (from 17 September)
also opens that week – 51 works
by 46 artists covering a broad
interpretation of what constitutes
a drawing – from pencil to video!
Starting life 20 years ago as the
Rexel Derwent Open Drawing
Competition, it has changed
many dismissive attitudes to
drawing over that period.
The other 'big hitter' opening
this month – £35k+ of prize
money – is the
Threadneedle
Prize
at the
Mall Galleries
(from
25September). As its subtitle
'Figurative Art Today' suggests,
the subtext here is to raise the
profile of figuratively-oriented art
and, to this end, the exhibition
has had some significant format
changes, notably by inviting a
group of UK and international
artists to show in a 'guest'
section.
Finally a mention of the
Sunday Times Watercolour
Competition
(Mall Galleries) and
the latest instalment of
Cynthia
Corbett Gallery
's excellent, not-
for-profit venture, the Young
Masters Art Prize 2014 at Lloyds
Club. The first of these, a well-
10
GALLERIES SEPTEMBER 2014
ANTENNAE
Competition Time
With September now well
established as marking the
beginning of the new season for
the art world, it is something of a
hot-spot for art prize shows too –
six at least – over a wide range of
themes and media. Compared to
the situation a decade ago when,
with the demise of the Hunting
Prize, they were still remarkably
thin on the ground, this is only to
be welcomed by both artists and
public. Let's begin with the
National Open Art exhibition
NOA
(from 19 September) which,
given its start in the late 1990s as
the 'Chichester Open', has
steadily developed into a
competition with, as its name and
sizable prize-money (over £50k
in all) suggests, national
ambitions. To this end, over the
last few years, NOA has started
showing in London as well as
Chichester, this time moving from
the Royal College of Art to
Somerset House, where it will be
opened by no less an art world
heavyweight than Antony
Gormley. More on NOA 14 next
month, but it always provides a
good platform for the younger
end of the art world to show what
it can do, so do go and see it
asap.
Meanwhile the
Derwent Art
Prize
(15-20 September)) has
also gone on to bigger things
with total prize money (from the
Cumberland Pencil Company)
now £12,650. The intention is “to
reward excellence through
from left: Lisa Wright ‘After the Misdeed’ at
NOA/Somerset House. Josie
Jenkins
‘Wasteland Collage’ courtesy of the artist at
New Lights/Mall Galleries. Sally
Taylor
‘Confused Head with Triangles & Circle’ at
Derwent Art Prize/Mall Galleries
