Looking ahead to next year.
2023 will be the RBA’s bicentenary – 200 years since it was established on the 21st May 1823 by Thomas Heaphy and friends in Lincoln’s Inn Fields. This will be a very special year for the RBA.
In the meantime the Summer News for 2022.
It’s a little late now, but John Sprakes had an exhibition at Patchings Art Centre in Nottingham which finished on the 15th May. The exhibition, ‘Painting and Drawing towards Abstraction’ emphasised the link between the two elements:
Also a little late, Kirsten van Schreven had one of her etchings, “The Fifth Lighthouse” selected for the Society of Graphic Fine Art 101st Annual Exhibition – it was on at the Mall Galleries from 17th – 21st May:
Robert E Wells will be having an exhibition at The Jerram Gallery, Sherborne, Dorset, DT9 3LN UK from the 25th June – 13th July
Images will be soon be available to view here: https://www.jerramgallery.com/
Henry Jabbour will be having a solo exhibition called ‘Saturation Point’ at the Pontone Gallery, Newman Street, London W1T 3DB, from 21st July – 21st August:
https://pontonegallery.com/exhibitions/
Several RBA Members have works in Thompson’s 40th Annual Exhibition 2022 in Aldeburgh, Suffolk, 4th – 26th June. Amongst those showing are works by the following artists:
https://www.thompsonsgallery.co.uk/exhibition.php/40th-Annual-Exhibition-2022-351/
- Jacqueline Rizvi
- Pamela Kay
- Annie Williams
- Robert E Wells
- Lewis Hazelwood-Horner
- Fred Cuming
- Ken Howard
- David Sawyer
Jill Leman and Martin Leman share a show at the Russell Gallery, 12 Lower Richmond Rd., London SW15 1JP. This exhibition is on from 26th May – 18th June:
- Jill Leman
- Martin Leman
Habib Hajallie is to have his first solo exhibition ‘Navigating Identity’ at the Mick Jagger Centre, Shepherds Lane, Dartford DA1 2JZ from June 1st – 30th, in a project funded by The Arts Council England. Also, his installation commissioned by Facebook has now been completed and can be seen at their new London Offices:
Habib also has two works in the Royal Institute of Painters in Watercolours exhibition at the Mall Galleries
Chris Aggs raffled his work ‘Primroses and Primulas’ after it did not sell at our last exhibition and raised £3,625 for Disasters Emergency Committee Ukraine. He used his mailing list, Facebook and Instagram to promote the raffle:
Akash Bhatt has been featured in the Jackson’s Art Blog in an article called ‘Inside the Sketchbook of Akash Bhatt’, where he describes his variety of different sketchbooks, including custom made books designed for drawing at the different locations and situations he finds himself in, as an unrelenting observer of the world.
https://www.jacksonsart.com/blog/2022/05/19/inside-the-sketchbook-of-akash-bhatt/
Hon RBA Huaicun Zhang will be having a solo exhibition ‘Huaicun’s World Blossom’ in the Mall Galleries from 11th – 23rd July. She will be showing her artworks – traditional Chinese ink paintings and also her works in oil – along with some of her published books, because as well as being an artist she is also a poet and author of children’s literature:
Guy Portelli, aided by Will Taylor, has been setting up an exhibition at the Escape Art Centre, Old Fire Station, Castle Street, Tonbridge TN9 1BH and he has invited approx. 20 RBA members to show work there in its Summer Show, which will run until the end of June – PV is on 9th June, 6-9 p.m.
Among the invited RBA artists showing their work are:
- Cheryl Culver
- Peter Newsome
- Malcolm Taylor
- Austin Cole
- Anthony Yates
Guy Portelli has also been the subject of a short film by Masterpiece Art London entitled ‘The Rise & Rise of Guy Portelli’ and it can be viewed here: http:// https://masterpieceart.co.uk/video/30-the-rise-rise-of-guy-portelli-a-masterpiece-art-produced-short-documentary-on-british-artist/
Malcolm Taylor has work in the Summer Exhibition: Painting and Sculpture at the Moncrieff – Bray Gallery in Petworth, West Sussex
from 6th May – 25th June
Peter Newsome has work at Newby Hall, Ripon, HG4 5AE, in an exhibition of contemporary sculpture by established and emerging artists, set in beautiful woodland and riverside gardens
Many of our RBA RISING STARS also have good news to share with us:
I spotted 6 of them in the longlist for Jackson’s Painting Prize 2022:
- Chris Polunin
- Ethan Caflisch
- Sabrina Shah
- Yeonsu Ju
- Keziah Greenwood
[Have you spotted Keziah’s welcoming smile? – she works behind the Reception Desk at the Mall Galleries]
Showing work in the Royal Society of Portrait Painters show at the Mall:
- Owain Hunt
- Tedi Lena
- Charles Moxon
- Charlie Schaffer
Ruth Murray received a Develop Your Creative Practice (DYCP) grant from Arts Council England in August 2021. The grant is to develop the use of ceramics, alongside her painting practice. The project culminates in April / May, with a 5 week residency at c.r.e.t.a in Rome:
Ruth has been invited to become a member of the Contemporary British Portrait Painters and will be showing work with them in their annual exhibition in Brixton, London 11th – 18th June. That show includes:
Rufus Martin has had his bronze ‘Isaac Goodwin’ shortlisted for the FACE 2022 exhibition and I spotted Thomas Merrett amongst their members:
- Rufus Martin
- Thomas Merrett
Fanny Arnesen has received the Glenfiddich Artist in Residence Award through the RSA New Contemporaries exhibition and will be relocating to Dufftown for three months.
You can still see Fanny’s work and Rufus Martin’s work, along with Chris Polunin and Yeonsu Ju at The Royal Over-seas League where our 2022 RBA RISING STARS Exhibition is still on until the 3rd July:
https://www.rosl.org.uk/visualarts/current-exhibition/14-slide-panels/arts-homepage-panels/rosl-arts/arts/1409-rba-rising-stars-2022
The three finalists for the RBA Rome Scholarship 2022 are:
- Alice Miller
- Clark Broadwood-Smith
- Samuel Owusu Achiaw
Our 2021 Rome Scholarship winner, Alex J Wood, arrived back in the UK on the 31st April. He had an amazing time and you can read about his travels on our Social Media pages.
Some of Alex’s paintings and sculptures are still on display at the Paul Smith shop in Mayfair, London.
The RBA Further Education Project:
The first two groups of students, who are from Hereford FE college, have arrived back from Italy and Malta, where they had work experience in a variety of establishments. We have not had all the feedback yet but we have received a short film, which we will send to our Social Media and a quote from one of the students to the Head of their FE college:
“I just wanted to get in touch to say thank you for such an incredible opportunity.
The Italy trip was such an amazing experience and one which will stick with me for the rest of my life! I understand it was a pain trying to get everything organised etc. but for me and the rest of the students it was so, so worth it.”