This year’s Bath Society of Artists Annual Exhibition will run at the city’s Victoria Art Gallery from May 16 – June 27, 2015.
Now in its 110th year, this hugely popular exhibition is the highlight of the gallery’s calendar and assembles the cream of regional artistic talent.
Any artist aged 18 or over can now submit work for possible selection by downloading a form from the website http://www.bsartists.co.uk and following the delivery instructions.
New for 2015, there will be a lottery of members’ work executed on postcards and displayed anonymously; buy a £1 ticket for a chance to win a unique original.
Many prizes are up for grabs including the Bath Society of Artists Prize of £1,000; the Bristol Guild Prize of £250 for a 3-D work, and the Harry Walker ‘RWA’ Young Artist Prize of £250, awarded to artists aged 18-25. There are also smaller prizes for prints, watercolours, small paintings and drawings.
During the exhibition members of the public will be invited to vote for their favourite art work, with the winner of the Bath Society of Artists Public Choice Prize receiving £500.
The Society was founded in 1904 with 26 members. It has grown over the years to a membership of around 120 diverse, talented artists. The annual exhibition, which is open to non-members, attracts about 1,000 entries and 7,000 visitors, with sales doubling in the last few years.
To enter, entrants must be over 18, pay a small entry fee to the Bath Society of Artists and submit their work at the Victoria Art Gallery on Saturday 9 May between 10am and 4pm. All submissions must be the artist’s own original unaided work. They may be paintings, sculpture, drawings, prints or mixed media, but not photography, craft or Giclee reproductions.
Many distinguished 20th-century painters have exhibited with the Society including Walter Sickert, John Singer Sargent, Philip Wilson Steer, Gilbert Spencer, Patrick Heron, Mary Fedden, William Scott and Howard Hodgkin.
The Victoria Art Gallery, near Pulteney Bridge in Bath, is open Tuesday to Saturday 10am to 5pm, Sundays 1.30pm to 5pm and closed on Mondays. Admission for the Bath Society of Artists Exhibition is under 21s and Discovery Card-holders free; otherwise £3.50 / concessions. For more details call 01225 477233, email victoria_enquiries@bathnes.gov.uk or visit the Gallery’s website www.victoriagal.org.uk.
