Hundreds of local artists are queuing up to enter their paintings and sculpture into the Bath Society of Artists open Summer exhibition. The registration takes all day and most will not be selected. Next week there will be a disorderly event as all the rejects are picked up by their creators.
The selection panel usually consists of established artists, one of which is quite famous. The whole thing was started by Walter Sickert when he lived here.
One year they asked H.I. to be on the selection panel, which was quite an honour. The following year they asked her to enter one of her own paintings and she declined, saying that it was not her sort of show.
They kept asking her to change her mind, virtually pleading with her to enter, so she reluctantly did.
The selection panel rejected her painting. I was sent to collect it.
Tell me about it. I once submitted a drawing of a fox in lipstick and Norwich Castle Museum rang me and asked me which way up it was supposed to be viewed. I thought it was a bizarre question and asked if it would make any difference to the judges. The woman was not amused and said she had to have an answer. I said upside down. It was rejected.
ReplyDeleteIdiots.
DeleteMy first husband, who was a watercolourist, was always invited to submit paintings for the British Water Colour Society's Exhibition. There was never any consistency in what was accepted and what was rejected and when we went round the exhibition he always disagreed that some of the exhibits should have been selected. There never seems rhyme or reason in these events.
ReplyDeleteThere certainly isn't. 90% of experts do not know what they are looking at.
DeleteThe things you see from your wonderful window, I would publish one picture a day from the wonderful window.
ReplyDeleteIn some ways we are very lucky to have these windows.
DeleteActually, in many ways.
DeleteOne wonders why the kept pestering her.
ReplyDeleteH.I. has a loyal and appreciative group of friends and acquaintances who are not always on selection boards or, if they are, are sometimes overruled by the great and the good.
DeleteI have seen that view a few times over the twelve years we have known each other ...I think I could find your beautifully appointed apartment by now
ReplyDeleteIs it 12 years? Blimey.
DeleteI wanted to add my comments about selection committees, and went back to reread and see your use of committee. But you call them panels, which sounds infinitely more prestigious than committee. At least they were not judged on the spot. They could leave with hope.
ReplyDeleteI think of panels as somehow more qualified than committees for some reason. I am not sure about the true meaning of either.
DeleteI once had a painting accepted for the other Summer Show (RA). They then dropped it, tore an inch of the canvas, and gave me £20 insurance. I never bothered again.
ReplyDeleteSomeone scratched one of H.I.'s paintings at a different show by turning their back on it whilst wearing a ruck-sack with sharp buckles. People who wear ruck-sacks loose all sense of space. She got the full price for the painting and the painting back.
DeleteAt least you didn't have far to go to collect the work. This year the BSA had online entries for the first time and it has resulted in far more people applying. I imagine the despondent queue to collect rejected work will be longer than ever! (I'll be popping along to the private view on Friday. Shall wave at your window.)
ReplyDelete