RWA Press Releases
RWA Press Releases
For further press release information, latest news, or if you require press images please contact:
Kate Morgan, Marketing Officer at the RWA.
e-mail: info@rwa.org.uk
Tel: 0117 973 5129
Drawing Room II
18th January - 15th February 2009
To kick-start the year the Royal West of England Academy in Bristol is hosting an exciting new drawing exhibition. Drawing Room II will ride again after the great successes of its forerunner in 2006. This time, the exhibition will feature RWA Academicians, University of the West of England honours graduates and artists from the Bristol Drawing School, as well as a collection of drawings from the RWA’s Permanent Collection and a beautiful portrait on loan of Nobel Prize winner Dorothy Hodgkin by Bryan Organ. Also on display will be drawings by local architect David Austin.
On show in the main two galleries will be works by RWA Academicians including painters Kurt Jackson and Anthony Eyton RA, sculptor John Huggins and printmakers James Beale and Bronwen Bradshaw. These Academicians will challenge our perceptions of what constitutes a drawing. For example, Rachael Nee draws with smoke, using the flame as a ‘living brush’. She uses the sooty carbon trace left from a candle flame to make her smoke drawings.
DRAW group (past graduates of UWE), known for their innovative drawing workshops, are to present a unique interactive work to get everyone involved. Characteristic of the aims to reach out, DRAW has devised a piece inviting visitors to participate in a continuous line drawing. Look for the paper squares within the exhibition and enjoy your opportunity to be included in this innovative and skilful display of drawing approaches..
Amongst other artists, Bristol Drawing School will be presenting Valerie Bowes. Hindu Art, Holy men, Angels, Byzantium, towers and monasteries, cloisters and penitents and simple people going about their daily lives are all embraced in her work. Sometimes one catches a glimpse of the sea, a beach or a bird free of its cage sitting above an archway. Derek Balmer, RWA President said, “these works are bold, discreet and convincing. The drawings in pencil or charcoal are imbued with a poetry and clarity that stays in ones memory long after the first impression.”.
The notion of drawing is highly contested and has been the subject of challenging and contentious debate within recent years. Whether a drawing can be more than just pencil on paper will be a question visitors can ask themselves as they wander round this stunning and provocative exhibition. Most works will be for sale and many quite inexpensive.
Editor’s notes :
Press Preview : 16th January by appointment
Private View : 17th January 2-5pm
Gallery Opening Times : 10am – 5.30pm (Mon-Sat), 2-5pm (Sun)
Admission Fees : £4 adults, £2.50 concessions, U16 Free
Please note there will be free admission for all on Saturday 7th February
For images and further information please contact:
Kate Morgan, RWA Marketing Officer Tel: 0117 9735129
email: Kate.Morgan@rwa.org.uk