Meet the Selectors - 170 Annual Open Exhibition
Each year, our selection panel takes on the enormous responsibility of deciding which submitted works will be chosen for and exhibited in the Annual Open Exhibition. Together, they look through all your submissions, and, from those several thousand entries, strive to create an exhibition that best represents the vastness of talent that exists in today's creative community.
We thought you might like to get to know some of this year's selection panel a little better. We asked each selector some questions about what the selection process entails and what they might be looking for in this year's submissions.
In no particular order, here is what our selectors had to say...
Angela Lizon RWA
Q. Tell us a bit about yourself. Who are you and what do you do?
A. I am a painter and a studio holder at Spike Island, Bristol. My current work involves using home-grown flowers as a staging for allegorical narratives using kitsch ornaments, fairies and vegetables.
Q. What’s your connection with the RWA?
A. Having been elected as an Academician at the RWA in 2018 I am looking forward to my first role as a selector for the open exhibition.
Image: Angela Lizon, Vanitas, On Becoming Sixty. Featured in RWA Annual Open Exhibition 169
Q. What excites you about being a selector?
A. I have submitted my work to many open shows in the past and am interested to experience the other side of the process.
Q. What are you looking for in the works you select?
A. I have no preconceived idea of what I am looking for, more a case of I'll know it when I see it.
Fiona Robinson PRWA
Q. Tell us a bit about yourself. Who are you and what do you do?
A. I am an artist but I also write about artists and curate exhibitions. I make drawings in response to music and I play the piano which is an important element of my work.
Q. What’s your connection with the RWA?
A. I have been an Academician since 2013 and I was elected President in 2019. Before becoming president I curated the Angela Carter exhibition and the Circus show for the Academy. I have curated the black and white room for the Open for quite a few years and since 2019 had overall responsibility for the Open.
Image: Fiona Robinson PRWA, Song #1. Featured in RWA Annual Open Exhibition 169
Q. What excites you about being a selector?
A. I love the whole process of looking at work finding little gems and then discovering who those artists are after the selection process is complete. It’s great working with the other selectors and talking about their choices.
The placing of works for the show is immensely challenging but hugely satisfying when the show comes together.
Q. What are you looking for in the works you select?
A. I am looking for outstanding work in any medium and genre. Work that comes across as having the authenticity of commitment.
Lucy Austin RWA
Q. Tell us a bit about yourself. Who are you and what do you do?
A. I make abstract paintings, on canvas and on paper.
Q. What’s your connection with the RWA?
A. I’m an Academician and Council member.
Image: Lucy Austin RWA, 100.29, Drawing Series. Featured in RWA Annual Open Exhibition 169
Q. What excites you about being a selector?
A. It’s a huge responsibility! I am looking forward to seeing the range of work submitted, there are so many very talented artists out there.
Q. What are you looking for in the works you select?
A. A sense of purpose in the work and a connection, which is always something exciting to see.
Karl Singporewala ARB RIBA RWA
Q. Tell us a bit about yourself. Who are you and what do you do?
A. I am an architect and artist working internationally from a studio in London. Multidisciplinary collaboration is at the heart and usually the genesis of all projects I'm involved with.
Q. What’s your connection with the RWA?
A. I have been fortunate enough to have been exhibiting at the RWA since 2011, and since then have fallen in love with the ghosts in the building.
Image: Karl Singporewala ARB RIBA RWA, The City's Yours, Photo-etched brass. Features in Street Life, RWA
Q. What excites you about being a selector?
A. Seeing behind the magic at the RWA, as well as having the opportunity to survey a snapshot of fine art in 2023 from immensely talented artists from the region as well as the rest of the world.
Q. What are you looking for in the works you select?
A. Craft, emotion and communication. I've pinned a full statement on my Instagram page. @karlsingporewala
Dallas Collins VPRWA
Q. Tell us a bit about yourself. Who are you and what do you do?
A. I’m an artist and sculptor working from BV Studios in Bristol. My work is quite eclectic and encompasses science and art as its principal components.
Q. What’s your connection with the RWA?
A. I’ve had a long association with the RWA from taking life drawing classes in 1995 to being elected an academician in 2018 and then becoming vice president in 2022.
Dallas Collins VPRWA, Aldebaran. Featured in RWA Annual Open Exhibition 169
Q. What excites you about being a selector?
A. Seeing the wealth and variety of artwork on show and then finding the work that gives you that tingly feeling inside.
Q. What are you looking for in the works you select?
A. Professionalism and dedication.
More selector responses coming soon...
This year's selection panel includes Adelaide Bannerman and Meryl Ainslie together with RWA Academicians Fiona Robinson PRWA, Dallas Collins VPRWA, Lucy Austin RWA, Angela Lizon RWA and Karl Singporewala RWA.
Thank you to all our selectors, we look forward to seeing the works you choose for the 170 Annual Open Exhibition. We are sure that this will be the best year yet!
Image: 169 Annual Open Exhibition install, RWA, 2023. Photo. Alice Hendy Photography
Dates to remember...
- Submissions close: Wednesday 5 July 2023
- Results live: Saturday 22 July 2023
- Artwork hand-in dates: Friday 18, Saturday 19, and Sunday 20 August 2023
- Exhibition open to public: Saturday 9 September 2023 – 14 January 2024
This year's Exhibition has been sponsored by Hive Financial Planning
https://partnership.sjp.co.uk/partner/sebastianroizdesa