I visited the RWA in Bristol today to see the 171st Annual open exhibition. I had an unsuccessful entry for the show and I was curious to know why. The standard of the exhibition was exceptional in terms of both content, which was socially relevant; and execution.

Upon reflection, my submission was cliched and honestly didn’t meet the standard. Seeing the level of professionalism has helped my work has come on leaps-and –bounds and so I feel confident that on this trajectory I can get my work into this exhibition in the future.

Pieces that caught my eye:

Ben Anthony’s Running Out of Time. From across the gallery, it looked like an abstract charcoal landscape image but as I got closer, I could see that it was line upon line of repeating handwritten text. The amount of work that must have gone into creating this piece was extraordinary and I loved how this image was so different depending on where you stood.

Zara McQueen Love Story. It told the typical story of romance using two chairs. It was fun, and got me thinking how I can represent humanity through everyday objects.

Christopher Drummond’s series of photographs showing chairs at major transport hubs such as the London Underground and Bristol Bus Station. Even though there was no one present in the images, a hint of people remained in the stains.

Adelaide Damoah’s beautiful use of gold and ink in her Cyanotypes Chromatic Odyssey.

New ideas for my practice:

Printing onto high-quality paper filling the fame rather than using mounting.

Surface mount multiple images in grid format as shown by Sally Muir in her work Displaced.

Filling the frame with surface mounted images has a professional aesthetic

Royal West of England Academy (RWA) Visit

Mid Wales Arts Big Winter Exhibition