ArtOpps – Showcasing the very best artist opportunities

Grizedale Residency

This new opportunity based at Grizedale Forest is an annual intensive six week long residency that fosters experimentation and innovation in response to the natural environment. A Royal Society of Sculptors member will be paired with an early-career sculptor (2nd/ 3rd year student or post graduate from universities based in the North West) to explore how creative ideas can evolve and how new ideas and innovative thinking can cross generations of artistic practice. The residency will run from 30 July – 11 September 2021 inclusively.

THE ROYAL SOCIETY OF SCULPTORS – FIRST PLINTH: PUBLIC ART AWARD 2021

First Plinth: Public Art Award 2021 is designed to offer sculptors an opportunity to extend their practice into competing for public art commissions. The winning sculptor is awarded £15,000 to produce a large-scale sculpture for the sculpture terrace at Dora House before moving to a second site at Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park. The award theme is Resolve.

Royal Society of Sculptors Membership

The Royal Society of Sculptors was created more than 100 years ago to champion contemporary sculpture and the artists who create it. Today we welcome everyone interested in exploring this art form and its many possibilities.

Royal Society of Portrait Painters

The Royal Society of Portrait Painters invites artists from all over the world to submit portraits for our Annual Exhibition. The final exhibition is selected by leading portrait painters and being selected is a mark of distinction. Selected artists will have their work exhibited in a prestigious showcase at The Mall Galleries in Central London at which a number of works will sell and a number of commissions will be placed. There is also the chance to win a number of prizes and awards totalling over £23,000. The Society welcomes paintings, drawings and original prints from artists over 18, from the UK and beyond to be shown alongside members of the Royal Society of Portrait Painters at their Annual Exhibition.

RCA Conwy Open

The Royal Cambrian Academy Annual Open Exhibition traditionally attracts works from the Welsh environs and beyond. This dynamic and varied exhibition is open to painting, drawing, printmaking, photography, mixed media and sculpture. All selected work will be for sale and exhibited online and as always in the Royal Cambrian Academy gallery, government restrictions at the time allowing. The exhibition will run from Saturday 13th February – Saturday 10th April.

Bryony Marshall MRSS, Layers of Bournemouth

Royal Society of Sculptors – Gilbert Bayes Award

The Gilbert Bayes Award for early career sculptors (previously the Bursary Awards) is given annually by the Society to a small group of outstandingly talented sculptors. Selected by the sculptor members of the Society’s Board, the award provides vital support during what can be a difficult transition from study to professional practice. The award is open to sculptors of any age or nationality, with or without formal training and working in any style of media.

Lorna May Wadsworth, Sea Scout I

ING Discerning Eye

The ING Discerning Eye Exhibition has established an outstanding reputation among artists, collectors and enthusiasts for its unique curatorial approach. ING has proudly supported the exhibition for 20 years, which provides, a rare opportunity for works by lesser-known artists to be hung alongside contributions from internationally recognised names. The selected works will be shown in a virtual exhibition from Wednesday 20 November - Thursday 31 December 2020. Artists are invited to submit up to six works in a variety of media: painting, print, sculptures, drawing and photography are all accepted. These works must be for sale, and should not exceed 20” (50 cm) in their largest dimension.

Bath Society of Artists

The Competition is open to all UK artists, over the age of 18 years old on 21st August 2020. This year’s exhibition will be entirely virtual and will be hosted on the Victoria Art Gallery’s website from Monday 2nd November 2020 until midnight on Sunday 3rd January 2021.

Camilla Dowse, 'Yellow Door in Chelsea', shortlisted 2017

The Sunday Times Watercolour Competition

Now in its 34rd year, The Sunday Times Watercolour Competition is the largest and most prestigious prize for contemporary watercolour painting in the UK. Whether it be through abstract or figurative, contemporary or traditional, the competition aims to celebrate and redefine the beauty and diversity of watercolour and water-based media. Open to all UK-based artists, the competition offers a generous range of prizes.

RWA Open Exhibition

The Royal West of England Academy holds an Annual Open Exhibition, now in its 168th year. As the name suggests, anyone can enter their work for this mixed discipline show – previous years have included painting, drawing, printmaking, photography, film, sculpture and illustration, and attracted entries from artists across the UK and beyond. A selection panel assesses every entry and last year 657 works by 451 artists made it into the final exhibition. All work is for sale and the exhibition attracts art-lovers and art-buyers from far and wide.

Fred Uhlman, Welsh Farm / Photo: City & County of Swansea: Glynn Vivian Art Gallery Collection / © The Artist’s Estate / Bridgeman Images

Wales Contemporary / Cymru Gyfoes

Wales Contemporary / Cymru Gyfoes is an international open competition for 2D artwork in any medium excluding photography. Developed by the Waterfront Gallery in association with the Welsh Government, Wales Contemporary seeks to celebrate all aspects of the country by inviting artists to submit work that is inspired by its ancient history, its art history, its heritage, its landscape (rural, urban or political) and its contemporary culture.

Lara Cobden, Liminal Space – Part I (2018)

Wells Art Contemporary

The WAC Awards is an open competition for contemporary visual art that is gaining praise and respect in Britain and abroad. It was established in 2012 by a group of artists and their friends in Wells, the beautiful cathedral city in the South-West of England. But an idea that came to life around kitchen and dining tables has already established a strong presence in the London art world and is drawing artists from places as diverse as Australia, Azerbaijan, India, Italy, Korea, Japan and the United States, as well as all over Britain.

Jade Chorkularb, One day I will stop crying

Wells Art Contemporary – Installation Proposals

The Wells Art Contemporary Open will be held at the magnificent Wells Cathedral between July 20th and August 11th 2019. For the first time we are offering a remarkable opportunity for proposals for fine art interventions, installed in up to 8 specific sites within the Cathedral. Individual or collaborative proposals can be made.

Donghwan Ko, 'House of Blue Lines_01' (2018)

TRINITY BUOY WHARF DRAWING PRIZE

The Trinity Buoy Wharf Drawing Prize is celebrating its 25th annual exhibition in 2020. In this anniversary year, we are delighted to announce two exciting changes to the Trinity Buoy Wharf Drawing Prize as follows: The exhibition and awards will be open to UK and international applications. The Working Drawing Award, will have an online entry process only and a dedicated expert selection panel, alongside the main entry process and selection panel for the Trinity Buoy Wharf Drawing Prize. The Trinity Buoy Wharf Drawing Prize has an established reputation for promoting, celebrating, and championing excellence in contemporary drawing practice through this open exhibition dedicated to drawing. Led by founding Director, Professor Anita Taylor of Bath School of Art & Design at Bath Spa University, the exhibition will include around 65 drawings selected by a panel of distinguished selectors and will tour nationally from September 2020 to July 2021.

Jeanette Barnes

Trinity Buoy Wharf Drawing Prize 2020 Working Drawing Award

In this anniversary year, we are delighted to announce that the third Trinity Buoy Wharf Working Drawing Award will have a new, dedicated online entry process and expert selection panel. The Working Drawing Award aims to expand and enhance our knowledge and understanding of working drawings – drawings from which something else can or will be made. It is anticipated drawings for design, architecture, engineering, and other disciplines, as well as within art practice, will be submitted for this award and exhibition. Drawings are invited for entry that illustrate and explain an idea as part of a process towards production or construction, or that facilitate the development of an idea, or that form a drawn instruction to a maker.

Lumen Art Prize

The Lumen Prize for Art and Technology celebrates the very best art created with technology through a global competition, exhibitions and events worldwide run by Lumen Art Projects. Our annual juried competition draws entries from artists globally and has given away more than US$80,000 in prize money since its launch in 2012. Lumen Art Projects, a not-for-profit based in the UK, is dedicated to providing opportunities for artists who engage with technology globally through links with cultural venues, festivals and institutions globally.

Christian Aslund, 'Chinstrap Penguin resting at Spigot Peak, the Antarctic Peninsula' (2018)

EARTH PHOTO

Photographers, both amateur and professional, are invited to submit up to ten photographs or films to Earth Photo, an international photography competition and exhibition. Developed jointly by Forestry Commission England and the Royal Geographical Society (with the Institute of British Geographers) Earth Photo aims to stimulate conversations about our world, its inhabitants and our treatment of both.

Teresa Lawler, 'Blue Pool', Derwent Art Prize 2016

THE DERWENT ART PRIZE

An international Prize for works created in pencil - including water-soluble, pastel, graphite, charcoal or coloured pencils - that may be either 2D or 3D, but that do not exceed 182cm in their largest dimension.

Sandra Crisp, Remote City (SKYGARDENS_TOWERS)

THE LONDON GROUP OPEN

A unique opportunity for visual artists to raise their profile by exhibiting alongside members of the UK's longest-running artists' co-operative.

Paul Brandford, Untitled, Bursary XII

THE DISCERNING EYE DRAWING BURSARY

An opportunity for five artists to have their work shown as part of the annual ING Discerning Eye Exhibition. In addition to this, one artist will receive £1,500; the remaining four will each receive £150.

Parra, International Print Biennale Poster, IPB 2016. Image: Anna Arca

INTERNATIONAL PRINT BIENNALE PRINT AWARDS

Showcasing the broad spectrum of contemporary printmaking across the globe, the IPB Print Awards welcome work created through both traditional and contemporary print processes, including 2D, 3D, video, installation and site-specific work.

Jessica Harrison, 54 Pins, 44 Followers, 2017. Commissioned for Jerwood Makers Open 2017, supported by Jerwood Charitable Foundation. Image: Anna Arca

JERWOOD MAKERS OPEN

An exceptional supported opportunity for makers and collaborators across all disciplines. Five awards, each worth £7,500, will be awarded to artists who need the opportunity, time, curatorial advice and logistical back up to develop their ideas and further their practice.

Keith Harrison's 'Joyride', a Jerwood Open Forest Commission. Photo © Hydar Dewachi

JERWOOD OPEN FOREST

A call for bold, broad-thinking proposals that explore the potential of forests as sites for art. The Commission is worth £30,000 and proposals can be for work in any discipline or medium, temporary or permanent, site-specific or for touring to more than one location.

Lydia Ourahmane, 'All the way up to the Heavens and down to the depths of Hell', 2017. Photo courtesy of the artist.

JERWOOD VISUAL ARTS ARTIST BURSARIES

An opportunity for visual artists who are within ten years of graduating or establishing their practice. Twelve bursaries, each worth £1,000, are available to artists seeking to experiment as well as define and determine their own developmental needs.

Patrick Blower, Sketchbook Page, SKETCH Open 2017

SKETCH

An open sketchbook drawing prize which champions the importance and diversity of drawing by exploring the role of the sketchbook in contemporary fine art practice.

Nicholas Archer, In Shadows, Lynn Painter-Stainers 2018

THE LYNN PAINTER-STAINERS PRIZE

The Lynn Painter-Stainers Prize was created in 2005 by the Worshipful Company of Painter-Stainers and the Lynn Foundation to encourage the very best creative representational painting and promote the skill of draughtsmanship. With prize money of £35,000, the Prize is one of the most prestigious awards to artists throughout the UK.

Flow Photo

Photographers, both amateur and professional, are invited to submit up to four photographs or films for the inaugural edition of Flow Photo. The national photography competition and exhibition, developed by Future Water Association and supported by the Canal & River Trust, aims to raise awareness and encourage debate about water and waterways in all aspects as seen through the photographer and film-maker’s lens.

Women Make Sculpture

The inaugural Women Make Sculpture: theCoLAB Commission will award a female sculptor £15,000 towards the research, development and making of work(s) to be exhibited at one of three possible outdoor sites on the University College London (UCL)’s Bloomsbury Campus from mid-October 2019. The brief is open as to material, narrative and theme but the work must demonstrate an interest in making and materials or be inspired by the context for the work. The award is open to professional women artists of any age working primarily in three dimensions, who are living and working in the UK

THERMAE BATH SPA COMMISSION

Thermae Bath Spa is offering a £7,500 commission to produce 9 works which will be installed in the busy restaurant in June 2019. Thermae welcomes approximately 285,000 visitors through the building per year. Thermae are looking for work that is inspired by the natural thermal waters and promotes holistic wellbeing.

THE WESTMORLAND LANDSCAPE PRIZE

The Westmorland Landscape Prize is a national call to artists who are inspired by our landscape. Conceived and developed by Westmorland, the Prize aims to document, celebrate and interrogate our relationship with the landscape. The selection panel will be looking for works which reach beyond the aesthetic, stimulating thinking and debate about the way in which we exist alongside, as part of, or sometimes in spite of our landscape.

Dominic Tschudin

Pangaea Sculptors’ Centre

Hippodrome 120 Sculpture Commission As part of the celebrations for their 120th year, Birmingham Hippodrome is working in partnership with PSC to commission a temporary, site-specific sculpture for a void space in their four-storey foyer, around which the building’s primary public staircase ascends. Footfall in the foyer exceeds half a million visitors each year.

THE ROYAL SOCIETY OF SCULPTORS – GILBERT BAYES AWARD

The Gilbert Bayes Award for early career sculptors is given annually by the Society to a small group of outstandingly talented sculptors. Selected by the sculptor members of the Society’s Board and guest judge Brian Griffiths, the award provides vital support during what can be a difficult transition from study to professional practice. The award is open to sculptors of any age or nationality, with or without formal training and working in any style of media.

RSS Thread Residency

Thread is a residency program and cultural center that allows local and international artists to live and work in Sinthian, a rural village in Tambacounda, the southeastern region of Senegal. It houses two artists’ dwellings, as well as ample indoor and outdoor studio space. The team behind Thread speaks to its collaborative nature. This is a project about connection and linkage. Between two distinct points, persons, places, or perspectives. To be like thread by forming connections that run through us, and not around us. Together we are using art to develop connections between rural Senegal and other parts of the globe. This residency is an opportunity for artists to focus on their own work while being artistically flexible in adapting to the unique creative environment at Thread. It is entirely possible to work alone in a studio based manner but great flexibility is needed with regard to materials. Collaborations with the local community can happen but usually evolve in an organic manner. Artists are not expected to create a certain kind of project or have a certain kind of impact.

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