Action/Assemblage: drawing together

I enjoyed the experience enormously!

I can’t tell you how fascinating I found the event.

I’m an artist. I’ve lived in Bristol for six years and this is the first event that has attracted me to the RWA.

 It was really moving, and incredibly inspiring and thought provoking!

Fascinating.Where is the line drawn?

I have never seen sign poetry before, and I didn’t even know it existed

Brilliantly expressive and strong. Mesmerising!

Wow! Really interesting challenge.

The gallery was pretty quiet on the Saturday afternoon of one of the few gloriously sunny bank holidays in living memory, but the Drawing Lab quickly filled. This newly formed community were gathered to watch Richard Carter and Paul Scott perform the poetry that they create in British Sign Language.

Kyra Pollitt presented a number of carefully selected quotations that drew attention to the images Richard and Paul were creating in space, and the similarities between their practice and the actions of drawing and painting.

Drawing materials were on hand for those who wished to experiment, and members of the HATCH research-through-drawing collective were joined by a number of visitors who bravely chanced their hand.

Two interpreters- Pascale Moroney and Naomi Bearne- facilitated communication in the discussions that punctuated the activities. And as the event drew to a close and artists and visitors mingled and chatted, the voluntary contributions box began to fill with drawings, comments and even a number of haikus!

There’s one last chance to experience this popular event. Action/Assemblage will be repeated in the Drawing Lab of the RWA this Sunday, 19^th May from 2.30-4.30pm. Whether you’re an artist, a budding poet or would prefer to simply sit and watch, you will be most welcome.

 with eye, hand, lip

a concentration of

movement

understanding will come soon

Yes

The Court Painter Residency

In December 2012, Luke Mitchell spent five days at the RWA, photographing 14 artists: Derek Balmer, Barrington Tabb, Phil Sayers, RWA President Janette Kerr, Dawn Sidoli, Jed Edwards, John Hughes, Mike Richards, Kit Edwardes, Chris Glanville, Ros Cuthbert, Solomon Edwards, Wayne McCauslin & Laus Kesseler. 

Informed by daguerreotypes and portrait miniatures of the late 1800s they create a juxtaposition between the historical and the contemporary.

Luke is an artist, whose work explores the undying and underlying relationship between photography and painting. This takes the form of commissions and limited edition collections of tailor-made, historically referenced works.

Find out more by visiting Luke’s website.

Cataloguing a hidden collection

Within the Permanent Collection at the RWA is a small collection of folders containing various unframed works and ephemera, which have been donated to the Academy over the years. When these works were donated, many of them were simply registered as a single item, but recently we have been going through the folders to individually catalogue each piece, allocating a registration number and adding the details of each work to our database.

Recent work has concentrated on a collection of drawings, sketches, watercolours and photographs by Katy Rintoul, dating from 1907 until the 1950s. Unfortunately, we do not have much information regarding the artist, but the collection is a fascinating body of work revealing an artist who was obviously adept at drawing the human figure, as well as an accomplished painter of landscapes. The joy of looking through these folders is that we never know what we are going to find and as well as samples of Miss Rintoul’s works, the collection also includes sketches by artists who appear to have been her students when she taught at the School of Art.

As a result of this project, the folder which had previously been registered as a single item has revealed nearly two hundred additions to the RWA Permanent Collection, with many more works, by other artists, still waiting to be seen.

Written by Tristan Pollard, Gallery Co-ordinator

For more about the RWA’s permanent collection, visit our entry on the BBC Your Paintings site. 

Update – Friends of the RWA

The Royal West of England Academy (Charity Registration Number 1070163

And

The Friends of the Royal West of England Academy (Charity Registration Number 110 7149)

Over recent months discussions have been taking place between the RWA and the FRWA with the objective of resolving the difficulties which have arisen between the two organisations.

Both organisations recognise that recent events have damaged the ability of the FRWA to support the work of the RWA and are working hard to resolve these difficulties.  We all hope to be able to work together for the future benefit and development of the RWA.

The discussions have been very constructive and it is anticipated that our two organisations will shortly be in a position to provide full details of how the relationship will develop in the future.

Our objective is to bring together all Friends, volunteers and supporters for the benefit of all and particularly for the future success of the RWA.

Professor Kevin Thompson OBE                                Ann Fawcett

Chair – RWA Board of Trustees                   Chair – FRWA Board of Trustees

2013 admission – reduced ticket prices

Spencer II by Ben Hughes

The RWA exists for everyone with an interest in art and design. We are open all year round.  It’s free to visit the cafe, shop and occasional exhibitions and events. Otherwise admission prices are as follows:

GIFT AID ADMISSION
Adults: £4.50
Concession: £3.40

STANDARD ADMISSION
Adults: £4
Concession: £3
Under 16s/SGS students: FREE
Return ticket: £8 (unlimited repeat visits for exhibition duration)

Our latest exhibition, Reigning Cats and Dogs, opens today. Drop by for historical and contemporary images featuring images of cunning cats and dutiful dogs asserting their presence throughout the RWA galleries. Find out more: http://rwa.org.uk/whats-on/exhibitions/2013/01/exhibitions-reigning-cats-and-dogs/
Until 15 March 2013.

Reigning Cats and Dogs

Reigning Cats and Dogs installation

This week sees the installation of our latest exhibition, Reigning Cats and Dogs. The show features more than 200 artworks depicting cats and dogs, whose presence within works of art goes back centuries.

Reigning Cats and Dogs aims to elevate these artistic stalwarts, creating a menagerie of historical and contemporary characters from the satirical to the sentimental. The exhibition juxtaposes tradition and post-modernity, domesticity versus the wild, sentimentality versus kitsch, cat versus dog. Coaxed out of the shadows, dogs stand to attention and cats bathe in the limelight, asserting their artistic presence throughout the RWA galleries.

Reigning Cats and Dogs

11 January – 15 March 2013

More info: http://rwa.org.uk/whats-on/exhibitions/2013/01/exhibitions-reigning-cats-and-dogs/

 

 

Advent at the RWA: 24 December

A World Called by Ejan Hahn