The winners of the first en plein air competition held by Rye Art Gallery were announced in the gallery on Sunday, September 29 at a closing reception and award ceremony.
The competition attracted over 40 artists submitting 105 works painted en plein air (in the open air), which were displayed in the gallery from Wednesday, September 25 until Sunday during the Rye Arts Festival. As well as local artists, there were entries from artists around the country including Scotland, Norfolk, Suffolk and London.
The jury comprised of artists Karl Terry, Tom Marsh, Janet Milner, Davida Smith and art historian Louise Simkiss. The judges looked at different elements of the works to come to their decisions: composition, use of colour, atmosphere, skill and quality of the craftsmanship, creativity and impact.
The winning artist was Clare Mitchell with her painting Low Tide, Cathedral Cave, Eigg. The judges felt that Clare had captured the atmosphere of the cave, had a strong use of colour and demonstrated a high level of skill. Clare is thrilled to win first prize. “Thank you so much to the gallery for organising such a great and inclusive show and the Kowitz Family Foundation for sponsoring the prize. And enormous gratitude to the Isle of Eigg, for being an amazing place to paint.”
In second place was local artist, Georgie Watson with her painting Summer View, Gunwalloe, a cove on the rugged Cornish coast on the Lizard Peninsula. Georgie expressed her happiness at winning silver. “A huge thanks to the panel for seeing something worthy of an award in this piece, that I enjoyed painting most of all this year. Everything about that day was perfect, the view, the light, the colours and not too much wind as it was a 20″ x 16″ board!”
Jane Price, from London, won third place with Earth Works 20. Jane was really happy to win her prize. “I’m particularly pleased because I rate the gallery and its ethos very highly.”
The first prize of £1,000, second of £500 and third of £250 were generously sponsored by the Kowitz Family Foundation.
There were four runners-up with prizes of art materials from ArtWrite: Sally Cole, Oliver Raw, Liz de Planta and Catherine Davidson.
Dr Julian Day, curator of Rye Art Gallery was very pleased with how the competition had gone. “It was lovely that so many people took part, from the area and across the country, and that they wanted to show their work in the gallery. It was a great opportunity to see work from a new group of artists. Working en plein air can become a bit obsessive, the desire to capture the weather, the scene and the atmosphere. It was a lot of fun getting the competition and exhibition together and the awards ceremony was a lovely gathering giving artists a chance to meet each other. Some have said that they will paint together.
“The gallery put on painting days with Karl Terry on the beach at Camber, Tom Marsh for a painting and drawing day around Rye’s historical town centre, and landscape painting with Clare Mitchell and Georgie Watson. Some of the artists who went on these days have exhibited in this show.”
As a result of the success of this year’s competition, the gallery plans to make this an annual event as part of the Rye Arts Festival.
The exhibition continues at the same time as the Rye Art Gallery’s next exhibition of work by local artists, David Crew and Tony Bennett, Timely Connections, which opens on Saturday, October 5th (see Rye News article Timely Connections – finding Mattias).
Image Credits: Juliet Duff , Rye Art Gallery .