- Open every day (10am-5pm)
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Admission £6, Free for Friends of Mall Galleries and under 25s.
Concessions available. No booking required. -
Catalogue is available at the Gallery – or you can
view it online
You can also see the artworks in the exhibition ONLINE via
The artwork I liked typically gets a photo of just that work….
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| The West Gallery |
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East Gallery on PV night. During the exhibition it’s being used for educational learning events |
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| North Gallery |
a number of events over the course of the exhibition. Plus there’s also an Art Event Evening on Tuesday 28th January. (6pm to
8:30pm) – but this is now sold out! The events allow you the opportunity to find out about different dry media and approaches to using them.
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| An event last Thursday. |
websites.
You’ll also find that I took a photo of each artwork which won an
award
with the ‘sticker’ next to it in my albums of the artwork in the three
galleries (see links above).
prize for “alla prima pastel mark-making” and that was September by
Rebecca Prout. There was no other artwork in the exhibition which got anywhere near
the skill involved in this technique in this exhibition. Putting your
pastel mark down and then not touching it again while constructing a
figurative artwork is a rare skill! There is layering but absolutely no
mixing or feathering or smudging whatsoever in this artwork. I was
amazed it did not win a prize – especially since it so very obviously
superior to the one located to its left which did win a prize!
NOTE: Alla prima is an Italian phrase that means ‘at first attempt’. It’s usually only seen in wet paints. It’s not often used by pastel artists over the entirety of their artwork.
Sales
I did however notice on Thursday that a big long wall of artwork by
members had not one sale. However by Sunday, this had changed and there
were a few sales on the same wall. I do think member artists need to pay a
LOT more attention to the price ranges which attract sales. I know the
artists who have already done their homework – they’re the ones with the
red dots!
sold, with
Sheila Goodwin
and
Ian Rawlings
with three each and a number of artists with two each.
What’s different about the 2025 “Benchmark” Annual Exhibition?
This exhibition is called “Benchmark” and I learned that in recent times, The Pastel Society has been giving each annual exhibition a name which includes ‘mark’. 😉 Last year it was “ReMARKable”
Benchmark: something that serves as a standard by which others may be measured or judged (technical skill, originality, innovation and enthusiasm) Catalogue
The main thing for me that it looks great – and is well hung. It’s also different, in
part because it appears to have got lots of new people exhibiting work and doing so
in new ways.
There’s much more variety of both subject matter and methods and
techniques and approaches used. This all makes for an interesting
exhibition. I think some of this has probably come about because younger
artists now appreciate much better the opportunities that an open by a
national art society offers – and consequently lots of them apply.
See my comment below as to why I wasn’t a huge fan of some of the oil pastel artwork.
I’m pleased to see that some of my criticisms levelled at the exhibition two years ago have now been addressed and I’ve been impressed by the scope, content and delivery of the entire exhibition – although I do think it could do more in terms of social media marketing (as in daily in the lead up to the opening of the exhibition and first week).
New art and artists
I do hope she exhibits again next year – I’ll be looking to see if she does. To me she has all the hallmarks of a future member….
I’m used to seeing watercolour artists getting lots of plaudits for their hyper realistic treatment of items that have rusted – but I’m not sure I’ve seen a lot of it in this exhibition. This artwork is also in coloured pencil. Looks like those who like rusty watercolours also like rusty coloured pencil artworks!
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| Rusty Smiths Crisp Tin by Robert Strange (sold) |
There’s lots more I like – but that would make for a very long post! Take a look at my photo albums on Facebook to see the ones which merited an individual photo.
When is a pastel not a pastel?
I’m very much minded to ask “what is a pastel?”
there seemed to be a big increase in people using oil pastels – but
using them in a variety of ways – with some using techniques which made
them resemble oil paintings. I think that causes confusion for people –
especially since this is essentially a “dry media” society. The surface of
an artwork in this exhibition should look as if a pastel has been used.
I know there has been discussion about mixed media in the past and I
seem to recall the conclusion then was that any secondary media should
NOT be dominant. e.g. it was OK to use acrylic gesso underneath on the
support to provide an underpainting but it must NOT be a dominant part
of the artwork. i.e. you should be looking at the pastel work and not
the gesso marks.
as oil paintings with
IMPASTO
surfaces in a pastel society exhibition.
paintings need to be in the Annual Exhibition of the Royal Institute of
Oil Painters – and you won’t ever persuade me otherwise. There are ay number of artists who have painted well (and seperately) in oils and pastels (Wolf Kahn springs to mind) but you could always tell the difference between the two.
What I’d hate to see is oil pastels trying to be oil paintings invading this exhibition – which is the only one available for exclusively dry media. Acrylics tried to invade the ROI – but have now been banned.
I’m not saying ban oil pastels from this exhibition. There are oil
pastels in the exhibition (eg Carry Ackroyd’s “Shingle Beach” below)
which I would not know without looking very closely or at the label whether they were
soft pastels or oil pastels – because of the way the pastel has been
used. At no point does it make me think of an oil painting.
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| Shingle Beach by Carry Ackroyd oil pastel |
What I am saying to the Pastel Society is please be very much more explicit about how you expect oil
pastels to be used and BAN the use of techniques used by oil painters to
create impasto surfaces.
Bottom line – in my opinion Texture should
- ALWAYS be a product of an artist’s expertise in MAKING MARKS – and
- NOT a product of the art medium you’ve mixed with your pastel.
The pastel stick on its own – in an artist’s hands – is what should always reign supreme in any pastel society / exhibition.
More posts about Pastel Society Exhibitions (2006-2024)
Below you can access and review my previous posts about Pastel Society exhibitions during the last 19 years – from my archives.
This was this year’s Call for Entries post
