Black Swan Open Art Competition – big prizes!

Black Swan Arts in Frome is calling all artists and makers to take part in their Open Art 2014 competition. The Judging takes place in November and the exhibition opens on 6^th December, and if your artwork is chosen, not only will it be displayed in the Black Swan Arts main gallery, it stands a chance of winning one of the impressive prizes on offer this year.

Now in its twelfth year, the Black Swan Open attracts some of the best contemporary artists and makers working in the UK. The competition offers a wealth of prizes and awards that include:- a first prize of £750; the Bax Family Fine Arts Prize of £250; the chance to win the ‘Black Swan Arts Solo Show’, which will give the winner a definite boost to their creative careers, and The People’s Choice Award of £250 voted for by the public over the course of the show.

And if that wasn’t enough, this year special prizes include The Rabley Graduate Prize; which is an artist mentoring and a 2-3 day drawing/printmaking course; and a one day glassmaking course with the prestigious Glass Hub glassmaking school. For news of these prizes and others to be announced in the next few weeks, go to www.blackswan.org.uk or find updates on the Black Swan Facebook page. These prizes will raise artists’ profiles in a way that encourages visitors and local people to get involved with the competition and show.

The competition will be judged by respected arts practitioners and academics from a variety of backgrounds and fields of expertise. This year the judges will include Meryl Ainslie, artist and director of Rabley Drawing Centre; Shelley James, glass artist and graduate of The Royal College, the artist and sculptor Stephen Haines, and the large-scale, light-based installation artist Bruce Munro.

Black Swan Arts is a hive of arts and crafts activity of all kinds, and so the competition welcomes a diverse range of works, including painting, sculpture, ceramics, textiles, jewellery, print, photography and digital media. The Open Exhibition will run from 6th December until 10th January 2015, with a launch evening prize giving on Friday 5th December.

The deadline for submissions is 26 October, and the on-line submission system is now live and ready for artists to submit their works at www.blackswan.org.uk/artopen2014

For more information please visit www.blackswan.org.uk

Or email: exhibition@blackswan.org.uk