Yes, it’s that time of year again when I bang on about applying for membership of the RE, a.k.a the Royal Society of Painter Printmakers .
If you’re interested, you will need to fill out an application form and return it (with a cheque for £30) to Bankside Gallery, by Monday 4th February. Hand-in date for delivery of portfolios is Friday 15th February. (The porfolio should consist of eight prints, together with some supporting material, either a sketchbook or six drawings.) More details can be found here
And below is what I wrote last year about the best approach to putting a portfolio together, in case you missed it or, most likely, would really enjoy reading it all again:
1: Keep things simple. You only have one chance to impress and now is not the time to show how versatile you are. I know it’s tempting to put in examples of all the different aspects of your work but you only have one chance to impress. Random pieces that do not relate to the main body of work are pointless – try to keep the look fairly uniform.
2: Presentation. All applicants are expected to be professional and it’s very important that the work is presented to the highest standards. It goes without saying that all the work should be clean – no crooked mounts, no dirty or creased margins. If you don’t think your work is worth presenting properly, then there’s no reason to think anyone else will.
3: Supporting work. Make sure it is relevant – don’t put in life drawings to support urban scenes, as I once did. You want to reinforce the thinking behind the work and hopefully increase the appreciation of it. If you don’t use sketchbooks, then try to show examples of the process you’ve used to get from the initial idea to the finished piece.
4: CV. Make sure it’s up to date, relevant and preferably on one page – a good exhibiting history obviously helps but so does an interesting project, residency or commission.
5: Don’t get discouraged if you’re not successful – people sometimes get in on the first try but it’s much more usual to have several attempts. The panels who review the portfolios change all the time and what gets turned down one year may well be accepted the next.
And good luck to all those willing to give it a go – fingers crossed….
Hi Gail – thanks for the post and for the post you did on the RE elections last year which first brought it to my attention. I called in to Bankside in April last year because of your posts about it. its inspiring and encouraging to know that these things are possibilities certainly got me thinking that I would like to try – going to see if I can organise a flying visit to deliver and collect the portfolio. L
Thanks Laura – for those artists living some distance away, and whose work is small, it might be possible to post it to Bankside Gallery – then it would only mean collecting it….