Sunday Times Watercolour Competition Judged by Akin Founder
Akin founder James Stewart chosen as a judge for the 2018 Sunday Times Watercolour competition.
“The whole experience was fantastic for me on several levels,” says James, the founder and owner of Arundel’s Zimmer Stewart gallery. “I got to see a wide range of work by a number of artists, which is always good to do, and then discuss the merits of each one and the ‘art world’ in general with a group of my peers. The latter was the most satisfying for me. Being based in my gallery most of the time ‘I don’t get out much’, and the discussions we had were great to reinforce some of my thinking and reset other views.”
Now in its 31st year, The Sunday Times Watercolour Competition is the largest and most prestigious prize for contemporary watercolour painting in the UK.
The competition aims to celebrate and redefine the beauty and diversity of watercolour and water-based media – and submitted works can be abstract or figurative, contemporary or traditional.
Open to all UK-based artists, the competition offers a generous range of prizes including a £6,000 first prize, and second and third prizes of £3,000 and £1,000 respectively.
James joined a judging panel made up of leading figures from the art world: Louis Wise, Sunday Times critic and writer ; Jennifer Scott, Sackler Director of Dulwich Picture Gallery; and the artists Ishbel Myerscough and Paul Newland.
“In June we looked at over 1,000 digital images of works by 600 artists,” explains James. “That was quite easy on one level, to gauge an instant response, but also quite difficult as we got little or no sense of scale or texture. We gave many works the benefit of the doubt and selected 120 to be viewed in situ.”
The next round of judging took place at London’s Mall Galleries in July, and the panel spent a day viewing the submitted works. “This was much more satisfying,” says James. “It gave us the chance to view the works close up before selecting 74 for the exhibition, and then the three prize winners.”
“Most of the time the judging panel agreed,” James continues. “If there was a disagreement it went to a vote, but occasionally in the first round a piece went through if a single judge felt very strongly about it. A couple of entries were by artists that I represent, and in those cases I recused myself from commenting.”
* The Sunday Times Watercolour Competition exhibition is currently on show at the Mall Galleries, London. In November and December, it will move to Guildford, before heading to Basingstoke in the New Year.
https://sundaytimeswatercolour.org/competition/
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