The Trinity Buoy Wharf Working Drawing Award 2024 is open to drawing practitioners worldwide, and aims to explore and promote the role of drawing within architecture, design, and making processes. As a special category of the overall Trinity Buoy Wharf Drawing Prize exhibition, it has a separate online Entry Process and Selection Panel, more information on how to enter can be found here. The deadline for registration of entries is Thursday 19 June at 5pm. 

The Working Drawing Award aims to explore, expand and enhance our knowledge and understanding of working drawings today. It is anticipated that architects, designers, engineers, makers, planners, and scientists, amongst others, who use drawings to ideate, to plan and propose concepts, to communicate ideas and designs, and who make drawings from which something can or will be made, fabricated or constructed, will submit their drawings. For this Working Drawing Award, a working drawing is broadly understood to be a drawing from which something else can or will be made; a drawing that illustrates and explains an idea as part of a process towards making, production or construction; a drawing that facilitates or documents the development of an idea; a drawing that demonstrates notation or ideation; or that forms a drawn instruction to a maker. 

It is anticipated that drawings for architecture, design, engineering, and other disciplines that involve construction and making as well as within some art practices, will be submitted for this award and exhibition, and that we will receive submissions of notational and planning drawings, drawings that relate to ideation, sketches, detail drawings, assembly drawings, and other kinds of working drawings that represent design, planning, and the communication of designs and ideas to others. The Working Drawing Award will be presented alongside the Trinity Buoy Wharf Drawing Prize 2024 exhibition in October 2024. We want to explore what a working drawing is today - please join us in exploring this!

Applications for the Working Drawing Award are by online submission only. Up to three drawings may be registered by each applicant for consideration by the Working Drawing Award Selection Panel. All eligible drawing practitioners are invited to submit their entries. Drawing will be selected via an online selection process only, and are then to sent to a Collection Centre in July so that we can prepare the exhibition, the publication and education materials, and select the award-winner, prior to the exhibition opening and the awards announcement on Wednesday 3 October. The exhibition will be held at Trinity Buoy Wharf in London from 4-18 October 2024 prior to touring until August 2025. Drawing practitioners may enter both the  Trinity Buoy Wharf Working Drawing Award and the Trinity Buoy Wharf Drawing Prize 2024 (see previous post).

The distinguished Selection Panel for the Trinity Buoy Wharf Working Drawing Award 2024 will be: Ben Derbyshire, Andrew Grant, and Caroline Grewar. 

     TBW Working Drawing Award 2024 Selectors (L-R): Ben Derbyshire, Andrew Grant, Caroline Grewar 

Ben Derbyshire is non-executive Chair of HTA Design LLP, a leading multidisciplinary design practice specialising in housing and placemaking. He has a long association with the practice, having first joined as a student in 1973, becoming a partner in 1986. He led a management buyout in 2013 since when the practice has grown five-fold, now employing 250 people in four studios across the UK. He is a Commissioner of Historic England. He serves on the London Advisory Committee, High Streets Heritage Action Zone Board and is chair of the Historic Places Panel. Ben is President of the London Forum of Amenity and Civic Societies and is a current member of the NHBC Council. He was President of RIBA from 2017 – 2019 where he oversaw fundamental change in the financing and governance of the institute and the instigation of policies in relation to climate action, professional competence and codes of conduct. Ben has published widely in research on housing, for example relating to the performance rating of homes and strategies for suburban intensification through collective action of neighbours, known as Supurbia. He has summarised his long career as a housing designer in a book, Home Truths, published by Hatch Editions and available from RIBA Books in January 2023, effectively a primer for anyone with an interest in the planning and design of sustainable places.

Andrew Grant RDI, Hon D.Litt, CMLI, Hon FRIBA, FRSA is Founder and Director, Grant Associates. Andrew is a Landscape Architect whose work explores the connection between people and nature. He started his company, Grant Associates, in 1997 which has grown into an international design studio with offices in Bath and Singapore. He uses creative ecological design thinking to find solutions to the major challenges of climate change, biodiversity loss and improving human quality of life, health and well being. Each of his projects responds to the place, its inherent ecology and its people and promotes quality and innovation in landscape design. In 2012 he was awarded the title of RSA Royal Designer for Industry in recognition of his pioneering global work in landscape architecture such as the multi award winning Gardens by the Bay in Singapore. The 54 hectare park explores the technical boundaries of landscape and horticulture in an Asian city and won the Building Project of the Year Award at the 2012 World Architecture Festival. He is a Visiting Professor at the University of Sheffield, an Honorary Fellow of the RIBA and a member of the National Infrastructure Commission Design Group. Based in the city of Bath he is Chair of the Bathscape Landscape Partnership and a member of the Bath World Heritage Site Advisory Board. He is also co-founder of the pop up festival Forest of Imagination which engages the wider community of Bath in the reimagining of city spaces and our relationship with nature in the city. In 2023 he was awarded an Honorary Doctorate of Letters by Bath Spa University in recognition of his outstanding work as a landscape architect and his passion and approach to nature, creativity and imagination.

Caroline Grewar is Director of Programme at V&A Dundee. In this role Caroline is responsible for the strategic leadership of the public programme, which builds upon the vision for V&A Dundee and fulfils the museum’s mission and objectives. Caroline has worked in the culture sector for almost twenty years, beginning her career at the British Institute of Florence in Italy. In 2006, Caroline joined V&A South Kensington where she worked across capital projects, major exhibition delivery, and international touring exhibitions. Before joining V&A Dundee, Caroline was Head of Exhibitions at the Design Museum where she worked with Zaha Hadid Architects, Barber Osgerby and Sir Paul Smith.

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The International Call for Entries for the Trinity Buoy Wharf Drawing Prize 2024 is now open for all drawing practitioners to submit their work for the exhibition and awards. Widely considered to be the most prestigious annual open exhibition for drawing in the UK, the Trinity Buoy Wharf Drawing Prize presents an exceptionally wide range of current drawing practices, demonstrating the depth and breadth of drawing internationally. 

The International Call for Entries is open to all drawing practitioners worldwide, whether they are emerging, mid-career or established. The exhibition is selected from artworks submitted to Collection Centres located across the UK. The appointed Selection Panel will choose in the region of 90 drawings for the Trinity Buoy Wharf Drawing Prize 2024 Exhibition, and Awards of a First Prize of £8,000, Second Prize of £5,000 and Student Award of £2,000. 

All applicants for the Trinity Buoy Wharf Drawing Prize 2024 must register their entry via the ArtOpps portal by 5pm on 12 June 2024.  Drawings are then submitted via a Collection Centre in the UK on specified dates with all entries are seen by the Selection Panel 'in the real'. Information about how to submit work is set out on the entry portal. 

The Exhibition Launch & Awards Announcements will take place on Wednesday 2 October 2024 at Trinity Buoy Wharf in London. The exhibition will open to the public from Thursday 3 October to Wednesday 16 October 2024 and will then tour until July 2025. Accompanying the exhibition will be a fully illustrated Exhibition Publication and an Education Pack. A Drawing Symposium will be held on Thursday 3 October 2024. 

The distinguished Selection Panel for the Trinity Buoy Wharf Drawing Prize 2024 will be: Mary Evans, Artist & Director of UCL Slade School of Fine Art, Gary Sangster, Curator & Co-Director of Drawing Projects UK, and Jennifer Scott, Director of Dulwich Picture Gallery. 

Mary Evans is an artist with a national and international reputation. Having studied at Goldsmiths and the Rijksakademie in Amsterdam, Evans’s practice is centred on the social, political, geographical and historical frameworks of Diaspora, migration, global mobility and exchange. This cross-cultural discourse is paralleled by a secondary discourse that links methods of image production, ’fine art’ and ‘craft’, decoration, and ornament. In her practice Evans uses brown kraft paper and other disposable materials to interrogate sites, stories, place and belonging often in the form of large-scale site and research responsive installations in an enquiry that explores the power relationships between Africa and Europe while moving across the real and imagined, mapping the ephemeral and un-mappable. The silhouette, a well-known European visual device is utilised to make the Black body visible as a site for historical and contemporary narratives of resilience, mobility, geography, and memory. Recently appointed as the Director of Fine Art at the Slade School of Fine Art, UCL, Evans was the BA Fine Art course leader at Chelsea College of Arts. As an educator, Evans is invested in challenging barriers to education and widening access to the arts. Evans has taken part in several exhibitions, commissions and residencies in the UK and Internationally including 3rd Guangzhou Triennial, Guangzhou China (2008); Meditations, Baltimore Museum of Art USA (2008); Smithsonian Artist Research Fellowship, National Museum of African Art, Washington DC, USA (2010); The Arts & Literary Arts Residency,Rockefeller Foundation, Bellagio Italy (2014); Still the Barbarians EVA International, Limerick Ireland (2016); Lagos Photo, Lagos Nigeria (2018); 11 Biennial Do Mercosul – Porto Alegre, Brazil (2018); Layers - La Banque Arts Centre, Bethune France (2019); Paper Routes:Women to Watch 2020, NMWA USA (2020); Breathe, META Open Arts, London (2022); Gilt, Zeitz MOCCA Cape Town SA (2023); Rites of Passage, Gagosian London (2023) and Windrush Portraits, John Hansard Gallery Southampton 2023. 

Gary Sangster is an Australian curator whose career includes roles as an art educator, curator, writer, academic, and museum director in Australia, New Zealand, the USA, and the UK. Prior to relocating to the UK in 2015, his appointments include Chief Curator, National Art Gallery, Wellington, New Zealand; Curator, The New Museum, New York, USA; Director, Contemporary Museum, Baltimore, USA; Director, Cleveland Center for Contemporary Art, USA; Director, Headlands, San Francisco, USA; Director, Artspace, Sydney, Australia; and Dean and Director, Art Institute of Boston, Lesley University, USA.  He was Curator for the USA pavilions at the 8th Cairo Biennale and the 3rd Istanbul Biennale; and for the biennale-scale 2nd and 3rd Australian Perspecta, and The Decade Show, NYC. He has curated international touring exhibition projects by Mary Kelly, Kerry James Marshall, and Genevieve Cadieux, and commissioned new multi-museum projects by Isaac Julien, Dennis Adams, Joseph Kosuth, Lorna Simpson, Felix Gonzales Torres, Andres Serrano, Tatsuo Myajima, and Judith Barry. Ground-breaking indigenous projects include: Koori Art 84–Urban Aboriginal Art; Two Worlds Collide–The Meeting Points of Aboriginal and Western Culture; and A Certain Place–Landscape and Vision from Black and White Perspectives. Most recently, he was Interim Director of Arts Catalyst Centre for Art, Science & Technology, London; and was a Trustee of Arnolfini in Bristol as well as Bath Regional Capital. He is currently Co-Director of Drawing Projects UK and Honorary Research Fellow, University of Dundee. Recent curatorial projects include: UK Curator, Lines of Site / Kazi Izleri /Marques de Jaciment / Marcas di Yacimiento in Istanbul / Dundee / Barcelona / Aksaray; UK Curator, Mairéad McClean – HERE, Belfast; UK Executive Producer, Long Life – Merilyn Fairskye, Sydney; Curator/Producer, Think Tank: Tactics, Thinking Allowed – Connections, Concordia University, Montreal, Canada.

Jennifer Scott has been Director of Dulwich Picture Gallery since April 2017, with responsibility for the artistic vision, management, and strategic leadership of the world’s first purpose-built public art gallery. As Director of the Holburne Museum, Bath (2014-2017), she led a successful fundraising campaign for the acquisition of Arthur Atherley by Sir Thomas Lawrence. She championed the Holburne’s collection, leading to the re-attribution of Wedding Dance in the Open Air to Pieter Brueghel the Younger and Boy Blowing Bubbles to David Teniers the Younger. From 2004-2014 Jennifer was Curator of Paintings at Royal Collection Trust. She previously worked at the National Gallery, London and National Museums Liverpool. She has curated numerous exhibitions and published widely on Dutch and Flemish painting. Recent projects include Rubens & Women (Dulwich Picture Gallery, 2023), Rembrandt’s Light (Dulwich Picture Gallery, 2019), Bruegel: Defining a Dynasty (The Holburne Museum, 2017); Impressionism: Capturing Life (The Holburne Museum, 2016); Dutch Landscapes (The Queen’s Gallery, Edinburgh and London, and The Bowes Museum, 2010-2012), and Bruegel to Rubens: Masters of Flemish Painting (The Queen’s Gallery Edinburgh, London, and The Royal Museum of Fine Arts, Brussels, 2007-2009). She wrote the first survey of state portraiture from within the British Royal Collection, The Royal Portrait: Image and Impact (2010). Jennifer received her BA and MA in History of Art from the Courtauld Institute of Art, London. She is Chair of the AFC Wimbledon Foundation, Governor of Alleyn’s School, Committee Member of The Treasure House Fair, Fellow of the Society of Antiquaries, and Fellow Commoner of Lucy Cavendish College, University of Cambridge.

Key Dates for the Call for Entries:
8 March 2024:                    Call for Entries Opens
12 June 2024:                    Last day for Registration of Entries
19 June - 12 July 2024: Submission of Drawings to Collection Centres
19 July 2024:                      Announcement of Shortlisted Drawings for Entrants
21 July onwards:              Return of Unselected Works to Collection Centres

Key Dates for the Exhibition & Awards: 
2 October 2024:         Exhibition & Publication Launch & Awards Announcement
3 October 2024:         Exhibition open to the public at Trinity Buoy Wharf, London
3 October 2024:         Drawing Symposium at Trinity Buoy Wharf 
16 October 2024:      Exhibition closes at Trinity Buoy Wharf
October-July 2025:  Exhibition tours to multiple venues

Please note that the Trinity Buoy Wharf Working Drawing Award has a separate Call for Entries and Selection Process and will be launched later in March 2024.

#TBWDP24
 
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The Trinity Buoy Wharf Drawing Prize, supported by the Trinity Buoy Wharf Trust, is widely regarded as the foremost annual open exhibition dedicated to drawing in the United Kingdom. The 2023 edition marks the 30th year of the exhibition project and the 6th year of generous support from Trinity Buoy Wharf Trust for the annual open exhibition. The open call for the Trinity Buoy Wharf Drawing Prize 2023 received 3,045 submissions from 1,450 candidates from 40 countries. From this submission, 123 drawings by 111 practitioners were selected overall for the Trinity Buoy Wharf Drawing Prize 2023 exhibition and the Trinity Buoy Wharf Working Drawing Award. 

The 102 drawings included in the Trinity Buoy Wharf Drawing Prize 2023 were selected by Laura Hoptman, Executive Director of The Drawing Center, New York; Dennis Scholl AM, Collector & Arts Patron; and Barbara Walker MBE RA, Artist. The 102 drawings shortlisted for Trinity Buoy Wharf Drawing Prize 2023 are by:
 
Samuel Owusu Achiaw / Margrét Adolfsdóttir / Elisa Alaluusua / Judith Alder / Thomas Allen / Iain Andrews / Judith Anketell / Brigitte Bailey / Andy Bannister / Matt Bannister / Amélie Barnathan / Jeanette Barnes / Adrian Baynes / Cai Arfon Bellis  / Akash Bhatt / Peter Blodau / Kirsty Bogle / Jesús Briceño Reyes / Ann Bridges / Caroline Burraway / Ian Chamberlain / Dongwei (Shirley) Chen / Jade Chorkularb / Gary Clough / Anthony Connolly / Hannah Davies / Matthew Draper / Nisha Duggal / Sarah Duyshart / Roy Eastland / Linda Fardoe / Katy Fiszman / Edo Fuijkschot / Stefan Gant / Joy Gerrard / Diane Goring / Nick Grellier / Elaine Griffin / Susie Hamilton / Georgia Kitty Harris / Harriet Mena Hill / Fiona Hingston / Ben Johnson / Sharon Kelly / Simon Klein / Sarah Knill-Jones / Jane Laborie / Gary Lawrence / Debbie Lee / Bridget Lesly / Melissa Ling / Saloni Lodha / Derek Lomas / Emily Lucas / Richard Maguire / Tanaka Mazivanhanga / Nicolette McGuire / Victoria Hunter McKenzie / Grace McMurray / Richard McVetis / June Nelson / Rufus Newell / Tony Noble / Simon Page / Alex Pascual / Raksha Patel / Anna Plavinskaya / Julia Polonski / Sandra Porter / James Pyman / Richard Mark Rawlins / Maaike Reimert / Giulia Ricci / Isabel Rock / Nicki Rolls / Sara Rossberg / Heike Scharrer / Gail Seres-Woolfson / Mark Shields / Katy Shepherd / Karen Smith / Lisa Solovieva / Nancy Spain / Robert Strange / Fiona Swapp / David Symonds / Gabriela Vargas Telaya / Richa Vora / Kate Walters / Emmy Wan / Aleksandra Warchol / Louise Ward / Teresa Whitfield / Hannah Winkelbauer / Caroline Wong / Avis Wu
 
The 22 drawings shortlisted for the Working Drawing Award 2023 were selected by Ben Heath, Principal, Grimshaw Architects; Debbie Hillyerd, Senior Director of Learning, Hauser & Wirth; and Michael Pavelka, Costume and Set Designer for Stage, Dance and Opera. The drawings are by:
 
Michael Becker / Daniele Catalli / Sara Choudhrey / Greg Creek / Agata di Masternak / Emma Douglas / Sarah Duyshart / Lisa-Marie Gibbs / Altea Grau Vidal / Nina Gross / Vladimir Guculak / Sandy Horsley / Ben Johnson / Joanna Leah / Emily Mc Gardle / Ade Olaosebiakn

At the Exhibition Launch & Awards Announcement at Trinity Buoy Wharf in London on Thursday 28 September 2023, the following awards were announced:

First Prize of £8,000: 
Jeanette Barnes, New Battersea Tube Station & Developments, 2023

Second Prize of £5,000:
Victoria Hunter McKenzie, Tasha brought us Guinneps, 2022

Student Award of £2,000:
Peter Blodau, El Kobri Maadi, 2023

Working Drawing Award of £2,000:
Ade Olaosebikan, Reconstituted Planes - The Barcelona Pavilion Reimagined I & II, 2023

Evelyn Williams Drawing Award of £10,000:
Isabel Rock, Our Cell, 2022, and her exhibition proposal for Hastings Contemporary

Special Commendations: 
Samuel Owusu Achiaw, Looking, 2022
Sarah Knill-Jones, Skull I, 2022
Lisa-Marie Gibbs, Nang’s garden, 2022 (Working Drawing Award Category)

Visiting the exhibition:
Visitors can discover the 123 shortlisted and award-winning drawings included in the Trinity Buoy Wharf Drawing Prize 2023 exhibition at Trinity Buoy Wharf in London from 29 September 2023 to 15 October 2023. The exhibition is free to visit from 11am to 6pm until Saturday 14 October and from 11am to 2pm on Sunday 15 October 2023. 

Following its presentation at Trinity Buoy Wharf in London, the exhibition will tour to:

- TheGallery, Arts University Bournemouth from 2 February to 16 April 2024;

- The Arts Institute, Plymouth University from 4 May to 29 June 2024;

- Turnpike, Wigan from 13 July to 14 September 2024.

A fully illustrated publication, an education pack, and public engagement programmes accompany the exhibition and tour.

Further information about the exhibition and events is available on the Trinity Buoy Wharf Drawing Prize website here.

For further information about Trinity Buoy Wharf, please visit the website: trinitybuoywharf.com 

For press enquiries, please contact Marine Costello at Parker Harris:
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T: 020 3653 0891
 
For all other enquiries, please contact Parker Harris:
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T: 020 3653 0896.
 
For updates on the Trinity Buoy Wharf Drawing Prize, please follow:
X: @TBWDrawingPrize #TBWDP23
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 -Ends -
 

Drawing Projects UK is delighted to present a solo exhibition, Octogenarian Dance, by Yvonne Crossley RWA from 23 September to 18 November 2023. The exhibition is open each Saturday from 7 October from 1pm to 4pm, by advance appointment and during events. Here are some images of the exhibition to give you a sense of the wonderful work on show. Please note that we are closed on Saturday 4 October due to unforeseen circumstances.

Octogenarian Dance is a recent body of work that both celebrates the positive elements of old age and recognises the stigma inherent in the “catastrophe” of approaching the later years of life, by an artist who is unashamedly physically old and long in life-story herself.

As we age, a multiplicity of selves proliferates, over and through time. Ageing “is a multiple, ambiguous, and contradictory process, which provides us – continuously and simultaneously – with images of past, present, lost, embodied and imagined selves” (Helen Moglen, 2008 Studies in Gender and Sexuality)

These possibilities result in a dislocation for the ageing self, residing in the tensions between the person in the mirror, the person in our minds at different points in time, and the body that others see. The pieces brought together in the exhibition Octogenarian Dance focus on this aspect of the ageing body in modern society, attentive to the way in which age, life, and memory intersect.

Until recently Crossley’s work has been formed spatially within the traditional rectangle. This new work, however, looks at elements of human form in a departure from two-dimensional boundary constraints – drawn, cut, and redrawn components, derived mainly from the body but including other elements of the narrative, can thus float free from the “edge” into an existence which allows for a new range of readings and meanings. In this assembly of body parts there are implications of the broken-but-mended, and of interchangeability, constrained movement, the votive, the ritualistic and the memorialised.

Yvonne Crossley was born in Yorkshire 1942 and studied painting at Goldsmith’s College School of Art.  She first exhibited in The Young Contemporaries (selected by Richard Hamilton, Bryan Robertson and Leslie Waddington) at the Tate Gallery, London.  Subsequently she participated in many group and open exhibitions including the Trinity Buoy Wharf Drawing Prize, Artist As Selector at the Jerwood Gallery, the Derwent Art Prize and The Sunday Times Watercolour Open and has held solo exhibitions in galleries across the UK including the Ikon Gallery - Birmingham, The Laing Gallery - Newcastle upon Tyne, The Midland Group Gallery – Nottingham, Battersea Arts Centre – London, The Academicians Gallery – Royal West of England Academy – Bristol, and Chelsea Arts Club.  She was elected as an Academician of the Royal West of England Academy in 2014 serving as both an elected Council member for 6 years and Trustee for 4 years. 

She has worked as an art educator in Higher Education at a range of institutions including Winchester School of Art, Southampton Institute, University of Portsmouth, Epsom School of Art and Wimbledon School of Art.

Her awards include an Italian Government Bursary, a Brazilian Government Scholarship and a DAAD Post-Graduate Research Grant.

She completed her PhD, ‘Marking Times - Proposals for the Funereal Artefacts for Four Women’, culminating in a solo exhibition at The Picker Gallery, London in 2001.

In 2004 she left her post as Professor and Vice-Principal (Resources) at Wimbledon School of Art to set up The Drawing Gallery in Central London - the first gallery in the UK to focus entirely on contemporary drawing. The gallery has, since opening, represented a significant number of international artists and notable emerging British artists. Clients included international museums and galleries as well as corporate and private collectors. 

In 2006 she was one of the selectors for the Jerwood Drawing Prize, in 2007 was a judge for The Hugh Casson Drawing Prize (Royal Academy Summer Exhibition), and in 2008 was on the selection panel for Re: Drawing - the third open biennial exhibition at Oriel Davies Gallery, Newtown. In 2013 & 2014 she was a member on the selection panels of the Royal West of England Academy Open “Drawn”, and was a selector for the first Derwent Art Prize.

In 2007 she moved to mid Wales, initially sharing her time between her studio practice and running The Drawing Gallery in Herefordshire, situated nine miles west of Ludlow. Since 2015 she has focussed solely upon her own practice. 

Please check back for the gallery opening times and information on the events programme. Please contact us for further information on This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. 

The Trinity Buoy Wharf Drawing Prize 2023 received 3,000 submissions from 1,450 candidates located across the world. A total of 123 works by 110 drawing practitioners have been chosen by the two distinguished Selection Panels for the exhibition and are shortlisted for the awards.

The drawings selected for the Trinity Buoy Wharf Drawing Prize 2023 exhibition are seen 'in the real' and chosen on the basis of the drawings alone. The selected drawings reflect a broad scope of contemporary drawing practice - including works in a wide range of media on paper and other supports, such as textiles, found books or concrete, as well as moving image works; and are made by drawing practitioners at all stages of their careers, living and working across the UK and internationally.

The Trinity Buoy Wharf Drawing Prize 2023 was selected by Laura Hoptman, Executive Director of The Drawing Center, New York; Dennis Scholl AM, Collector, Arts Patron, President & CEO of Oolite Arts; Barbara Walker MBE RA, British Artist.

The 102 drawings by 96 artists and makers shortlisted for the Trinity Buoy Wharf Drawing Prize 2023 are by:

Samuel Owusu Achiaw / Margrét Adolfsdóttir / Elisa Alaluusua / Judith Alder / Thomas Allen / Iain Andrews / Judith Anketell / Brigitte Bailey / Andy Bannister / Matt Bannister / Amélie Barnathan / Jeanette Barnes / Adrian Baynes / Cai Arfon Bellis / Akash Bhatt / Peter Blodau / Kirsty Bogle / Jesús Briceño Reyes / Ann Bridges / Caroline Burraway / Ian Chamberlain / Dongwei (Shirley) Chen / Jade Chorkularb / Gary Clough / Anthony Connolly / Hannah Davies / Matthew Draper / Nisha Duggal / Sarah Duyshart / Roy Eastland / Linda Fardoe / Katy Fiszman / Edo Fuijkschot / Stefan Gant / Joy Gerrard / Diane Goring / Nick Grellier / Elaine Griffin / Susie Hamilton / Georgia Kitty Harris / Harriet Mena Hill / Fiona Hingston /  Ben Johnson / Sharon Kelly / Simon Klein / Sarah Knill-Jones / Jane Laborie / Gary Lawrence / Debbie Lee / Bridget Lesly / Melissa Ling / Saloni Lodha / Derek Lomas / Emily Lucas / Richard Maguire / Tanaka Mazivanhanga / Nicolette McGuire / Victoria Hunter McKenzie / Grace McMurray / Richard McVetis / June Nelson / Rufus Newell / Tony Noble / Simon Page / Alex Pascual / Raksha Patel / Anna Plavinskaya / Julia Polonski / Sandra Porter / James Pyman / Richard Mark Rawlins / Maaike Reimert / Giulia Ricci / Isabel Rock / Nicki Rolls / Sara Rossberg / Heike Scharrer / Gail Seres-Woolfson / Mark Shields / Katy Shepherd / Karen Smith / Lisa Solovieva / Nancy Spain / Robert W Strange / Fiona Swapp / David Symonds / Gabriela Vargas Telaya / Richa Vora / Kate Walters / Emmy Wan / Aleksandra Warchol / Louise Ward / Teresa Whitfield / Hannah Winkelbauer / Caroline Wong / Avis Wu 

The Trinity Buoy Wharf Working Drawing Award is a special category that celebrates the role of drawing within architecture, design and making processes, has been selected by Ben Heath, Principal, Grimshaw Architects; Debbie Hillyerd, Senior Director of Learning, Hauser & Wirth; and Michael Pavelka, Costume & Set Designer for Stage, Dance and Opera.

The 21 works by 16 practitioners shortlisted for the Working Drawing Award 2023 are by:

Michael Becker / Daniele Catalli / Sara Choudhrey / Greg Creek / Agata di Masternak / Emma Douglas / Sarah Duyshart / Lisa-Marie Gibbs / Altea Grau Vidal / Nina Gross / Vladimir Guculak / Sandy Horsley / Ben Johnson / Joanna Leah / Emily Mc Gardle / Ade Olaosebiakn 

At the Exhibition Launch & Awards Announcement on Thursday 28 September 2023 the following awards, to a total value of £27,000, will be announced:

First Prize of £8,000
Second Prize of £5,000
Student Award of £2,000
Working Drawing Award of £2,000 
Evelyn Williams Drawing Award of £10,000, a biennial award to support a selected artist with an established track record to develop a solo exhibition for Hastings Contemporary.

The Trinity Buoy Wharf Drawing Prize 2023 exhibition will open to the public at Trinity Buoy Wharf, London E14 0JY from Friday 29 September to Sunday 15 October 2023 before touring to venues across the UK. A fully illustrated publication, education pack and public engagement programme will accompany the exhibition and tour.

The Trinity Buoy Wharf Drawing Prize has an established reputation as the UK’s most important annual open exhibition for drawing. Founded in 1994 by artist and Professor, Anita Taylor, Dean of Duncan of Jordanstone College of Art and Design, University of Dundee, the annual Trinity Buoy Wharf Drawing Prize celebrates talent and excellence in current drawing practice. The exhibition provides an important platform for artists, designers, makers and other drawing practitioners as a catalyst within their careers, and champions the role, breadth, and value of drawing in creative practice today. The Trinity Buoy Wharf Drawing Prize is supported by the Trinity Buoy Wharf Trust, and 2023 marks the 6th year of their generous support for the annual open exhibition.

 
For press enquiries, please contact Marine Costello at Parker Harris:
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T: 020 3653 0891
 
For all other enquiries, please contact Parker Harris:
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T: 020 3653 0896.
 
For updates on the Trinity Buoy Wharf Drawing Prize, please follow on social media and our website:
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Instagram: @DrawingProjectsUK #TBWDP23
Website: trinitybuoywharfdrawingprize.drawingprojects.uk

#TBWDP23 #TrinityBuoyWharfDrawingPrize

Images, from the top (additional image details to be uploaded soon): 
1) Joy Gerrard, Abortion Rights Protest After Roe Versus Wade Falls (Washington Square Park, New York, May 24, 2022), ink on paper, 63.5 x 49.5 cms 
2) L: A Happening of Things, Richard McVetis; R: Order / Disruption No.77, Giullia Ricci
3) Working Drawing, Michael Becker
4) L: Great-Grandmother's Little Dress With a Collar, Elisa Alaluusua; R: Night Visitor, Mark Shields
5) Shift Sleep, Raksha Patel

-ENDS-
 

The Call for Entries for the Trinity Buoy Wharf Drawing Prize 2023 is now open to all drawing practitioners from the UK - and worldwide - to submit their drawings for consideration by a distinguished panel of selectors: Laura Hoptman, Executive Director of The Drawing Center, New York; Dennis Scholl AM, Collector, Arts Patron and President & CEO of Oolite Arts, Miami; Barbara Walker MBE RA, British artist.

L-R: Laura Hoptman, Dennis Scholl OAM, Barbara Walker MBE RA (Photo: Chris 

The Trinity Buoy Wharf Drawing Prize 2023 Exhibition: 
The Selection Panel will choose drawings from those submitted for an exhibition to be held at Trinity Buoy Wharf in London from 28 September to 15 October 2023 which will then tour to venues in the UK until June 2024. There will be a fully illustrated exhibition publication.
 
The Trinity Buoy Wharf Drawing Prize 2023 exhibition will launch on 27 September at Trinity Buoy Wharf when the following Awards, with total value of £27,000, will be announced: First Prize of £8,000, Second Prize of £5,000, Student Award of £2,000 and the biennial Evelyn Williams Drawing Award of £10,000.
 
There is a separate submission and selection process for the Working Drawing Award of £2,000. This award is open for drawings by architects, designers and makers. It will be selected by Ben Heath, Principal, Grimshaw Architects; Debbie Hillyerd, Senior Director of Learning, Hauser & Wirth; Michael Pavelka, Costume & Set Designer for Stage, Dance, and Opera.

Founding Director, Professor Anita Taylor, Artist and Dean of Duncan of Jordanstone College of Art & Design at the University of Dundee says:
 
“We are thrilled to announce such a distinguished panel of selectors for the Trinity Buoy Wharf Drawing Prize 2023 and for the Working Drawing Award. As we enter the thirtieth year of this open drawing exhibition project, we continue to attract eminent selectors and look forward to seeing drawings submitted from across the world to form an exhibition that will demonstrate the vital role and value of drawing within creative practice today.”

L-R: Ben Heath, Debbie Hillyerd (Courtesy Hauser & Wirth. Photo by Sim Canetty-Clarke), Michael Pavelka

The International Call for Entries is open to all drawing practitioners worldwide, whether they are emerging, mid-career or established. For practical reasons, there are two separate submission and selection processes for the Trinity Buoy Wharf Drawing Prize 2023: for those based in the UK and for those based outside of the UK who will submit as International Entries; as well as a separate submission process for the Working Drawing Award.

To enter the Trinity Buoy Wharf Drawing Prize 2023 please access the entry portals here.

Key dates for the Call for Entries:
5 June 2023:              International & Working Drawing Award Entries Close 
30 June 2023:            UK Entries Close
20 July 2023:              Announcement of Shortlisted Drawings for Entrants
27 Sept 2023:            Educator's Event & Launch of the Education Pack
28 Sept 2023:            Exhibition & Publication Launch & Awards Announcement
29 Sept 2023:            Exhibition open to the public at Trinity Buoy Wharf, London 
15 Oct 2023:              Exhibition closes at Trinity Buoy Wharf, then touring to venues within UK
 
For press enquiries:
Please contact Marine Costello at Parker Harris:
E: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.        T: 020 3653 0891
 
For all other enquiries please contact Parker Harris:
E: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.          T: 020 3653 0896
 
For further information and updates on the Trinity Buoy Wharf Drawing Prize:
Website: trinitybuoywharfdrawingprize.drawingprojects.uk
Instagram: @DrawingProjectsUK   
Twitter: @TBWDrawingPrize

#TBWDP23 #TrinityBuoyWharfDrawingPrize 

ABOUT THE TRINITY BUOY WHARF DRAWING PRIZE 2023 SELECTION PANEL:
Laura Hoptman is the Executive Director of The Drawing Center in New York, a post she has held since 2018. She has been a curator of contemporary art and a leading participant in the international art conversation for three decades. She came to The Drawing Center after eight years as a curator in the Department of Painting and Sculpture at the Museum of Modern Art, an institution where she also began her career in the 1990s as a curator with a specialty in drawing. Among the dozens of exhibitions that Laura has curated include Drawing Now: Eight Propositions, a landmark exhibition of contemporary figurative drawing at MoMA; retrospectives of the work of Yayoi Kusama, Isa Genzken, Henry Taylor, Bruce Conner, Kai Althoff, George Condo and Elizabeth Peyton; as well as the 54th Carnegie International at the Carnegie Museum in Pittsburgh. More recently at The Drawing Center, Hoptman has organized an historical exhibition of drawings by incarcerated artists, a survey of body prints by David Hammons, and a survey of a recent series of drawings by the Sudanese artist Ibrahim El-Salahi.

Dennis Scholl AM is the President & CEO of Oolite Arts, a 38-year-old organization dedicated to supporting visual artists in Miami. He has been an art collector for over 45 years, acquiring close to 2000 works of contemporary art during that time period. In the last decade they built one of the largest private collections of Aboriginal Australian contemporary art in the US. Recently, they donated 200 works from this collection as a joint gift to The Met, the Nevada Museum of Art, and the Frost Art Museum in Miami. That was preceded by a gift of 300 works of contemporary art to the Perez Art Museum Miami. Over the last three decades, Scholl created a series of initiatives dedicated to building the contemporary art collections of major museums, which resulted in hundreds of patron-funded art acquisitions for Tate Modern, the Guggenheim and Perez Art Museum Miami. He has served on the boards and executive committees of the Aspen Art Museum and the Museum of Contemporary Art, North Miami, among others. He is an Honorary Trustee of the Detroit Institute of Art and a Trustee Emeritus of the Perez Art Museum. He has been named to the annual WESTAF list of the Most Powerful and Influential Leaders in the Nonprofit Arts three times, and along with his wife, Debra, received the National Service in the Arts Award from the Anderson Ranch Art Center. Additionally, he is a practicing artist and a twenty-two times regional Emmy winner for directing documentaries about art and artists, including films about Tracey Emin, Theaster Gates, Clyfford Still and Frank Gehry. In 2022, he and his wife, Debra, received the Order of Australia Medal for their efforts to bring awareness to and exhibit Aboriginal Australian contemporary art in museums across the United States.

Barbara Walker MBE RA was born in Birmingham, England, in 1964. She studied at the University of Central England and completed post-graduate studies at Wolverhampton University. She lives and works in Birmingham. Her work is informed by the social, political and cultural realities that affect her life and the lives of those around her. Growing up in Birmingham, her experiences have directly shaped a practice concerned with issues of class and power, gender, race, representation and belonging. Her figurative drawings and paintings tell contemporary stories hinged on historical circumstances, making them universally understood and reflecting a human perspective on the state of affairs in her native Britain and elsewhere. Walker was elected to the Royal Academy of Arts in December 2022. She was the 2020 Bridget Riley Fellow at the British School at Rome. In 2019 she was awarded an MBE in the New Year Honours for services to British Art and in 2017 she exhibited at the 57th Venice Biennale as part of the Diaspora Pavilion. In 2017 she received the Drawing Room Bursary Award, and the inaugural Evelyn Williams Drawing Award in association with the Jerwood Drawing Prize 2019 and Jerwood Gallery. She has previously been an artist in residence at Facebook’s headquarters in London. Walker’s recent solo exhibitions include Vanishing Point, Cristea Roberts Gallery (2022); Place Space Who (2019) at Turner Contemporary; Vanishing Point at Jerwood Gallery (2018); Shock and Awe at Midlands Arts Centre (2016). Her works have been included in significant group exhibitions in the UK and internationally, including: Sharjah Biennial 15: Thinking Historically in the Present (2023); Life Between Islands, Caribbean - British Art, 50s to Now, Tate Britain (2021); Lahore Biennale: Between the Sun and the Moon (2020); Summer Exhibition, Royal Academy of Arts (2019); Protest and Remembrance, Alan Cristea Gallery (2019); Zeichen, MEWO Kunsthalle, Memmingen (2018); A Slice Through the World: Contemporary Artists’ Drawings, Modern Art Oxford (2018); and The Gallery of Small Things, Dakar Biennale, Senegal (2018).

ABOUT THE WORKING DRAWING AWARD SELECTION PANEL:
Ben Heath is a Principal at Grimshaw Architects and has been responsible for the design and delivery of a series of multi-award-winning UK and international projects: Bath Schools of Art & Design, the redevelopment of Wimbledon No 1 Court on behalf of the All England Club (AELTC), and Bijlmer Station in Amsterdam. Heading up Grimshaw’s Design Technology Department, Ben has a deep interest in the use of digital tools and how they can enhance the visual and graphic communication of design across all project stages.

Debbie Hillyerd joined Hauser & Wirth Somerset in 2014. As Senior Director of Learning, she oversees the development of Learning and Philanthropy projects across the global Hauser & Wirth organisation. In 2022, Hauser & Wirth Learning partnered with 38 organisations and supported 22 charities internationally, launched 8 new initiatives, and engaged with 150,000 learners worldwide. Prior to her current role, Debbie held an associate lecturing post, teaching Critical Studies, Fine Art and Curatorial Practice at Bath Spa University, previously at University of the West of England, Northbrook College and Loughborough University. Her career in education spans over 20 years, during this time she has taught and written on artists’ practice, whilst providing consultancy to many other UK institutions in the education sector.

Michael Pavelka lives in France and is an international set and costume designer for stage, dance and opera. He has designed close to 200 West End, repertory and new writing productions along with classical work for the National Theatre and Royal Shakespeare Company. His work represented the UK at the 2011 Prague Quadrennial and at World Stage Design 2015. He led the Theatre Design course at Wimbledon School of Art for many years and subsequently created the MA Theatre Design course there. Michael co-wrote and then led the MA Drawing [for Purpose] at University of the Arts London in 2013. He is currently director of the design program for Rutgers University, NJ, USA at Shakespeare’s Globe and is author of So You Want to be a Theatre Designer?

The Trinity Buoy Wharf Drawing Prize 2022 exhibition of shortlisted drawings was launched at Trinity Buoy Wharf on Wednesday 28 September at Trinity Buoy Wharf in London. From over 3,200 submissions by 1,673 artists located in 45 countries,134 works by 112 drawing practitioners were shortlisted for the Trinity Buoy Wharf Drawing Prize 2022. 

The recipients of the four awards, worth £17,000 in total, were announced at the Trinity Buoy Wharf Drawing Prize Exhibition Launch on 28 September 2022:

First Prize, £8,000
Elisa Alaluusua, Unconceivable Line, single-channel video drawing, 2022 (still, image above)

Second Prize, £5,000
Aleksandra Czuja, Of The Series “Le Temps”, diptych, fineliner on paper, 2022 (first image below)

Student Prize, £2,000
Kasia Depta-Garapich, Family Album, paint markers on giclée prints, 2021 (second image below)

Working Drawing Award, £2,000
Gemma Thompson, Untitled (Graphic Score for Quartet), graphite on paper, 2022 (see Working Drawing Award information below)

The exhibition of shortlisted works is open to the public, and free to see, at Trinity Buoy Wharf from 29 September to 16 October 2022. The show will then tour to venues across the UK. A fully illustrated publication and public engagement programme will accompany the exhibition and tour.

 

The Selection Panel, Lucy Byatt, Director of Hospitalfield; Danie Mellor, Artist; and Isabel Seligman, Curator of Modern and Contemporary Drawing at the British Museum shortlisted 113 drawings by 94 artists architects, designers, and makers, including 11 students.

“Selecting the work for this show is something quite different to anything I have done before” says Lucy Byatt, Director of Hospitalfield. “We are presented with so many entries and with no information about the artists. This open approach to the selection is unique in this world where selection is so often tethered to curatorial intention. We are invited to respond to the single drawing and the way in which it is produced.”

“The works entered by artists for this year’s Trinity Buoy Wharf Drawing Prize made for exhilarating viewing” says Danie Mellor, Artist. “The range of drawings exploring both familiar and innovative approaches to image-making presented a welcome challenge in the process of judging. It is abundantly evident that drawing continues to be an exciting and vital medium in contemporary artistic practice.”

“It was a real privilege and pleasure to see the incredible diversity and quality of drawings submitted – from the painstaking and minutely-observed to the throwaway, exuberant and extravagant and I never expected the process to be laced with so much joy and surprise” notes Isabel Seligman, Monument Trust Curator of Modern and Contemporary Drawing in the Department of Prints and Drawings, the British Museum.

The Working Drawing Award is a special category within the exhibition which celebrates the role of drawing within architecture, design and making processes. From almost 400 entries by 135 candidates, 21 working drawings by 19 practitioners were selected for the Working Drawing Award by: Peter Clegg, Architect, Senior Partner, Fielden Clegg Bradley Studios; Niall Hobhouse, Collector, Writer & Trustee, Drawing Matter; Tania Kovats, Professor of Drawing & Making, University of Dundee; and Daniel McAuliffe, Education Director (Hubs), The Prince’s Foundation.

The Working Drawing Award, worth £2,000, was award to Gemma Thompson for her graphite drawing, Untitled (Graphic Score for Quartet), 2022 (below left).

    

The Working Drawing Selection Panel also awarded two Special Commendations to:

Lothar Götz, Xanadu, 2022, pencil and coloured pencil on paper, 25 x 52cm (below)
George Gibbs, Shed for Carolyn - Offset Section & North Elevation (1:10 and 1:20), 2022, pencil, ink and Conté Paris on architectural tracing paper, 42 x 42cm (above right)

#TBWDP22

The Trinity Buoy Wharf Drawing Prize 2022 exhibition will include 113 drawings by 94 artists - selected by Lucy Byatt, Director of Hospitalfield; Danie Mellor, Artist; Isabel Seligman, Monument Trust Curator of Modern and Contemporary Drawing in the Department of Prints and Drawings at The British Museum - and 21 drawings by 19 drawing practitioners selected for the Working Drawing Category by 
Niall Hobhouse, Collector, Writer & Trustee, Drawing Matter; Tania Kovats, Professor of Drawing & Making, University of Dundee; Daniel McAuliffe, Education Director (Hubs), The Prince’s Foundation.

The Trinity Buoy Wharf Drawing Prize 2022 received over 3,200 entries from 1,617 drawing practitioners from 45 different countries for the exhibition and awards that total £17,000. This large and diverse exhibition, of 134 drawings overall, reflects a broad range of current drawing practice. It includes works on paper and other supports, moving image and performance, made by artists, architects, designers and makers at all stages of their careers living and working across the UK as well as in Australia, Chile, France, Germany, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Spain, and the USA. 

The Trinity Buoy Wharf Drawing Prize 2022 exhibition will launch with the Awards Announcement at Trinity Buoy Wharf in London on Wednesday 28 September 2021 where the following awards will be announced:

 - First Prize of £8,000
 - Second Prize of £5,000
 - Student Award of £2,000
 - Working Drawing Award of £2,000

The Trinity Buoy Wharf Drawing Prize 2022 exhibition will open to the public at Trinity Buoy Wharf in London from 29 September 2022 until 16 October 2022 before touring to venues across the UK. A fully illustrated publication and public engagement programme will accompany the exhibition and tour.

The 113 drawings shortlisted for the Trinity Buoy Wharf Drawing Prize 2022 are by:
Elisa Alaluusua / Sasha Alfille / Kerry Andrews / Pauline Antram / Andy Bannister / Amélie Barnathan / Julie Barnes / Myra Barraza / David Barron / Fae Basford / Jolanta Basova / Rae Birch Carter / Mark Bissell / Kate Black / Ann-Margreth Bohl / Jane Bottery / Susie Breen / Francisca Brunet / Ian Chamberlain / Ron Chen / Harry Chrystall / Mike Clapton / Niamh Clarke / Gary Clough / David Connearn / Frances Copeman / Lucy Crouch / Aleksandra Czuja / Catharine Davison / David Dessert / Robert Dingle / Susannah Douglas / Stephen Doyle / Miriam Escofet / Kristian Evju / Nathaniel Fowles / Jane Frederick / Freya Gabie / Kasia Garapich / Andy Gomez / Susie Hamilton / Nancy Haslam-Chance / Monica Heaney / Russell Herron / Olivia Hicks / Lesley Hicks / Curtis Holder / Anna Hutton / Neville Jermyn / Adam Kinrade / Clare Kinross / Ilona Kiss / Randy Klinger / Uli Knoerzer / Katya Kvasova / Gary Lawrence / Jolene Liam / Karen Loader / M.Lohrum / Fiona Long / Johanna Love / Vittorio Marella / Christiane Matz / Harriet Mena Hill / Tom Mole / Elizabeth Nast / Chantal New / Simon Parish / Ian Parker / Mantas Poderys / Julia Polonski / Saba Qizilbash / Alberto Repetti / Carole Romaya / William Rounce / Maria Luisa Ruocco / Laura Ryan / Miriam Shenitzer / Stephanie Shrager / Magi Sinclair / Carrie Stanley Smith / Natalka Stephenson / Alan Stones / Rebecca Swindell / Sally Taylor / Adrian Thompson-Boyce / Lake Twins / Henry Ward / Witte Wartena / Louise Wilde / Jessica Wolfson / Hannah Wooll / William Wright / Xinhui Xu

The 21 drawings shortlisted for the Working Drawing Award 2022 are by:
Jeanette Barnes / Adrian Baynes / Eleanor Bedlow / Jackie Berridge / Jessica Briggs / Clare Burnett / Fiona Chaney / Yvonne Crossley / Stig Evans / George Gibbs / Lothar Götz / Sophie Horton / Ben Johnson / Ioanna Lamprou / Rosie Leventon / Vittorio Marella / Veljko Mladenovic / Roma Tearne / Gemma Thompson

The Trinity Buoy Wharf Drawing Prize is supported by the Trinity Buoy Wharf Trust, and 2022 marks the fifth year of their generous support for the annual open exhibition, which was founded in 1994 by artist and Professor, Anita Taylor, Dean of Duncan of Jordanstone College of Art and Design at the University of Dundee and founder of Drawing Projects UK. The annual open exhibition is known for its celebration and promotion of excellence in contemporary drawing practice.

Key dates:
• 28 September 2022: Exhibition Launch & Awards Announcement (by invitation only)
• 29 September 2022: Exhibition opens to the public at Trinity Buoy Wharf
• 16 October 2022: Exhibition closes at Trinity Buoy Wharf - and then tours to a number of venues within the UK

 For press enquiries, please contact Marine Costello at Parker Harris:
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T: 020 3653 0891

For all other enquiries, please contact Parker Harris:
E: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. 
T: 020 3653 0896.

Follow the Trinity Buoy Wharf Drawing Prize 2022 on social media: 
Twitter: @TBWDrawingPrize & @DrawingProjects
Instagram: @DrawingProjectsUK

Images (above) are by:
L: Sally Taylor, Shape Head 4, 2022, Graphite, colour pencil, oil pastel on found cardboard, 33 x 28cm
R: Kristian Evyu, The Other, 2022, pencil on paper,  27 2x 20cm

L: Neville Jermyn, Sperm Whale, 2021,graphite on paper, 151 x 180cm
R: Nancy Haslam-Chance, You've Got a Negative Outlook on Life, 2021, pencil on paper, 30 x 21cm

L: David Dessert, Walnut Tree, 2021, Biro on paper, 102 x 117cm
R: Curtis Holder, One Man and His Dog, 2022, coloured pencil and acrylic gouache on paper, 120 x 120 cm

L: Rosie Leventon, Drawings With Bricks, 2021, graphite and crayon on paper, 74 x 106cm [Working Drawing]
R: Ben Johnson, Mexico Airport Working Drawing, ink on paper, 102 x 140cm, 2022 [Working Drawing]

L: Sophie Horton, Sun Cycle, 2021, watercolour on paper, 26 x 21cm [Working Drawing]
R: Vittorio Marella, Study of Swimmers, 2022, pencil, 36 x 60cm [Working Drawing]

Cover image: Elisa Alaluusua, Unconceivable Line, 2022 (still shown), single-channel video drawing, 5 minutes  

Images below:
L: Fiona Long, In the Pines, 2022, pressure on artist's fungus, 17 x 23 x 5cm
R: Harriet Mena Hill, Where shall we meet when here is gone?, The Aylesbury Fragments, 2022, graphite on Fabriano paper and salvaged concrete, 22x 21 x 4cm

--ENDS-- 

We are delighted that the Call for Entries for the Trinity Buoy Wharf Drawing Prize 2022 exhibition and awards is now open. The Trinity Buoy Wharf Drawing Prize project has been led by its founding Director, Professor Anita Taylor, since 1994 and supported by the Trinity Buoy Wharf Trust since 2018. 

The exhibition is open to emerging, mid-career and established drawing practitioners located across the UK and internationally, and around 65 drawings will be selected for the touring exhibition by distinguished selection panels.

The Trinity Buoy Wharf Drawing Prize 2022 exhibition and awards will be selected by:

- Lucy Byatt, Director of Hospitalfield
- Danie Mellor, Artist
- Isabel Seligman, Monument Trust Curator of Modern and Contemporary Drawing, British Museum

The Working Drawing Award has a separate submission process, selection criteria and selection panel, with a specific remit to celebrate and promote the role of drawing within architecture, design and making processes. The working Drawing Award will be selected by:

- Peter Clegg, Architect, Senior Partner, Fielden Clegg Bradley Studios
- Niall Hobhouse, Collector, Writer & Trustee, Drawing Matter
- Tania Kovats, Professor of Drawing & Making, University of Dundee
- Daniel McAuliffe, Education Director (Hubs), The Prince’s Foundation

The Trinity Buoy Wharf Drawing Prize 2022 Awards include: 
- First Prize (£8,000)
- Second Prize (£5,000)
- Student Award (£2,000)
- Working Drawing Award (£2,000)

Online registrations for the Trinity Buoy Wharf Drawing Prize 2022 are open until 5pm on 13 June 2022. There will be a two-stage selection process for main exhibition and awards, with a first stage selection taking place after 13 June 2022 from the online submissions, and the long-listed drawings delivered to a Collection Centre in the UK during July for the final selection process. The Working Drawing Award display is selected from online images with selected drawings to be delivered to the Collection Centres in July.

A fully illustrated publication is produced and launched at the Exhibition and Awards Announcements on Wednesday 28 September 2022 at Trinity Buoy Wharf in London.

More information is available on the Trinity Buoy Wharf Drawing Prize 2022 Entry Portal about the submission and selection process for the main exhibition and awards.

For the Working Drawing Award, please see the Trinity Buoy Wharf Working Drawing Award Entry Portal.

For all Press Enquiries, please contact Marine Costello at Parker Harris.
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T: 0203653 0896

For all other enquiries, please contact the Parker Harris.
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T: 020 3653 0896

#TBWDP22 

Known as the most prestigious annual open exhibition for drawing in the UK, the Trinity Buoy Wharf Drawing Prize 2021 received 3,300 entries from 1,673 drawing practitioners living in 46 countries for the open exhibition and awards.The Trinity Buoy Wharf Drawing Prize 2021 exhibition and awards were selected by Sheela Gowda, Artist; Simon Groom, Director of Modern and Contemporary Art at the National Galleries of Scotland; and Zoé Whitley, Director of Chisenhale Gallery in London. From the thousands of submissions, 114 works by 99 practitioners were shortlisted. Five of them received awards worth £27,000 on Wednesday 29 September at Trinity Buoy Wharf in London. The distinguished selection panel changes each year, and all work is presented anonymously as the selection of works for the exhibition and the awards is made on the basis of the drawings alone. 

Gary Lawrence received the First Prize of £8,000 for his work, Ye Olde Keyhole Surgery, 2020.  Gary Lawrence was inspired by The Dormition, a medieval icon featuring the Virgin Mary laying on her death bed, which reminded him of an operating table (he had recently had an operation), which gave him a new subject... "keyhole surgery NHS 1392 style". The drawing borrows religious imagery, including the NHS surgeons as angels, embodying the power of good in the struggle of live against death. Gary Lawrence has featured in the UK’s most prestigious open drawing exhibition several times. Gary Lawrence received the First Prize in 2011 (selectors Iwona Blazwick, Tim Marlow, Rachel Whiteread), the First Prize in 2017 (selected by David Dibosa, Helen Legg, Michael Simpson), the Second Prize in 2018 (selected by Nigel Hall, Megan Piper, Chris Stephens) and a Special Commendation in 2013 (selectors Kate Brindley, Michael Craig-Martin, Charlotte Mullins).

The Second Prize of £5,000, was awarded to David Haines for Dark Balloons, a hyper-realistic pencil drawing of 15 balloons spelling the words "THINGS FALL APART". David Haines, who lives and works in Amsterdam (The Netherlands) and Nottingham (United Kingdom) started this series of dark balloons during lockdown. Illuminated by the flash of a camera, shiny balloons emerge from the darkness, hanging against a blank wall. Some spell out the year or signify a birthday, hinting at cancelled lockdown celebrations, while others bear pessimistic messages, reflecting the isolation of a “new normal” or the socio-political turmoil of the time.

Gabriela Adach received the Student Award of £2,000 for her hand-drawn animation El Duende. Following her BA Fine Art & History of Art from Goldsmiths, University of London (2014-17) and The Drawing Year, a postgraduate-level course at The Royal Drawing School (2018-19), Gabriela Adach is currently studying for a MA in Art Psychotherapy at University of Roehampton London (2019-21). Her award-winning work is visual response to her experiences working and training as an Art Psychotherapist during the COVID-19 pandemic.

The Working Drawing Award of £2,000 was awarded to Zahra Akbari Baseri for her drawing, Sara, 2021, by the Working Drawing Award selection panel, Leonie Bell, Director of V&A Dundee; Paul Finch, Programme Director of the World Architecture Festival; and Charles O. Job, Product Designer & Architect. Born in Iran and based in London, Zahra Akbari Baseri is a self-taught artist who combines contemporary concepts with traditional techniques. Her working drawing informs her painting practice, mostly acrylic on canvas with a strong emphasis on portraiture, built upon her cultural traditions and views of the world around her. This sketch represents a sitter the artist describes as her “beautiful Afghan friend”.

The Evelyn Williams Drawing Award of £10,000 is presented to an artist with a significant track record who has been selected for the Trinity Buoy Wharf Drawing Prize 2021. The biennial Evelyn Williams Drawing Award was awarded to Roland Hicks on the basis of his drawing, Double Chip / Shuffle Zip, 2021, selected for the exhibition and his project proposal. Double Chip/Shuffle Zip is a trompe l'oeil representation of two offset pieces of chipboard, apparently stapled together. Roland Hicks' work belongs somewhere between the traditions of still-life painting, Arte Povera, Neo-Dada assemblage, and various types of geometric abstraction. The Evelyn Williams Drawings Award assists the recipient in developing a solo show for Hastings Contemporary. The award was selected by David Alston from the Evelyn Williams Trust, Liz Gilmore, Director of Hastings Contemporary, and Anita Taylor, founding Director of the Trinity Buoy Wharf Drawing Prize and Drawing Projects UK and Dean of Duncan of Jordanstone College of Art & Design at the University of Dundee. Roland Hicks (b.1967 Aldershot, UK) studied BA Fine Art at Winchester School of Art, 1987-90, MFA Fine Art at Slade School of Art, 1994-96. Selected group exhibitions include: Gradation curated by Paul Carey-Kent at Patrick Heide Gallery, London (2019); Sticky Business at Stedelijk Museum, Schiedam (2018); Humble As Hell (also curating) at the Kurt Schwitters Merzbarn, Elterwater (2017). Selected solo exhibitions include: OSB - Of Spaces Between at Mrs Rick's Cupboard, Primary, Nottingham, (2017); The Gathering Things at Eleven Fine Art, London, (2013); Roland Hicks/Give Me Every Little Thing at Oriel Davies, Newtown, then touring to Ffotogallery Cardiff (2008). Previous prize exhibitions include: Contemporary British Painting Prize (2018); Jerwood Drawing Prize 2015, London & UK tour (2015); John Moores 25, Liverpool (2008). He lives and works in London in the UK. 

The Trinity Buoy Wharf Drawing Prize 2021 exhibition will open to the public at Trinity Buoy Wharf in London from 18 November to 6 December 2021 and will be open daily from 11am to 4pm. The exhibition will then tour to Drawing Projects UK in Wiltshire from 8 January to 5 March 2022 (opening times to be confirmed) with other venues to be confirmed. There is a fully illustrated exhibition publication available, an education pack, a film introducing the exhibition, and there will be an online and in situ public events. To buy the publication or for sales enquiries, please contact Parker Harris.

Please see the Trinity Buoy Wharf Drawing Prize website for images of the award-winning drawings and further details. 

For press enquiries, please contact Marine Costello at Parker Harris:
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T: 020 3653 0891

For all other enquiries, please contact Parker Harris:
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T: 020 3653 0896

The Trinity Buoy Wharf Drawing Prize 2021 exhibition will include 101 drawings by 89 artists selected by Sheela Gowda, Artist; Simon Groom, Director of Modern and Contemporary Art, National Galleries Scotland; and Zoé Whitley, Director of Chisenhale Gallery, London. The Working Drawing Award and display of 13 drawings by 12 drawing practitioners was selected by Leonie Bell, Director of V&A Dundee; Charles O. Job, Designer and Architect; and Paul Finch, Programme Director of the World Architecture Festival.

This diverse exhibition of 114 drawings overall reflects a broad scope of current drawing practice by artists, architects, designers, and makers at all stages of their careers – living and working across the four nations of the UK as well as Australia, Belgium, Brazil, Cyprus, Denmark, Germany, Greece, India, Ireland, Italy, Norway, Spain, The Netherlands, and the USA. The Trinity Buoy Wharf Drawing Prize 2021 received 3,300 entries from 1,673 drawing practitioners from 46 different countries for the exhibition and awards of £27,000.

The Trinity Buoy Wharf Drawing Prize 2021 exhibition will launch with the Awards Announcement at Trinity Buoy Wharf in London on Wednesday 29 September 2021 prior to touring to venues within the UK. A total prize fund of £27,000 will be awarded:
• First Prize of £8,000
• Second Prize of £5,000
• Student Award of £2,000
• Working Drawing Award of £2,000 
• Evelyn Williams Drawing Award of £10,000

The Evelyn Williams Drawing Award will be awarded to an artist with a significant track record, selected for the Trinity Buoy Wharf Drawing Prize 2021. Based on the artist’s project proposal, the award will support the recipient in developing and realising a body of new drawings for a solo exhibition, or a new exhibition installation based on their drawing practice, to be presented at Hastings Contemporary. This award will be selected by David Alston from the Evelyn Williams Trust, Liz Gilmore, Director of Hastings Contemporary, and Anita Taylor, Director of the Trinity Buoy Wharf Drawing Prize and Drawing Projects UK.

THE TRINITY BUOY WHARF DRAWING PRIZE 2021 SHORTLIST:

The 101 drawings shortlisted for Trinity Buoy Wharf Drawing Prize 2021 are by: 

Valérie Abadie / Gabriela Adach /  Marcelo Albagli / Claire Anscomb / Emily Ball / Federica Beretta / Victoria Clare Bernie / Jackie Berridge / Jules Bishop / Kate Black / Frances Aviva Blane / Caroline Blythe / Su Bonfanti / Georgia Boukla / Gavin Bowyer / Mark Boylan / Ann Bridges / Nell Brookfield / Chris Bruce / Ian Chamberlain / Kristina Chan / Yoonhee Choi / Philippa Clarke / Amy Collins / Karen Conway / Jacquetta Cook / Yvonne Crossley / Andrea Cryer / David Cutts / Hannah Davies / Robert Davies / Bob Deakin / Emma Douglas / Jo Dumpleton / Amy Dury / Jill Eastland / Laura Elkins / Paul Fenner / Fierce Fine Art / Craig Fisher / David Gardner / Zoe Gibson / James Gosling / Euan Gray / James Gregory / Bea Haines / David Haines / Habib Hajallie / Susie Hamilton / Ben Hancocks / Georgia Kitty Harris / Justin Harris / Lia Anna Hennig / Russell Herron / Denise Hickey / Roland Hicks / Harriet Mena Hill / Sandy Horsley / Yvonne Kay / Hannah Kokoschka / Jenny Laskowsky / Gary Lawrence / Cheryl Lewis / Esther Martínez Rey / Fiona Michie / Arianna Tinulla Milesi / Elizabeth Nast / Simon Nicholas / Sofia Nifora / Catherine O'Donnell / Patrick O'Rourke / Steve Payne / Freya Pocklington / Caroline Pool / Selina Pope / Alberto Repetti / Elwina Robinson / Xavier Robles de Medina / Gabriela Schutz / Mark Seely / Katy Shepherd / Mark Shields / Aleksandra Stepien / Natalia Stoyanova / Sam van Strien / Roma Tearne / Freya Thompson / Iva Troj / Rebecca West-Beale 

The 13 drawings shortlisted for the Working Drawing Award 2021 are by: 

Zahra Akbari Baseri / Joshua Bristow / Marc Brousse / Ian Chamberlain / Sheila Gaffney / Christopher Green / Georgia Kitty Harris / Jessica Heywood / Julie Menelaou / Esha Mittal / Quy Phu Nguyen / Alejandro Pascual

The Trinity Buoy Wharf Drawing Prize has an established reputation as the UK’s most important annual open exhibition of drawing. Led by its founding Director, Professor Anita Taylor, the exhibition is known for its promotion and celebration of excellence in contemporary drawing practice.

The Trinity Buoy Wharf Drawing Prize provides an important platform for drawing, and for artists, designers, and makers as a catalyst within their careers. The annual exhibitions are selected by a roster of passionate and distinguished drawing experts – artists, architects, curators, designers, writers, and collectors.

The Trinity Buoy Wharf Drawing Prize is supported by the Trinity Buoy Wharf Trust, and 2021 marks the fourth year of their generous support for the annual open exhibition, which was founded in 1994.

A fully illustrated exhibition catalogue, published by Drawing Projects UK, will be available from 29 September 2021.

#TBWDP21

For press enquiries, please contact Marine Costello at Parker Harris:
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For all other enquiries, please contact Parker Harris:
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Drawings selected for the Trinity Buoy Wharf Drawing Prize 2021 exhibition include (from top) 

Craig Fisher, Pages from my Sketchbook, hand & machine embroidery on linen, 60 x 80cm, 2021
Mark Shields, Sibyl, charcoal on paper, 40 x 27cm, 2021 
Mark Shields, Seer, charcoal on paper, 40 x 27cm, 2021
Esha Mittal, Ambika River House, Digital Illustration, 138 x 90cm, 2020
Cheryl Lewis, Skjaldborg, graphite on paper, 183 x 183cm, 2021

- ENDS -

We are delighted that the Call for Entries for the Trinity Buoy Wharf Drawing Prize 2021 exhibition and awards is now open.

The Trinity Buoy Wharf Drawing Prize project has been led by its founding Director, Professor Anita Taylor, since 1994 and supported by the Trinity Buoy Wharf Trust since 2018.

The exhibition is open to all artists and drawing practitioners living in the UK and internationally. Around 65 drawings will be selected for the touring exhibition by distinguished selection panels.

The Trinity Buoy Wharf Drawing Prize 2021 Selection Panel:
- Sheela Gowda, Artist
- Simon Groom, Director of Modern and Contemporary Art, National Galleries of Scotland
- Zoé Whitley, Director of Chisenhale Gallery

The Working Drawing Award has a separate submission process and selection panel:
- Leonie Bell, Director of V&A Dundee
- Paul Finch, Programme Director, World Architecture Festival 
- Charles O. Job, Designer & Architect

The 2021 awards include:
- First Prize of £8,000
- Second Prize of  £5,000
- Student Award of £2,000
- Working Drawing Award of £2,000
- Evelyn Williams Drawing Award of £10,000

The biennial Evelyn Williams Drawing Award will be awarded in 2021, and supports one of the selected artists with a significant track record to develop and realise a body of new drawings for a solo exhibition or new exhibition project otherwise based on their drawing practice. The Evelyn Williams Drawing Bursary will be selected by David Alston MBE, Evelyn Williams Trust; Liz Gilmore, Director, Hastings Contemporary; and Anita Taylor, Director, Trinity Buoy Wharf Drawing Prize. Once selected, those eligible to apply will be invited to submit a proposal for this award.

Online registrations for the Trinity Buoy Wharf Drawing Prize 2021 are now open until 5pm on 17 June 2021.

More information is available on the Entry Portal about the submission and selection process, and on the dedicated Trinity Buoy Wharf Drawing Prize website.

#TBWDP21 #DrawingMatters

The UK’s most important open exhibition for drawing, the Trinity Buoy Wharf Drawing Prize, revealed the 2020 awards during an online ceremony on Wednesday 13 January. 

From 4,274 entries submitted from around the world, 71 drawings by artists, architects and designers were selected for the Trinity Buoy Wharf Drawing Prize 2020 exhibition. Four prizes totalling £17,000, and three Special Commendations, were awarded by the Trinity Buoy Wharf Drawing Prize 2020 selection panel, Ian McKeever RA, artist, Sophia Yadong Hao, Principal Curator of Cooper Gallery, and Frances Morris, Director of Tate Modern.

“It is unusual to have the opportunity to see a broad spectrum of drawing which the Trinity Buoy Wharf Drawing Prize allows” says Ian McKeever RA “One marvels at the breadth of touch, process, image, rigour, and even humour, artists are able to conjure up through the simple act of drawing.” According to Sophia Yadong Hao, “so many of the works reveal the fragility and ambiguity of our interaction, concern for, and absolute involvement with this moment of the world, the body, and above all, with the possibilities of mark making as a language, that tells us everything about our humanity and the world we dwell in.”

For the first time in the Trinity Buoy Wharf Drawing Prize’s history, the First Prize of £8,000 was awarded to a performative drawing: M.Lohrum’s You are It. Between drawing, installation and performance, this collaborative piece challenges the individual notion of authorship by emphasising collectivity and collaboration. Participants were invited to follow these rules: ‘Walk along the paper. Draw circles with your arm. Stop below the lights. Resume your march when other participant touches your shoulder’ for the performance documented in film in the exhibition. As a participative drawing You Are It has also been adapted to accommodate safe social distancing for participants at Cooper Gallery at the University of Dundee and at Trinity Buoy Wharf in London. 

The selectors applauded the collective embrace of M.Lohrum’s work. “The invitation to members of the public to participate as anonymous makers and the work’s dependency on collaboration between strangers felt timely and necessary speaking to the power of art bring people together” says Frances Morris.

The Second Prize, worth £5,000, was awarded to Nancy Haslam-Chance for her series of Caring Drawings. Individually entitled Pendant Alarm, Tea, and Teeth, these pencil drawings document the artist’s role as a carer and support worker. Focusing on the relationships she has formed with her clients, Nancy Haslam-Chance represents the daily details and practicalities of a job she describes as “rewarding but also hard and lonely”. Drawn from memory while the artist travelled between shifts, the prize-winning drawings expressively capture moments of intimacy, tenderness, and companionship.

“We were all moved by the intimacy and touching incidents depicted in Nancy Haslam Chance’s small, spare drawings made with minimal means in a diaristic mode following day work as a care-worker” Frances Morris explains “Tiny details - such as the empty calendar - speak eloquently of the ‘human condition’ while the stretched arm of the carer evokes, for me, the way so many people have extended themselves to care for others during this time.” 

Ayeshah Zolghadr received the Student Award of £2,000, for Circling the Square I. This drawing traces repetitive walks made by the artist’s father from 7 February until 21 May 2020, walking around the square outside of his home multiple times a day and following varying paths. Through the practice of walking, Ayeshah’s father seeks control over his medical anxiety and ongoing stroke recovery. Initially recorded through the running app Strava, the line drawings represent an abstracted visual database and transcribes 116 meditative walks in total within this digital line drawing.

The Working Drawing Award was selected by Sir Ian Blatchford, Director of the Science Museum, London, Piers Gough CBE RA, Architect, and Sophie McKinlay, Director of Programme at V&A Dundee. Worth £2,000, the Working Drawing Award went to Ben Johnson’s meticulously detailed Scrovegni Chapel Worksheet, a preparatory drawing for a painting. This drawing represents Ben Johnson’s reflections on the Scrovegni Chapel, renowned for Giotto’s frescoes of the story of Christ’s life, which dominates the experience of the architectural space of this perfect but humble architecture. 

The selectors also awarded three Special Commendations to:

Frank Leuwer, for his three drawings Untitled (Attic), Untitled (Room), and Untitled (Room), 2020, all Sellotape on paper.

James Robert Morrison, for his three drawings in the series There is Never More Than a Fag Paper Between Them - Phil & Jacob, Leo & Brian, Andrew & Ben, 2020, all made with pencil on fag (cigarette) papers.

Isabel Rock, for her drawing, Grief 1 - Leap from The Island, 2019, acrylic ink on paper.

The Trinity Buoy Wharf Drawing Prize has an established reputation as the UK’s most important annual exhibition of drawing. Led by Professor Anita Taylor, Dean of Duncan of Jordanstone College of Art and Design at the University of Dundee, and supported by the Trinity Buoy Wharf Trust, the annual Drawing Prize exhibition is known for its influential role in promoting and celebrating contemporary drawing practice and championing the role and value of drawing as a vital means of communication and expression. 2020 is the third year of support for the Trinity Buoy Wharf Drawing Prize by the Trinity Buoy Wharf Trust and the 25th consecutive annual exhibition since it was founded in 1994.

After a successful tour to Drawing Projects UK in Trowbridge and Cooper Gallery in Dundee, the exhibition is now available to see online here and by visiting the Trinity Buoy Wharf website and on the Trinity Buoy Wharf Drawing Prize website. You can also watch a recording of the online VIP Exhibition Preview & Awards Announcement here on the Drawing Projects UK YouTube channel where you'll find a range of recordings and films related to the exhibition. You can also see the version with live chat commentary as recorded on the night here! 

The Trinity Buoy Wharf Drawing Prize 2020 Exhibition and Awards Announcement will take place at Trinity Buoy Wharf in London in January 2021. The free exhibition will be presented at Trinity Buoy Wharf and online from 9 January 2021 to 22 January 2021, and will be accompanied by a daily programme of online and in situ events.

The Trinity Buoy Wharf Drawing Prize received a record-breaking number of entries in 2020. The volume and quality of artworks submitted by creatives from 42 countries around the world made the selection more challenging than ever for this year’s selection panel – Ian McKeever RA, artist, Frances Morris, Director of Tate Modern, and Sophia Yadong Hao, Principal Curator of Cooper Gallery, Dundee. The Working Drawing Award was selected by Sir Ian Blatchford, Director of the Science Museum, Piers Gough CBE RA, Architect, and Sophie McKinlay, Director of Programme at V&A Dundee.

Out of 4,274 entries, 71 works by 56 drawing practitioners were selected – making the Trinity Buoy Wharf Drawing Prize exhibition a ‘must see’ for everyone interested in drawing, contemporary art, design, and architecture today. The exhibition includes works by artists, architects, designers, and makers at all stages of their careers - from students to established practitioners - located across the UK, as well as in France, Italy, Spain, The Netherlands, and Turkey. The selected works create a diverse exhibition that reflects a broad scope of contemporary drawing practice.

The Trinity Buoy Wharf Drawing Prize 2020 Exhibition at Trinity Buoy Wharf
The Trinity Buoy Wharf Drawing Prize will be open to the public with advanced booking from 9th of January to 22nd of January 2021. The exhibition will be accompanied by a range of online and in situ events, held in The Chainstore at Trinity Buoy Wharf. Leading industry professionals will present talks and workshops that celebrate drawing, explore its role, and encourage everyone to participate. Before you head out: please note that booking is required (booking info will be available soon). If London is in Tier 3, the exhibition will be available to see virtually on our website, and a number of outdoor experiences and activities listed below will go ahead on site.

The Trinity Buoy Wharf Drawing Prize 2020 exhibition includes drawings by:

Becky Allen, Setenay Alpsoy, Lucy Anderson, Iain Andrews, Anna Barratt, Akash Bhatt, Nigel Bird, Andy Black, Carolyn Black, Mandy Bonnell, Siân Bowen & Simón Granell, Rebecca Bramwell, Simon Brewster, Chris Bruce, Camilla Brueton, Nina Chua, Mark Clay, Bob Deakin, Joe Dean, Demeter Dykes, Yutavia George, Tricia Gillman, Nicola Grellier, Nancy Haslam-Chance, Laura Jacobs, Christopher Jones, Sandy Kendall, Frank Leuwer, Cheryl Lewis, M. Lohrum, Rae Fior Lowe, Kay McCrann, Helena McGrath, Holly Mills, R & F Mo, James Robert Morrison, Hormazd Narielwalla, Ruth Richmond, Isobel Rock, Louise Schmid, Seamus Staunton, Peter Sutton, Wai Yin Ryan Tung, Catrin Webster, Sally Wood, Eleanor Wood and Ayeshah Zolghadr

The Working Drawing Award and exhibition display within Trinity Buoy Wharf Drawing Prize 2020 includes drawings by:
Jeanette Barnes, Myyen Dang, Rachel Duckhouse, Malcolm Franklin, Jack Green, Ben Johnson, Zihao Mei and Savvas Papasavva

The Awards Announcement: The Awards will be announced at Trinity Buoy Wharf on Wednesday, January 13th at 7pm by Frances Morris, Director of Tate Modern (by invitation only).  Drawing practitioners with drawings selected for the exhibition are eligible for the following:

First Prize: £8000
Second Prize: £5000
Student Award: £2000
Working Drawing Award: £2000


Drawing, so often assigned by history to the small scale, the preparatory, and the diaristic, is revealed in this prize as the most expansive and dynamic of practices, capable of recording both the intimacy and solitude of living through lockdown as well as the heightened emotions and dramas of this deeply troubled world.
— Frances Morris, Director of Tate Modern, and Selector of the Trinity Buoy Wharf Drawing Prize 2020

The Events & Public Engagement Programme: More information on each event and how to book is available via the link for each event below.

9 January 2021 (Saturday): A talk About the Trinity Buoy Wharf Drawing Prize Project with founding director, Anita Taylor at 12noon, booking here.

9 January 2021 (Saturday): An introduction to the Trinity Buoy Wharf Drawing Prize 2020 exhibition at 3pm with Anita Taylor, booking here.

9 to 11 January 2021 (Saturday to Monday): Online Advice Sessions about applying for art and design degree programmes (Undergraduate, Masters & PhD) led by Duncan of Jordanstone College of Art & Design staff from the University of Dundee. Choose an available session here.

10 January 2021 (Sunday): A Drawing is Free Drawing Prompt will be published.

11 January 2021 (Monday): An online Drawing is Free In Conversation with Akash Bhatt at 6pm, no booking needed, join in via the Zoom link on the Drawing is Free website by 6.05pm.

12 January 2021 (Tuesday): An online Drawing Discussion with Nina Chua and Ruth Richmond, on drawing in three dimensions at 6pm, book here.

13 January 2021 (Wednesday): The Trinity Buoy Wharf Drawing Prize Awards Announcement at 7pm – by invitation only

14 January 2021 (Thursday): An online Drawing Discussion with Lucy Anderson and Nancy Haslam-Chance on drawing people at 6pm, book here.

15 January 2021 (Friday): An online Drawing Discussion on drawing place at 6pm

16 January 2021 (Saturday): An online Drawing Discussion on Working Drawings with Ben Johnson and guests at 4pm, book here.

17 January 2021 (Sunday): An online Drawing is Free Drawing Prompt will be published.

18 January 2021 (Monday): An online Drawing is Free In Conversation with Jeanette Barnes at 6pm, no booking needed, join in via the Zoom link on the Drawing is Free website by 6.05pm.

19 January 2021 (Tuesday): An online Drawing Discussion with Tricia Gillman and R &F Mo, on drawing time, memory, the felt and the fictive at 6pm, book here.

20 January 2021 (Wednesday): An online Drawing Discussion with Chris Bruce and Isabel Rock on drawing narratives and stories at 6pm, book here.

21 January 2021 (Thursday): An online Drawing Discussion with Mark Clay and Peter Sutton on drawing place at 6pm, book here.

22 January 21 (Friday): An online Teaching Drawing Symposium with Drawing is Free & Drawing Projects UK from 3-5pm, book here.  

The Teaching Drawing symposium will be followed by “What’s Next? Drawing Correspondence” and Q&A Session with Chloe Briggs, Tania Kovats and Anita Taylor, at 6pm, more information available soon.

#TBWDP20 



Drawing Projects UK is delighted to have been supported with public funds by Arts Council England to present the prestigious Trinity Buoy Wharf Drawing Prize 2020 exhibition and associated public engagement programmes at Drawing Projects UK. This funding enables the 25th annual Trinity Buoy Wharf Drawing Prize exhibition to be shown at Drawing Projects UK, which was initially founded to deliver the annual open drawing exhibition in 2009, and for Drawing Projects UK to be able to open to the public for the first time since lockdown in March 2020.

The Trinity Buoy Wharf Drawing Prize 2020 exhibition includes 71 drawings by 56 practitioners –selected from 4,274 submissions received from across the UK and internationally.  The exhibition was chosen by two independent Selection Panels. The Trinity Buoy Wharf Drawing Prize 2020 selectors were: Sophia Yadong Hao, Principal Curator of Cooper Gallery at the University of Dundee; Ian McKeever RA, artist; and Frances Morris, Director of Tate Modern. The Working Drawing Award and display was selected by Sir Ian Blatchford, Director of the Science Museum; Piers Gough CBE RA, architect; and Sophie McKinlay, Director of Programme at V&A Dundee. The exhibition includes drawings by artists, designers and makers at all stages of their careers - from students to established artists and makers – located across the UK, as well as in France, Italy, Spain, The Netherlands, and Turkey. The selected works create a diverse exhibition that reflects a broad scope of contemporary drawing practice from works on paper to moving image and sculptural pieces.

The 2020 exhibition marks the third year of support for the Trinity Buoy Wharf Drawing Prize by Trinity Buoy Wharf Trust and the 25th consecutive annual open drawing exhibition held since it was founded in 1994. It is also the third time the annual open drawing exhibition has been show at Drawing Projects UK. The Trinity Buoy Wharf Drawing Prize has been led by its founding Director, Professor Anita Taylor - Dean of Duncan of Jordanstone College of Art and Design at the University of Dundee and founder of Drawing Projects UK - since 1994. 



The support of Arts Council England has facilitated the development of a range of engagement materials and activities alongside the Trinity Buoy Wharf Drawing Prize 2020 at Drawing Projects UK. All are free to join in and accessible online during the exhibition. Drawing Discussions are taking place with Professor Anita Taylor, artists and selectors, including live events and podcasts with Sophia Yadong Hao, Ian McKeever, Mandy Bonnell, Sian Bowen & Simon Granell, Ben Johnson, James Robert Morrison, Hormazd Narielwalla during the last two weeks of the exhibition in October. M.Lohrum will also deliver a performative drawing workshop online for John of Gaunt School in Trowbridge.



Drawing is Free is our Artist-in-Residence at Drawing Projects UK during the Trinity Buoy Wharf Drawing Prize 2020 exhibition. Chloe Briggs (aka Drawing is Free) is a British artist based in Paris whose practice focuses on drawing. In 2013, she created the structure - Drawing is Free - to offer people of all ages and backgrounds opportunities to draw together. Building on an Open to Draw residency at Drawing Projects in 2019, Chloe is in virtual residence during the exhibition, making new work and developing and supporting the engagement programme through the Drawing is Free philosophy of 'no experience necessary; all ages and backgrounds welcome'. This activity includes an education pack, online events, and ‘Sunday Prompts’ to draw. 
Drawing is Free has developed three 12-page booklets in association with Drawing Projects UK and Trinity Buoy Wharf Drawing Prize Director, Anita Taylor. These booklets respond to themes relevant to the Trinity Buoy Wharf Drawing Prize 2020 exhibition: Education 1: Stories; Education 2: Time; and Education 3: Working. The free Education Pack can be downloaded from the Drawing is Free website so everyone can be inspired by the Trinity Buoy Wharf Drawing Prize 2020 exhibition, wherever they are! 

Exhibition Publication: The Trinity Buoy Wharf Drawing Prize 2020 exhibition catalogue was published by Drawing Projects UK in October 2020. Fully illustrated, with texts by Sophia Yadong Hao, Ian McKeever, Frances Morris, and Anita Taylor, as well as each of the drawing practitioners included in the exhibition.



The Trinity Buoy Wharf Drawing Prize 2020 exhibition includes drawings by: 
Becky Allen / Setenay Alpsoy / Lucy Anderson / Iain Andrews / Anna Barratt / Akash Bhatt /Nigel Bird / Andy Black / Carolyn Black / Mandy Bonnell / Siân Bowen & Simón Granell / Rebecca Bramwell / Simon Brewster / Chris Bruce / Camilla Brueton / Nina Chua / Mark Clay / Bob Deakin / Joe Dean / Demeter Dykes / Yutavia George / Tricia Gillman / Nicola Grellier / Nancy Haslam-Chance / Laura Jacobs / Christopher Jones / Sandy Kendall / Frank Leuwer / Cheryl Lewis / M. Lohrum / Rae Fior Lowe / Kay McCrann / Helena McGrath / Holly Mills /  R & F Mo /James Robert Morrison / Hormazd Narielwalla / Ruth Richmond / Isobel Rock / Louise Schmid / Seamus Staunton / Peter Sutton / Wai Yin Ryan Tung / Catrin Webster / Sally Wood / Eleanor Wood / Ayeshah Zolghadr



The Working Drawing Award and display within the Trinity Buoy Wharf Drawing Prize 2020 exhibition includes drawings by: Jeanette Barnes / Myyen Dang / Rachel Duckhouse / Malcolm Franklin / Jack Green / Ben Johnson / Zihao Mei / Savvas Papasavva

Exhibition Tour: The Trinity Buoy Wharf Drawing Prize 2020 exhibition will tour to Cooper Gallery at Duncan of Jordanstone College of Art & Design, University of Dundee, from 13 November to 19 December 2020; then Trinity Buoy Wharf in London from 9 January to 22 January 2021, where the awards will be announced; and The Gallery at Arts University Bournemouth from February 2021 from 18 February to 22 April 2021.


For further information about the Trinity Buoy Wharf Drawing Prize 2020 exhibition and engagement programme at Drawing Projects UK, please contact us by email or phone: E: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.    T: 01225 767993 

For all other media enquiries about the Trinity Buoy Wharf Drawing Prize 2020, please contact the Project Manager, Parker Harris, by email to Marine Costello: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. or phone: 

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#ACEsupported #LetsCreate

Artists are amongst the most insightful and generous people I know. Their goal is to observe and describe the world as they see it and animate that description in a way that makes the world a richer and more meaningful experience for us all. They can bring into focus unseen, unnoticed moments, uncover the invisible, and they can personalise global events and movements that affect each of us in different ways. 

With this in mind, Choose Art | Give Light to Refugees is a Benefit Auction of rare urgency, inflected and coloured by the immediate effects of dual global tragedies, the pandemic and the refugee crisis. The artists donating their work signals their personal commitment, but also sense of joint responsibility. 

We read the work with added nuance and we see the world in different ways, because of the moment and because of the art.

Some with a painful poignancy like Our Bush Dresses - Kangaroo Paws by Lori Pensini (Australia), The Coming of the Boatman by Guy Warren (Australia), or Home by Charmaine Watkiss (UK).

Some with menacing threat and fear, like Report US Dailies by Eileen Boxer (USA), an extraordinary and celebrated suite of books documenting daily gun deaths in the USA, or Merilyn Fairskye’s #44484d (cyberspace), 2019-2020, the interior of a Soviet-era space capsule in the Moscow Memorial Museum of Cosmonautics. 

There is the tenderness, fragility, or ominousness of the natural landscape or garden, in Mandy Bonnell’s delicate Hibiscus, or Shade of Soul from Doi Pa Dang #6 by Noppanan Thannaree (Thailand).

And there is the inherent political meanings in After The Raft of the Medusa, a compelling, arresting work by John Beard (UK/Australia), in Mairéad McClean’s ensemble of works, To Be Retained, 2018, with its comic bureaucracy, “seven cows, found in suspicious circumstances”, in the ever iconic Nixon, by Colin Crumplin (UK), and in Ian Howard (Australia), Vienna to Prague, a dynamic work made from face fragments, the discarded cuttings of edited travel document headshots.

The range and quality of the work and ideas in Choose Art | Give Light to Refugees, and the urgency of our shared experience in this disrupted world, makes this project both timely and necessary.

Gary Sangster, 2020

Gary Sangster is an art historian and curator, and Co-Director of Drawing Projects UK. He has international curatorial experience as Chief Curator of the National Art Gallery, New Zealand; Curator, The New Museum, New York City; and as Director of the Contemporary Museum, Baltimore; Director of the Cleveland Center for Contemporary Art; Director of Headlands, San Francisco; Director of Artspace, Sydney; Interim Director of Arts Catalyst – Art, Science and Technology, London; and as Trustee, Arnolfini, Bristol. Education appointments include: Dean, Art Institute of Boston, Lesley University, USA. Key exhibitions include: Two World’s Collide, Sydney; The Decade Show, NYC; Breathing Time, New Orleans; Judith Barry for the US Pavilion (Grand Prize), Cairo Biennale; and touring survey exhibitions for Komar & Melamid, Mary Kelly, Kerry James Marshall, and Genevieve Cadieux.

Five years ago, when we collected the keys to Bridge House, our ideas about establishing a physical centre for drawing and contemporary art for Drawing Projects UK started to transform into reality. 

Looking for a new live-work space in the area, Bridge House serendipitously provided the opportunity to expand Drawing Projects UK as a centre for the research and development of drawing and contemporary art in Trowbridge, the county town of Wiltshire. Drawing Projects UK was established in 2009 to develop, organise and promote projects that provide opportunities to experience drawing and to gain knowledge and understanding of drawing in the UK, including the Jerwood Drawing Prize annual exhibition project, now the Trinity Buoy Wharf Drawing Prize project.


While our anniversary of acquiring our handsome building is being celebrated behind closed doors due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Drawing Projects UK has evolved into the hub we came to envisage. It provides a place for making, seeing, and discussing drawing and contemporary art, and has created an extended community through drawing and provides a welcoming space for all to meet, to test new ideas and to generate new work. We aim to continue to build on and expand our programmes, to support our community and growing hub for drawing and creative practices and we hope we will be able to re-open our doors soon. Meanwhile, we are re-imagining how we connect and present programmes that rely on interaction and the exploration of creativity through physical making and engagement. Our audience is largely events driven, and the motto above our front door, ‘Unity is Strength’, seems ever more pertinent as we reflect on what it is to be human in an interconnected society.

Drawing Projects UK has built a reputation for providing a platform for drawing and our support for the testing of the role of drawing within creative practice. Our gallery programme that reflects that premise, and since 2016, we have presented solo exhibitions that include Theatre of Dreams, by Australian artist Wendy Sharpe, drawings for the Forest of Imagination by landscape designer Andrew Grant, painting and drawings by Eleanor Bartlett, drawings by Anita Taylor, Sketchbooks: An Obsession by Elisa Alaluusua supported by the Finnish Institute, Flood Story by Gerry Davies, Drawings of Different Sizes by Michael Pennie, A Dawn Chorus by Mike Collier, Shaped Space by George Meyrick, Drawing Out the Canal by Simon Woolham which documented a walk along the Kennet & Avon canal, and Monuments Remain by Ian Chamberlain. Thematic and collaborative shows have included From the Ground: Mandy Bonnell & James Brooks; Greyscale by Sydney-based artists Peter Burgess, Julia Davis, Adrian Gebers, Pollyxenia Joannou and Lisa Jones. In Between Sea and Shore was the outcome of the Bath Spa University Porthleven Residency, and Thinking Graphite was the outcome of  a residency at the Viarco pencil factory in Portugal by artists from London, Melbourne, Amsterdam and Wales, Sarah Duyshart, Janine Hall, Emma Louise Hollaway, Caroline Holt-Wilson, Jo Lane, Ellis Scheer and Charmaine Watkiss. 

Thematic exhibitions curated by Gary Sangster and Anita Taylor have included a wide range of national and international artists and makers in shows such as: See View, Line Up, Consequences, Around the World, and Stockpile. Our very first exhibition in 2015 was Drawing: Facts and Fictions which flowed through the building and launched our programme and project space, followed by the touring exhibition of the ING Discerning Eye Collection in 2016. We presented the very last showing of the Jerwood Drawing Prize 2017 and the first Trinity Buoy Wharf Drawing Prize 2018 exhibitions, each including over 65 drawings by emerging and established artists chosen by distinguished selection panels from a large submissions of works. You can read about our exhibition projects under the Exhibitions section of the website. 

Our future programme, currently on hold, includes a solo exhibition of notebook drawings by Professor of Fashion Design and fashion journalist, Iain R. Webb, and Drawing Matter: Eleanor Bartlett, Lucinda Burgess, Carole Pearson, artists who have all exhibited with us previously with Carole and Eleanor also undertaking residencies here too. Other drawing practitioners-in-residence have included filmmaker Mairead McClean, sculptor Anna Gillespie, painter and printmaker Sandra Porter, and Australian painter Sophie Cape. Projects under our Open to Draw programme have also included Yorkshire-based artists Andy Black, Kate Black, Tracy Himsworth, Lucy O’Donnell, and Sally Taylor, and Birmingham-based Saranjit Birdi for his Mapping Bones project. The residential accommodation available in the refurbished Caretaker’s Quarters has made projects and our Drawing Sessions and Drawing Discussions by drawing practitioners from across the UK and overseas feasible and, in 2019, we welcomed Alys Scott Hawkins and Chloe Briggs of Drawing is Free, Simon Woolham during his project supported by the University of Huddersfield, Greig Burgoyne & Lucy O’Donnell, resulting in their performance and exhibition Between the Sunny and the Opaque. 

We have worked in partnership with Trowbridge Museum and Town Hall Arts to establish Explore Art in Trowbridge (EAT), delivering 3-4 events per year, including Heritage Open Day, and in 2019 Trowbridge Museum presented the biennial West of England Festival of Textiles – WEFT 2019 - in our Project Space. We have produced extensive onsite and off-site programmes in 2019 alongside the Trinity Buoy Wharf Drawing Prize 2019 whilst on show at The Salisbury Museum and in January 2020 at Trinity Buoy Wharf in London. This included delivery of symposia, workshops and partnerships with galleries and museums across Wiltshire, and with the Royal Drawing School, Future Textiles and Parker Harris at Trinity Buoy Wharf. In 2019, we were thrilled that the Trinity Buoy Wharf Drawing Prize project was invited to participate in the inaugural Draw Art Fair at the Saatchi Gallery in London, and to deliver a panel discussion in the public programme. We published the Trinity Buoy Wharf Drawing Prize 2019 publication, and Sandra Porter’s exhibition catalogue in association with her exhibition at Stroud Museum supported by Arts Council England. And we were thrilled to see Barbara Walker's exhibition, Vanishing Point, at Hastings Contemporary as the outcome of her Evelyn Williams Drawing Award in association with the Drawing Prize achieve such acclaim in 2018/19.  

Our Drawing Discussions at Drawing Projects UK have drawn wide audiences and have included Michael Sandle RA, Nigel Hall RA, Dr Sarah Simblet, Deanna Petherbridge CBE, Emma Hill, Gabriel Gbadomosi, Jose Vieira, as well as our exhibiting artists. Makers Talks have been presented by Alice Kettle and Michael Angove. Drawing Sessions have been led by Alex Roberts, Michele Whiting, Tania Kovats, Charmaine Watkiss, Caroline Burraway, Saranjit Birdi, Sarah Simblet, Anita Taylor; and Fritz Horstman of the Josef and Anni Albers Foundation delivered Josef Albers’ Interaction of Color workshop. 

A number of drawing groups have also found their home in the Project Space: Michele Whiting’s Exploring Drawing group, Emma Gregory’s Collaborative Drawing Research Group, and Fhiona McKie’s drawing ‘reading group’. The Project Space has regular Drawing Sessions and Drawing Discussions; and our meeting rooms are used by numerous community groups. 

The Trowbridge Poetry Society Stanza group meet on the first Saturday afternoon of every month and bring an audience from across the South West and beyond to their guest poets, open-mic sessions and workshops organised by poet Josephine Corcoran. Guest readers have included: Hilda Sheehan, Pey Pey Oh, Tom Sastry, Safiya Kinshasa AKA Birdspeed, Kathy Pimlott, David Clarke,  Dawn Gorman, Shauna Robertson, Anthony Wilson. Alasdair Paterson, Jessica Mookherjee, Marvin Thompson, Abigail Parry, Stephen Lightbown, and Caleb Parkin. 

The Girl Friday Breakfast Club was launched during the centenary celebrations of women’s suffrage and meets on the last Friday of every month. We are fortunate to have attracted an array of inspiring speakers includingHelen Legg, Alice Workman, Irma Eloff, Elissa Auther, Elena Hill, Kate Pullinger, Tamsin Treverton-Jones, Laura Brown, Debbie Hillyerd, Nelle Aarne, Paula Orrell, Emily Pomroy Smith, Fiona Cassidy, Mandy Bonnell, Tania Kovats, Pat Black, Mairead McClean, Mariele Neudecker, and Sara Pepper. In the context of the current 'lockdown', we are hoping to develop a virtual breakfast club, which will include a range of inspirational women discussing their careers and projects and thereby inspiring others.

Our ten studios and workspaces are occupied by artists, designers, makers, and counsellors, making this a thriving creative community. Miranda’s Coffee Shop is pivotal to this sense of community, providing a hub to meet and a daily service on site to the public. Miranda’s is a family-run café providing refreshments for our many guests, catering for in-house events and room bookings, off-site catering and, currently, providing a delivery and takeaway service supplying Miranda’s delicious baking and light meals.

Without the support, engagement, and generosity, of so many people as participants, helpers, volunteers and champions, and those who have brought their own creative ingenuity, networks and funding, we could not have achieved so much. We have been incredibly lucky to receive in-kind and financial support for Drawing Projects UK – from individuals and from private, commercial, philanthropic and public funders, including from the Bridge House Community Trust and Messums Wiltshire. 

We still have much to do, and we look forward to ensuring that Drawing Projects UK is a sustainable and compelling creative hub in the county town of Wiltshire, now and into the future, and in addition to our many off-site projects, activities and exciting plans ahead. 

If you would like to know more about Drawing Projects UK or how to become involved, please email: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Follow us on Twitter: @DrawingProjects  Instagram:@DrawingProjectsUK. Facebook: @DrawingProjectsUK1

The Trinity Buoy Wharf Drawing Prize 2020 will open for entries from 20 April 2020 for a special edition - in 2020 it will be the third year of support for the Trinity Buoy Wharf Drawing Prize by Trinity Buoy Wharf Trust and the 25th consecutive annual open drawing exhibition since 1994.

To mark this milestone, there will be an International Call for Entries for the Trinity Buoy Wharf Drawing Prize 2020 and a dedicated submission, selection panel and display within the exhibition for the Working Drawing Award 2020 that will focus on the role of working drawings in art, architecture, design, engineering, manufacture, production, and science.

The Trinity Buoy Wharf Drawing Prize has an established reputation as the foremost annual exhibition of drawing in the UK. It is known for its leading role in providing new insights into the contemporary drawing practice and championing role and value of drawing more widely. Led by its founding Director, Professor Anita Taylor, Dean of Duncan of Jordanstone College of Art and Design at the University of Dundee, it is selected by an annually changing panel of expert selectors who choose the exhibition of drawings and the award-winning works from those submitted during by emerging and established drawing practitioners via the Call for Entries.

The First Prize of £8,000; Second Prize of £5,000; Student Award of £2,000; and the Working Drawing Award of £2,000 will be announced in September 2020 at Trinity Buoy Wharf in London.

Selectors of the Trinity Buoy Wharf Drawing Prize 2020 exhibition and awards:
• Ian McKeever RA, Artist
• Frances Morris, Director of Tate Modern
• Sophia Yadong Hao, Curator & Writer, University of Dundee

Selectors of the Working Drawing Award 2020:
• Alan Baxter CBE, Engineer & Urban Design
• Sir Ian Blatchford, Director of the Science Museum
• Piers Gough CBE RA, Architect
• Sophie McKinlay, Director of Programme at V&A Dundee

Drawings may be entered for the Trinity Buoy Wharf Drawing Prize 2020 exhibitions and awards via the online portal by 24 June 2020.  

The Trinity Buoy Wharf Drawing Prize 2020 exhibition will include around 65 drawings shortlisted for the awards and will tour in the UK in 2020/21. It will be accompanied by a fully illustrated publication.

Entrants will submit images of their work during the online entry process in order to facilitate a two-stage selection process for the Trinity Buoy Wharf Drawing Prize 2020 as necessary due to the current public health restrictions. The Selection Panel will then long-list from digital images prior to shortlisting from actual works at Trinity Buoy Wharf in London submitted via the Trinity Buoy Wharf Drawing Prize Collection Centres located across the UK. 

For press enquiries, please contact Marine Costello at Parker Harris:
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For all other enquiries please contact Parker Harris:
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For updates on the Trinity Buoy Wharf Drawing Prize 2020, please follow:
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Here’s a question, what aspect of your practice might you develop using drawing? (If you find it hard to answer substitute the word develop for the word explore.)

I’ve learnt that for some – myself included - even post MA, the rigour necessary to answer questions like this is more easily found in a group where the people around you will contribute to the energy levels and the depth and structure of a discussion. 

Last summer I put together a group of artists, all of whom were interested in drawing and the question of their own CPD. We agreed to meet one day a month at Drawing Projects UK for four months. The venue was important, lending professionality and a sense of serious endeavour.

Initially we had to explore what contemporary drawing might include by doing more and more boundary testing. Is a piece of cord tied to several objects including oneself a drawing? Is this spill of charcoal a drawing? And that torn edge? 

Our first collaboration filled the room: involving all the furniture, tape, paper and charcoal. It was a cross between a playground and a den. We decided it was a legit’ drawing. There was no conventional beauty in it and some of us found the mess discomforting, a fact we couldn’t discuss openly because we hadn’t yet established trust levels in the group. Simultaneously we had been testing one another’s boundaries: which of us is comfortable with the apparent chaos (lack of reason) and who finds it distressing?

Over the sessions which followed we took turns to set the agenda working on one person’s question at a time, inspired by a personal sticking point or area of growing interest, informed by intuition. Sharing these things with the group was a matter of trust. Here are some of the things individuals brought to the group for exploration or development: performative drawing and the group as one body; failure and our value systems; drawing to transform found printed matter and ownership; drawings on and in plaster/3D drawing; how different genres of music affect a group doing improvised mark-making.

After each project we stopped briefly to discuss how we felt about the drawings we had done. Yet immediately following the intense drawing session, we were always tired with the effort of deep concentration. We held an extended, reflective discussion in the fourth session, based on the idea that ‘As Time Went On You Began to Fail Better’ with the aim to look at our relationships with both creative failure and success. Would we have benefitted from having structured this discussion more heavily, post or prior to the moment it was created? Or did the distance allow a more considered discussion? These are questions we will keep asking ourselves and each other. 

There were probably an infinite number of ideas we could have explored. In the final session we were doing seemingly absurd exercises we could not have attempted in the first session as we had begun to trust and cohere. In other words, we had begun to transition towards being a research group. 

Speaking for myself, I have always wanted to have access to ‘a drawing-based research group’ although I can quite see that for many others an artist’s practice is a private affair. I don’t see it that way. There are times when I have to make alone but I enjoy seeing what another person’s intellect and imagination brings to the table and I LOVE making alongside other people. It’s a celebration of shared values. Like having the same faith maybe.

The group will carry on meeting, with a month off in February. If you want to talk about putting a similar group together, get in touch (Instagram: emmagregorymakes).

The group: Emma Gregory, Leonie Bradley, Kirsty Lovell, Andy Midgely, Maxine Foster, Vanessa Coles, Esmé Clutterbuck, Henny Burnett

Emma Gregory
February 2020

The Trinity Buoy Wharf Drawing Prize 2019 exhibition will be on show in The Chainstore at Trinity Buoy Wharf in London from 18 January to 1 February 2020. This will be the first opportunity for the public to see the Trinity Buoy Wharf Drawing Prize 2019 exhibition in London since the launch and Awards Announcement on 25 September 2019 prior to its tour to The Salisbury Museum. 

The exhibition will be open daily from 11am to 4pm at Trinity Buoy Wharf and is free to see. The exhibition includes 68 drawings by 62 artists and makers, and will be accompanied by a programme of events held in the education space adjacent to the Trinity Buoy Wharf Drawing Prize 2019 exhibition in The Chainstore. Group visits may also be arranged.

Education and Events Programme - 18 January to 1 February 2020
A number of artists, designers and makers and institutional partners will present events that complement the Trinity Buoy Wharf Drawing Prize 2019 exhibition, and that celebrate and explore the role of drawing with the aim of encouraging participation and engagement with drawing by all. All events are held in The Chainstore at Trinity Buoy Wharf in London, and the programme is outlined below.

Saturday 18 January 2020: From 11am to 4pm there will be a Drawing Session: Sketchbook Workshop led by designer Jude Maguire to explore making and using sketchbooks. More information and how to book via the link here. 

Sunday 19 January 2020: Free drawing workshops and portfolio advice sessions for students applying to art and design programmes with staff from Duncan of Jordanstone College of Art and Design at the University of Dundee. More information and booking for the free drawing workshops - Drawing Me, Drawing You with Frances Stevenson - is available here. More information on Applying for Art and Design Courses and Portfolio Advice Sessions is here.

Monday 20 January 2020: Free drawing workshops and portfolio advice sessions for students applying to art and design programmes with staff from Duncan of Jordanstone College of Art and Design at the University of Dundee. More information and booking for the free drawing workshops - Drawing Me, Drawing You with Frances Stevenson - is available here. More information on Applying for Art and Design Courses and Portfolio Advice Sessions is here.

Tuesday 21 January 2020: Exhibiting artist Charmaine Watkiss will lead a Drawing Session on Drawing Memories. More information and how to book via the link here.

Wednesday 22 January 2020: There will be two Life Drawing Sessions for Students led by The Royal Drawing School tutor, Rossen Daskalov. The morning session will run from 11am to 1pm and the afternoon session from 2pm to 4pm. Booking and further information available here.

Thursday 23 January 2020: Parker Harris will hold a Professional Development for Artists session on social media for artists and creatives. Booking and further information available here. 

Friday 24 January 2020: From 1pm to 4pm there will be a Drawing Session: Drawing for Sculpture led by Andy Bannister, Trinity Buoy Wharf Drawing Prize 2018 Working Drawing Award-winner. More information and how to book here. 

Saturday 25 January 2020: There will be a Drawing Discussion: On Working Drawings, chaired by Anita Taylor. Booking and information available soon. 

Sunday 26 January 2020: Exhibiting artist and Working Drawing Awardwinner, Jeanette Barnes, will lead a Drawing Session Sketch Club - Collaborative Cityscape. Booking and more information available here.

Monday 27 January 2020: There will be two Drawing Sessions exploring Drawing and Stitch led by Jill Kennedy-McNeill in association with the Future Textiles Studio at Trinity Buoy Wharf. The first session Stitched Responses: Drawing with Machines, runs from 10am to 12noon, more information and booking here. The second session, Stitched Responses: Traditional Techniques Reimagined, runs from 1pm to 3pm, more information and booking here. 

Tuesday 28 January 2020: There will be a Drawing Session: Drawing Faces with Ink led by Trinity Buoy Wharf Drawing Prize 2019 exhibiting artist, Fiona G. Roberts. Booking and more information here.

Wednesday 29 January 2020: There will be a morning and afternoon Life Drawing Session led by Lindsay Sekulowicz of The Royal Drawing School from 11am to 1pm and from 2pm to 4pm. Suitable for all abilities. Booking and further information available here. 

Thursday 30 January 2020: Parker Harris will hold a Professional Development for Artists session on developing and sustaining a successful artistic career. Booking and further information available here.

Friday 31 January 2020: There will be a Trinity Buoy Wharf Drawing Prize Director's Talk at 2pm by the Director of the Trinity Buoy Wharf Drawing Prize, Anita Taylor. Free event, please book here.

Saturday 1 February 2020: There will be a Drawing Discussion: On Transcription with speakers including Evelyn Williams Drawing Award-winner 2019, Penny McCarthy and Trinity Buoy Wharf Drawing Prize Director, Professor Anita Taylor. More information available here.

During the exhibition at Trinity Buoy Wharf we will be launching the Trinity Buoy Wharf Drawing Prize 2020 - more information available soon! 

Watch this space for more information - we hope you'll join in, and be inspired by the Trinity Buoy Wharf Drawing Prize 2019, and why drawing matters! 

A fully illustrated 152pp publication is available, published by Drawing Projects UK. When the exhibition closes in London it will tour to The Gallery at De Montfort University in Leicester from 21 February to 18 April 2020.

Press Enquiries, further information, and images, please contact Parker Harris: 

Tel: 020 3653 0896
Email: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Social Media:

Twitter: @TBWDrawingPrize / @ArtsTBW / #TBWDP19 

Instagram: @TrinityBuoyWharf / @DrawingProjectsUK / #TBWDP19 

Facebook: @TrinityBuoyWharf / @DrawingProjects1 / #TBWDP19


Winners of the Trinity Buoy Wharf Drawing Prize 2019 were announced on Wednesday 25 September 2019 at the Awards Ceremony and Launch of the 2019 Exhibition at Trinity Buoy Wharf in London – with prizes of £27,000 in total value.

Chosen by selectors Chantal Joffe RA, Andrew Nairne OBE and Professor Dorothy Price, the First Prize of £8,000 was awarded to Alice Motte-Muñoz for her drawing, Reverie. Shelly Tregoning was awarded the Second Prize of £5,000 for her drawing, Distracted, Distracted. Philip Battley received the Student Award of £2,000 for his drawing, Stand. The Working Drawing Award of £2,000, chosen by Alan Baxter and Angela Paola Squassina, was awarded to Jeanette Barnes for her drawing Study for Cable Cars – New York. The Evelyn Willams Drawing Award of £10,000, chosen by David Alston, Liz Gilmore and Anita Taylor, was awarded to Penny McCarthy on the basis of her proposal and drawings included in the exhibition. 
See images of all the award winners here on the Trinity Buoy Wharf Drawing Prize website.

Reverie, by London-based artist Alice Motte-Muñoz, aims to capture both the strength and vulnerability of an unnamed sitter whose reverie and gaze transfix the viewer. This graphite drawing, of a woman in profile, invites us "to ponder on the power of stillness and movement’ as light and line move across the surface of the drawing and ‘reflect the energy as well as the mystery of this woman".



Cornwall-based artist Shelly Tregoning’s drawing, Distracted, Distracted, reflects her concerns that the "packaging and presentation of a carefully constructed hyper-identity is now a very real social expectation". In this drawing, made with oil on glassine, she depicts two girls standing together, distracted by their phones, seemingly unaware of their proximity and distance, as their physical and virtual worlds merge.



Stand, a drawing by Plymouth College of Art student, Philip Battley, depicts a young girl, Cherry. Made with charcoal and chalk on paper, he says "Cherry stands alone within the image, defiant and authoritative she commands the viewer’s attention, but she is not alone. Cherry stands united and in solidarity with her generation in calling for change". Through this drawing, he aims to highlight the concern of young people with current issues, including "inequality, prejudice, discrimination, exploitation, population displacement, global pollution, climate change". 



London-based artist Jeanette Barnes sketches on location to inform her large-scale drawings of urban environments with the aim of creating "a history of events not a single moment in time". With this pen sketch, Study for Cable Cars – New York, the mark-making forms a visual equivalent to the experience of the noise and motion of the city, and a "feeling of urban intensity".

The Evelyn Williams Drawing Award 2019 is awarded to Penny McCarthy from Sheffield, who has two drawings included in the exhibition, DNA in Nature and Photo 51. Her graphite drawings typically evolve through a 'time-heavy and painstaking process of transcription, using archival material and images'. Her proposal for the award and solo exhibition at Hastings Contemporary in 2020/21 will explore events and archives specific to Hastings itself.

The Trinity Buoy Wharf Drawing Prize 2019 exhibition will be presented at The Salisbury Museum in Wiltshire from 12 October 2019 to 11 January 2020. Subsequently, it will return to Trinity Buoy Wharf in London where it will be available to view from 18 January to 2 February 2020. The exhibition will then tour to The Gallery at De Montfort University in Leicester from 21 February to 18 April 2020.

A fully illustrated 152pp publication is available, published by Drawing Projects UK.

All quotations above are taken from the statements made by the artists about their drawings from the publication. 

Press Enquiries, further information, and images, please contact Emma Walker at Parker Harris: 
Tel: 020 3653 0896

Email: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Social Media:
Twitter: @TBWDrawingPrize / @ArtsTBW / #TBWDP19 

Instagram @TrinityBuoyWharf / @DrawingProjectsUK / #TBWDP19 
Facebook: 
@TrinityBuoyWharf / @DrawingProjects1 / #TBWDP19

Images (photographer: Colin Mills): 
1. Alice Motte-Muñoz, Reverie, 2019, Graphite and pencil on paper, 64 x 88cm 
2. Shelly Tregoning, Distracted, Distracted, 2019, Oil on Glassine, 60 x 49cm
3. Jeanette Barnes, Study for cable cars - New York, 2018, Pen, 53 x 73cm
4. Philip Battley, Stand, 2019, Charcoal and chalk, 68 x 86cm
5. Penny McCarthy, DNA in Nature, 2018, Pencil on Paper, 50 x 70cm

The Trinity Buoy Wharf Drawing Prize 2019 will launch on Wednesday 25 September 2019 at Trinity Buoy Wharf in London. The Awards Announcements will take place on the evening of Wednesday 25 September 2019 at a special event before the exhibition leaves Trinity Buoy Wharf for The Salisbury Museum, the first tour venue, from 12 October 2019 to 11 January 2020. 

At Drawing Projects UK we have been working with a number of partners to present events and exhibitions that will complement the Trinity Buoy Wharf Drawing Prize 2019 exhibition, that celebrate the role and value of drawing and that aim to encourage participation and engagement with drawing.

September Events:

The very first event will be a Special Preview for Teachers, held in The Chainstore at Trinity Buoy Wharf in London on Tuesday 24 September, from 5pm to 6.30pm. This free event is intended to provide teachers and lecturers with the opportunity to relax and enjoy the Trinity Buoy Wharf Drawing Prize 2019 exhibition before the Launch and Announcement of the 2019 Awards (on Wednesday 25 September) and to share thoughts and ideas inspired by the 68 drawings on show made by 62 artists and makers selected for the annual exhibition by the distinguished selection panel, Chantal Joffe RA, Andrew Nairne OBE and Professor Dorothy Price. Professor Anita Taylor, Director of the Trinity Buoy Wharf Drawing Prize will lead a tour of the exhibition and will be available to discuss visit requirements for school, colleges and universities during the Trinity Buoy Wharf Drawing Prize 2019 exhibition in London, Salisbury and Leicester. More information and how to book here.

October Events:

The first weekend of the Trinity Buoy Wharf Drawing Prize 2019 being at The Salisbury Museum will be a celebration of drawing, with the opening at Drawing Projects UK of Drawing Out The Canal by Simon Woolham with a preview and performances by Simon Woolham accompanied by saxophonist Nick Sorensen and violinist Jo Harvey from 12noon to 3pm. This will be followed by an event at Messums Wiltshire, 2B or not 2B – Why Draw?, a panel discussion at 5.30pm followed by an optional supper at 7.30pm. The panel will include  Professor Anita Taylor, Director of the Trinity Buoy Wharf Drawing Prize and Dean of Duncan of Jordanstone College of Art & Design at the University of Dundee; David Alston, a former Drawing Prize selector and trustee of the Evelyn Williams Trust; a shortlisted artist from the 2019 exhibition; artist Charles Poulsen, whose three-dimensional drawings will be on display at Messums Wiltshire. 

On Thursday 17 October, Professor Anita Taylor will give a talk at The Salisbury Museum at 6.30pm on The Insistence of Drawing, booking information here.  

On Saturday 19 October there are a number of free events taking place. Join in Drawing the Bigger Picture with Chapel Art Studios (CAS) artists Kimvi, Karen Wood and James Aldridge for one of two live drawing walks, either at 10.30am or 2pm. Meet outside the Guildhall on Market Square in Salisbury, walking to The Salisbury Museum where the Trinity Buoy Wharf Drawing Prize 2019 exhibition will be on display. All drawing materials will be supplied and free entrance to the exhibition is given to all children and young people (up to yr 13) taking part in the walk. The walk will take approximately 1 hour and include various drawing opportunities.

On the same day, from 2pm to 3pm, Messums Wiltshire will be also holding an event in association with the Drawing Prize and The Big Draw, Drawing with Clay in which participants are invited to part of an art installation in their 13th century tithe barn during the major solo exhibition by observational sculptor Laurence Edwards, in a session led by sculptor Alasdair Rennie from Coade.    

On 23 October at The Salisbury Museum, you can join in Making your Mark: An Introduction to Contemporary Drawing with Tina Lane, from 2pm to 4.30pm, a drawing workshop organised with Plain Arts (Salisbury Visual Artists Network). 

From 28 October to 1 November, The Big Draw at The Salisbury Museum will include a programme of half term activities and events for children and families.  

November Events: 

On 9 November at Drawing Projects UK, there will be a Drawing Discussion at 4pm featuring Greig Burgoyne and Lucy O'Donnell, who are undertaking an Open to Draw project, Between the Sunny and the Opaque, a collaborative site-specific drawing project.

On 15 November, a highlight of the programme will be a symposium, Why Drawing Matters, held at The Salisbury Museum from 12noon to 5pm. Chaired by Professor Mike Collier of the University of Sunderland, speakers include Professor Anita Taylor; artist, writer & professor, Tania Kovats; artist and recipient of the Evelyn Williams Drawing Award 2017, Barbara Walker MBE; Debbie Hillyerd, Director of Education at Hauser & Wirth Somerset; and Chris Neil, an alumni of the ARTiculation programme delivered by Roche Court Educational Trust at the New Art Centre. More information, and how to book a place, here.

On 16 & 17 November, the symposium will continue at Drawing Projects UK with practical sessions and presentations by leading artists and makers. Drawing Matters will include artist-led workshops with Tania Kovats, Dillwyn Smith, Anita Taylor, and Ian Chamberlain amongst others.  Ian Chamberlain's exhibition, Monuments Remain, will also open on Saturday 16 November.

Booking information for Why Drawing Matters and the other events held at Drawing Projects UK in November will be available very soon, in the meantime, do pop these dates in your diary!

On 28 November, at The Salisbury Museum there will be an Experimental Drawing Workshop with Selina Snow from 10am to 1pm. 

Throughout the period of the exhibition, Wiltshire Creative will be running the Imprint, Mind, Body and Soul Drawing Festival alongside their exhibition: The Last Full measure of Devotion: Kate Wilson (13 September to 16 November) and Drawn to Craft: Contemporary Craft Practitioners (14 November to 5 January).

Watch this space for more information, and we hope you'll join in, and be inspired as to why drawing matters! 

Supported by the Trinity Buoy Wharf Trust, the Trinity Buoy Wharf Drawing Prize is selected from original drawings and led by its founding Director, Professor Anita Taylor, since 1994. The Prize has an established reputation as the foremost national exhibition of drawing practice and is known for both its promotion of artists and makers who draw, and its championing of the role and value of drawing more widely. 

The Trinity Buoy Wharf Drawing Prize 2019 exhibition includes 67 drawings by 62 practitioners - including works by students to those by established artists and makers – which were selected from 1,801 submissions received from across the UK. The independent Selection Panel comprised Chantal Joffe RA, artist; Andrew Nairne OBE, Director of Kettle’s Yard, University of Cambridge; and Dorothy Price, Professor of History of Art at the University of Bristol and Editor of Art History. 

The drawings shortlisted for the Trinity Buoy Wharf Drawing Prize 2019 are by: 

Rachel Ara / Naomi Avsec / Jeanette Barnes / Philip Battley / Jonathan Bennett / Jackie Berridge / Kate Black / Kurt Buckley / Roma Bullen / Martyn Burdon / James Byrne / Lewis Chamberlain / Michael Doherty / Aisha Farr / Joana Galego / Frances Gynn / Susie Hamilton / Oona Hassim / Clare Haxby / Mary Herbert / Laura Hudson / Mandy Hudson / Nimmi Hutnik / Neville Jermyn / Hero Johnson / Melissa Kime / Marcus Leotaud / Michael Paul Lewis / Richard Lewsey / Andrew Litten / Eugene Macki / Derek Marks / Miguel Martin / Zara Matthews / Penny McCarthy / Patrick Miller / Tamsin Morse Commins / Alice Motte-Muñoz / Elizabeth Nast / Steve Payne / Julia Polonski / Caroline Pool / Fiona G Roberts / Katya Robin / Karin Schösser / Molley Scoble / Mark Shields / Nicholas Simms / Clare Smith / Paul John Taylor / Sally Taylor / Patricia Thornton / Alberto Torres Hernandez / Shelly Tregoning / Mariota Spens / Jaime Valtierra Sanchez / Henry Ward / Steven Ward / Charmaine Watkiss / Jessica Wolfson / Hannah Wooll / William Wright

‘Being a selector was an exacting and exciting task! Over two days we considered every possible form of drawing - from pencil to paint to video. The range, number and quality of submissions surely reflects both the health of drawing now in the UK and its importance as a means of artistic expression. 
Those we selected for the exhibition were, we believe, the most distinctive and original submissions. But it was not an easy task! Some of the works that we chose clearly took many hours and remarkable technical skill to create, while others felt like more immediate actions, capturing through drawing energy, movement or character.’  Andrew Nairne OBE



The shortlisted artists are eligible for awards that have a total value of £27,000.

A First Prize of £8,000, a Second Prize of £5,000 and a Student Award of £2,000 are chosen by the Selection Panel of Chantal Joffe RA, Andrew Nairne OBE and Professor Dorothy Price. The Working Drawing Prize, which has increased in value to £2,000 this year, is chosen by Alan Baxter, Founder & Director of Alan Baxter Integrated Design and Angela Paola Squassina, architect and Professor of Architectural Preservation at the IUAV University of Architecture in Venice. The Evelyn Williams Drawing Award of £10,000 offers a mid-career artist the opportunity to develop a solo exhibition for Hastings Contemporary and will be chosen by David Alston, Trustee of the Evelyn Williams Trust, Liz Gilmore, Director of Hastings Contemporary, and Professor Anita Taylor, Dircector of the Trinity Buoy Wharf Drawing Prize.

The Award Winners will be announced at the Awards Ceremony on Wednesday 25 September 2019 at Trinity Buoy Wharf in London.

Following the Exhibition Preview and Awards Ceremony at Trinity Buoy Wharf, the exhibition will be presented at Salisbury Museum in Wiltshire from 12 October 2019 to 11 January 2020. Subsequently, it will return to Trinity Buoy Wharf in London where it will be available to view from January 2020. The exhibition will then tour to The Gallery at De Montfort University in Leicester. 

Press Enquiries: 
Contact Emma Walker at Parker Harris for further information and images. 
Tel: 020 3653 0896


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Image: Andrew Litten, About To Say Something, 2019

In August Drawing Projects UK will be supporting artist Simon Woolham to explore the Kennet & Avon Canal through drawing, walking and talking as part of our Open to Draw programme.

The Drawing Out The Canal project is focused around a 5-day walking, drawing, talking residency along the Kennet and Avon Canal, taking place from 7 to 11 August. The project will initiate and exchange collaborative story-telling through drawing and engaging with histories along the towpaths. Drawing Out The Canal will engage with a variety of local groups and clubs from Trowbridge and the surrounding areas along the walking route through activating the process of collecting graphite rubbings, as a way of engaging with the canal histories and generating layers of narrative around the locale. 

The project will promote walking, drawing and a deep engagement with histories, a valuable activity for celebrating and engaging with the canal as an active creative process. It is hoped local communities, schools and national radio stations and newspapers will tune in to the project promoting, generating and activating further interest for other communities. 

At the end of each day of the walk, Simon will walk to camp sites and spaces situated on the canal. On average we will be walking/collecting graphite rubbings approximately 10/15miles a day. As the project unfolds local clubs, from archaeology to walking history groups, will join the artist at certain points of the journey as a way of imparting knowledge and working processes. The artist will ‘map-out’ the process along the route on the www.insearchoftheshortcuts.com website, which incorporates a live ‘outline’ version of Google Maps, situating the project through the actual location, presenting the multi-sensory experience, which will further encourage and generates narrative between site and people during and after the project as a legacy for others.

Returning to Drawing Projects UK, Simon will then examine the generated variety of rubbings, developing an immersive as well as smaller, intimate artworks from the ‘textures of history’ in relation to the walk. Drawing as a way of transporting to a place, it's memory and the experiences surrounding it. The amassed rubbings will then be interpreted in a number of ways, over the period of 5 days working in the Project Space, in relation to the geography, history and narrative of the whole canal route, alongside exploring the spaces of Drawing Projects UK. 

The process is an instinctive and organic process, an evolution, interpreting the past, present and future visions of an important, historically and socially significant site and its interpretation. The process engages with the spaces and surfaces through the physical process of rubbings from the architecture, machinery, towpaths, gates and locks. 

The outcomes of the project will then be shown in the galleries at Drawing Projects UK in October. As part of the unveiling of the installation, Simon will perform and interpret the drawing through a performance with local musicians from the Trowbridge area.

The project is supported by the University of Huddersfield, where Simon is a Lecturer and researcher, and the walk is also generating funding for The Pituitary Foundation, and you can read more about this here. 

Simon’s practice as an artist, curator and teaching specialism is centred around expanded drawing research and methodology and this was the focus of his practice-led PhD from 2012 and awarded in 2016 at Manchester Metropolitan University. The PhD explored walking (in the broadest sense) and narrative in physical, virtual and psychological space, expanding on the notion of an artists’ residency of the mind. 

Between 2000 and 2012 Simon exhibited widely, including a residency and solo exhibition at The Lowry in Salford and Chapter Gallery in Cardiff, as well as numerous national and international group exhibitions. In 2008 he was included in the first Tatton Park Biennial and in 2006 he was Artist-in-Residence at Baltic – Centre for Contemporary Art in Gateshead, he won the Mostyn Open 11 at Oriel Mostyn, Llandudno in 2001. Simon continues to develop his practice as an artist and researcher and since 2012 he has been curator and artistic programmer of the artist-led gallery PAPER in Manchester. He has presented papers at conferences both nationally and internationally, most recently at ‘Mapping Culture’ a conference in Coimbra, Portugal, and a ‘Deep Mapping’ conference at UCL in London.

If you'd like to know more about the Drawing Out The Canal project or find out how to join in, please contact us via email: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

The Trinity Buoy Wharf Drawing Prize 2019 Selection Panel will comprise Chantal Joffe RA, artist; Andrew Nairne OBE, Director of Kettle’s Yard, University of Cambridge; and Dorothy Price, Reader in History of Art at the University of Bristol, and Editor of Art History. Together they will select around 65 drawings for an exhibition that will launch at Trinity Buoy Wharf before touring to venues nationwide from September 2019 to July 2020. 

Chantal Joffe RA lives and works in London. She holds an MA from the Royal College of Art and was awarded the Royal Academy Wollaston Prize in 2006. Joffe has exhibited nationally and internationally at venues including the National Museum of Iceland, Reykjavík (2016); National Portrait Gallery, London (2015); Jewish Museum, New York (2015); Jerwood Gallery, Hastings (2015); Collezione Maramotti, Italy (2014 – 2015); Saatchi Gallery, London (2013 – 2014); MODEM, Hungary (2012); Mackintosh Museum, Glasgow (2012); Turner Contemporary, Margate (2011); Neuberger Museum of Art, New York (2009); University of the Arts, London (2007); MIMA Middlesbrough Institute of Modern Art (2007); Royal Academy of Arts, London (2005); Galleri KB, Oslo (2005) and Bloomberg Space, London (2004).

Andrew Nairne OBE is Director of Kettle’s Yard, the University of Cambridge’s modern and contemporary art gallery. He previously held the positions of Director of Modern Art Oxford (2001-2008) and Executive Director of Arts at Arts Council England. Andrew is involved in several projects both within and beyond Cambridge, and both as part and independently of the University: he is Chair of the North West Cambridge Public Art Advisory Panel and is a member of a number of panels and committees including the University of Cambridge Museums Steering Group, What Next? (Cambridge) and East Contemporary Visual Art Network (East CVAN).


Dr Dorothy Price is an art historian with particular research interests in sexuality, race, gender, women artists, photography, modernism, contemporary art, transnationalism and globalisation. She is Reader in History of Art at the University of Bristol and Editor of Art History, the leading academic journal in the field. Price is a member of the Academic and Exhibitions Advisory Board of the Royal West of England Academy, a Trustee of Spike Island, a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts, a member of the AHRC Peer Review College and a reviewer for the American Academy in Berlin. She has authored and edited a number of books and essays and is currently working on several new publications including two new monographs, New Women, New Vision: Icons of Modernity in Weimar Germany and Käthe Kollwitz: Between Symbolism and Expressionism.

Led by founding Director, Professor Anita Taylor, the Trinity Buoy Wharf Drawing Prize is selected from original drawings and has an established reputation for promoting, celebrating and championing excellence in contemporary drawing practice. Artists and makers selected for the Trinity Buoy Wharf Drawing Prize 2019 will be eligible for awards of a total value of £27,000. A First Prize of £8,000; a Second Prize of £5,000; a Student Award of £2,000; and a Working Drawing Award of £2,000. These awards will be chosen by the selection panel and announced at the launch of the exhibition and Awards Ceremony on 25 September 2019 at Trinity Buoy Wharf in London. The biennial Evelyn Williams Drawing Award of £10,000 will support an artist with an already established exhibiting (or equivalent) career to develop a new solo exhibition. The award will be made on the basis of proposals, invited from by the selected artists, and chosen by a panel comprising a Trustee of the Evelyn Williams Trust, the Director/Curator of the Gallery, and the Director of Trinity Buoy Wharf Drawing Prize.

The Call for Entries is now open. Online registration for artists entering the Trinity Buoy Wharf Drawing Prize will close at 5pm on Wednesday 26 June 2019. Once registered, applicants must then submit their works through one of the regional collection centres. All details are on the registration portal here.

Press Enquiries: please contact Emma Walker, Communications Manager, Parker Harris
T: 020 3653 0896
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Selection Panel Image [L-R]: Chantal Joffe RA (detail of photo: Thierry Bal); Andrew Nairne OBE; Dorothy Price 

The Trinity Buoy Wharf Drawing Prize 2018 exhibition includes 69 drawings by 67 artists and makers, selected from an overall submission of 1,711 works from across the UK by Nigel Hall RA, artist; Megan Piper, contemporary art dealer; and Dr Chris Stephens, Director of The Holburne Museum in Bath. 

Supported by the Trinity Buoy Wharf Trust, the Trinity Buoy Wharf Drawing Prize is a unique initiative led by founding Director, Professor Anita Taylor (Executive Dean of Bath School of Art & Design at Bath Spa University and founding Director of Drawing Projects UK). In offering emerging, mid-career and established artists a national platform to exhibit their drawings, the exhibition has established a reputation for supporting and promoting their talent and excellence, and the role and value of drawing more widely. We are thrilled that the Trinity Buoy Drawing Prize 2018 will becoming to Drawing Projects UK in March 2019, after the successful showing of Jerwood Drawing Prize 2017 here in the summer of 2018.

The artists and makers included in the Trinity Buoy Wharf Drawing Prize 2018 exhibition are:

Becky Allen / Iain Andrews / Michael Angove / Andy Bannister / Garry Barker / Susannah Bolton / Mark Brooks / Ian Brown / Caroline Burraway / Ruth Chambers / Laura Abigail Clarke / Sophie Erin Cooper / Gemma Cossey / Roy Eastland / Benjamín Edwards / Katy English / James Epps / Alex Evans / Peter Ford / Euan Gray / Graham Gussin / Frances Gynn / Marie Harnett / Simon Head / Julie Held / Marguerite Horner / Laura Hudson / Julia Hutton / Tam Inglis / Bridget Jackson / Ben Johnson / Christopher Jones / Helen Jones / Aileen Keith / Nick Kennedy / Paddy Killer / Donghwan Ko / Gary Lawrence / Sara Lee / Irene Lees / Rosie Leventon / Juliette Losq / Steven MacIver / Daniel Mcgirr / Rebecca Mendoza / Eleanor Minney / Claire Mont Smith / June Nelson / Mark Parkinson / Steve Payne / Sandra Porter / Gary Power / Alex Ramsay / Giulia Ricci / Fiona G Roberts / Caragh Savage / Tim Shore / Philip Smith / Geoff Stainthorp / Chloe Steele / Ilona Szalay / Margaret Uttley / Robert Verrill / Ben Wade / Henry Ward / David Winthrop / Hamish Young

The Trinity Buoy Wharf Drawing Prize 2018 exhibition was launched and the award winners announced on Wednesday 26 September at Trinity Buoy Wharf in London. Caroline Burraway won the £8,000 First Prize for her charcoal drawing, Eden,The Jungle Calais 2016 (2017); the Second Prize of £5,000 was awarded to Gary Lawrence for his drawing, Moonlit Delphi c/o Samuel Palmer (2018) made with Biro, felt pen and poster paint on paper; and the Student Award of £2,000 was awarded to Laura Hudson for Nail House Drawings (2018) made with charcoal on wash. The new Trinity Buoy Wharf Working Drawing Award of £1000 was awarded to Andy Bannister for his graphite drawing, ROC Post '64 (2017).

The exhibition continued at Trinity Buoy Wharf until 17 October 2018, and is now on tour as follows:

22 November–10 January 2019 
TheGallery at AUB 
Arts University Bournemouth 
Wallisdown
Poole BH12 5HH
aub.ac.uk/campus/thegallery

2–21 February 2019
Royal Drawing School
19-22 Charlotte Road
London EC2A 3SG 
royaldrawingschool.org/exhibitions

2 March–26 April 2019
Drawing Projects UK
Bridge House
10 Stallard Street
Trowbridge BA14 9AE 
drawingprojects.uk

UPDATE (March 2019):
Unfortunately, the exhibition will no longer tour to Chapel Gallery in Ormskirk in May as planned. The exhibition tour will conclude at Drawing Projects UK.

For all enquiries:
Please contact the Project Manager, Parker Harris 
T: 020 3653 0896
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Image: Marie Harnett, Windows, pencil on paper, 129 x217cm, 2017

The Trinity Buoy Wharf Drawing Prize is currently open for submissions and presents the opportunity for all drawing practitioners in the UK to showcase their work alongside leading contemporary artists and makers in the field.

Online registration for artists entering the Trinity Buoy Wharf Drawing Prize will close at 5pm on 27 June 2018. Once registered, applicants then submit their works through one of the regional Collection Centres. Selected from original works by an independent selection panel, the annual exhibition has established a reputation for its commitment to promoting and celebrating the role and value of current drawing practice within the UK.

A First Prize of £8,000, Second Prize of £5,000, a Student Award of £2,000, and a £1,000 Prize for a Working Drawing, will be awarded at a private ceremony at Trinity Buoy Wharf in London in September 2018.

The selection panel for the Trinity Buoy Wharf Drawing Prize 2018 will be Nigel Hall RA, artist; Megan Piper, contemporary art dealer; and Dr Chris Stephens, Director of the Holburne Museum in Bath. Together, they will select up to 70 drawings for an exhibition that will launch at Trinity Buoy Wharf in London before touring to a number of venues in the UK.

Read more

Drawing Projects UK is delighted that Bath Spa University has announced a new partnership with Trinity Buoy Wharf Trust to deliver the annual Drawing Prize which has been led by its founding Director, Professor Anita Taylor, since 1994. The exhibition will now become known as the Trinity Buoy Wharf Drawing Prize after seventeen years of generous support from Jerwood Charitable Foundation and identity as Jerwood Drawing Prize.  

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One of the ultimate pleasures of the Open to Draw programme at Drawing Projects UK is the privilege of watching an artist’s or maker’s project develop over a specific period of time. Nestled in one of the ground floor studios, or in the project space, their work flexes and adapts as their purpose and enquiry grows in muscle, nerve and ambition, sharpened by their own framework, timescale and objective to see and develop their work anew.

Supported by a Grant for the Arts from Arts Council England, Sandra Porter RWA came to Drawing Projects UK for a six-month residency and, with further support from The Iona Foundation in Amsterdam, she has created a new and powerful body of drawings, paintings, and prints for her exhibition at Stroud Museum in the Park from 10 March to 15 April 2018. 

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In November and December we will be running a number of Life Drawing Sessions.

On Thursday 16 November there will be a special life drawing session led by Alex Roberts, with two male models which will use simple props and drapery to explore meaning and symbolism within figurative drawing.

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Our new season of life drawing sessions starts on 24 October. A four-week block of Life Drawing Sessions, led by artist-tutor Alex Roberts, will be held each Tuesday evening, 6-8pm, from 24 October to 14 November 2017.

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Our current exhibition, See View, features drawings, paintings, prints and artists’ books by Australian and British artists - Jelle van den Berg, Peter Burgess, Gerry Davies, Gary Lawrence, Mary Scott, Philippa Sutherland and Anita Taylor. Curated by Gary Sangster, the exhibition examines perceptions and observations of people, place and natural phenomena.  

Jelle van den Berg was born in The Netherlands, and has worked in artist collectives since 1974. Involvement in collectives often spilled over into running artist-run spaces and after he moved to Sydney in 1983, he became one of the co-directors of Union Street Gallery. In 2012, van den Berg established The Drawing Room, an artist run initiative in Elizabeth Bay, Sydney.  He is the former Painting Coordinator at the Faculty of Creative Arts, University of Wollongong and remains the Faculty Gallery and art collection curator. He resides and works between the South Coast and Hunter Valley, NSW.

Peter Burgess studied Architecture at NSWIT before studying Art at Alexander Mackie College of Advanced Education. He received his Master of Fine Arts from Pratt Institute, New York in 1981. Burgess has held numerous solo shows and has exhibited extensively in group exhibitions across Australia, North America and Europe. He is currently Head of Printmaking at the National Art School in Sydney, and his work was recently included in the touring exhibition, Greyscale, which was shown at Drawing Projects UK earlier this year.

Gerry Davies was born in Wales in 1957. After study in sculpture at Wolverhampton University, he received a MA in painting at the RCA. Subsequently he was awarded a Fulbright Scholarship to study in the USA. He has exhibited his drawings internationally and writes about drawing. Davies is currently writing a book with Dr Sarah Casey titled, Drawing Conclusions, which examines the relationship of drawing to other investigative disciplines. He is currently a Senior Lecturer in Drawing at Lancaster University. His Flood Story drawings were shown at Drawing Projects UK in 2017. 

Gary Lawrence [b.1959] lives and works in Essex. He studied at Braintree College, Portsmouth Polytechnic; Eastern Illinois University US; and Southern Illinois University USA.  His work has been selected for numerous award and prize exhibition including, BP Portrait Award National Portrait Gallery, London, 2017 Royal Academy Summer Exhibition 2016/1984, Jerwood Drawing Prize, London 2011/13/15/17, Kettles Yard Open, Cambridge 1999/2006, Hunting Art Prize, Royal College of Art, London, Cleveland Drawing Biennale, 1985.  Solo Exhibitions include, Beecroft Gallery Southend 2013, Christopher Stokes Gallery Chicago 1996 and the Artemisia Gallery Chicago 1991. Awards include a Pollock-Krasner Foundation New York Major Award in 2001 and won First Prize in the Jerwood Drawing Prize 2011, gained a Special Commendation in Jerwood Drawing Prize 2013 and, remarkably, won First Prize again in the Jerwood Drawing Prize 2017 - the first time an artist has won the Jerwood Drawing Prize twice!

Mary Scott, is based in Tasmania, Australia and specialises in painting and drawing. She is Senior Lecturer and Head of Drawing at the Tasmanian School of Art, University of Tasmania. She works across a number of different mediums incorporating sculpture, drawing and painting in her practice. Since 1990, she has exhibited her work regularly and has been the recipient of many artist grants and teaching awards. Her work explores a ideas about our relationship to the natural world and our ways of knowing and perceiving. Scott was included in our very first exhibition at Bridge House, Drawing: Facts & Fictions, in 2015.

Philippa Sutherland studied at the University of St Andrews, Epsom College of Art & Design and Central Saint Martins. She has worked as an art school librarian and as a lecturer in art and design colleges around London, and in Denmark and Ireland. She moved to Ireland where she completed an MA in Fine Art at Dublin’s NCAD in 2004, and has had several solo exhibitions including at the Paul Kane Gallery, Dublin; Ashford Gallery (RHA); and Wicklow Arts Centre, Bray. Numerous group exhibitions include: Dig where you stand, South Tipperary Museum, Monochrome, Lavit Gallery, Cork and Summer’s Lease, Eagle Gallery, Clerkenwell. She has had a studio at Drawing Projects UK since 2016. 

Anita Taylor [b.1961] studied at Mid-Cheshire College of Art, Gloucestershire College of Art & Technology, and Royal College of Art, London. She was Artist-in-Residence at Durham Cathedral [1987-88]; Cheltenham Fellow in Painting [1988-89]; and Artist-in-Residence with the NSW National Parks and Wildlife Service with the National Art School Sydney [2004]. Solo exhibitions of her work include those at The Customs House, South Shields [2017]; Drawing Projects UK [2016-17]; William Wright Artists Projects [Sydney 2014]; The Drawing Room [Sydney 2011]; Peter Pinson Gallery [Sydney 2009]; The Drawing Gallery [Shropshire 2009; London 2004]. Her drawings have been included in exhibitions at Jerwood Gallery [Hastings 2016, 2014]; The Global Centre for Drawing, Langford120 [Melbourne 2013, 2011]; Victoria & Albert Museum [2009]. She is founding Director of the Jerwood Drawing Prize [1994] and Drawing Projects UK [2009] as well as Executive Dean, Bath School of Art and Design, Bath Spa University. 

From 30 September, See View will be open on Sundays 11am-1pm. To view by appointment during the week and on Saturdays, please email This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. or call us on 01225 767993. The exhibition is free to visit and Studio Cafe is open when we are!

Images: Above: Gary Lawrence, Alternative Bananas, Biro on paper, 2017

Below: See View exhibition, L-R, Gary Lawrence, Anita Taylor, Philippa Sutherland, Peter Burgess, Mary Scott, Jelle van den Berg, Gerry Davies. 

We have been quiet on the home front at Drawing Projects UK this summer, here's why! 

Anita Taylor has been busy with DRAWN, a solo show, which is now open at The Customs House Gallery in South Shields. On until 12 November 2017, the exhibition focusses on the role of drawing within her practice, and has been curated by Esen Kaya of The Customs House Gallery in association with the DRAWING programme across a range of venues in the North East of England.

DRAWN provides the opportunity to view the range of Anita Taylor’s drawing practice and includes over 40 drawings, from a key drawing, Seeing Something Else [1993], through to the new Witness series [2017]. This exhibition is presented in two parts: with her ink drawings exhibited in the Upper Fusion Space and an extended series of monumental charcoal self-portrait drawings presented in the main Gallery. The exhibition is accompanied by a film made in her studio by Robin Fearon and a publication on the drawings will also be launched during the exhibition with an essay by Dr. Charlotte Mullins. The exhibition was listed in the a-n #211 The week's top exhibitions to see and featured in an interview with Anita Taylor for Aesthetica magazine.

We hope that some of you may be able to see the exhibition in South Shields - it is open from Monday-Saturday 10am-8pm and on Sundays from 11am-8pm with free entry.  There is an associated education programme. The publication DRAWN will be available from Drawing Projects UK in due course. 

This solo exhibition has been supported using public funding by the National Lottery through Arts Council England and is also supported by Bath School of Art & Design at Bath Spa University. 

LIFE DRAWING SESSIONS - JUNE 2017

We offer a range of life drawing sessions at Drawing Projects UK.

These include the unguided (model only) sessions on Monday evenings from 6-8pm until 26 June; and guided life drawing sessions led by artist-tutor Alex Roberts. These sessions will take place on the evenings of 6 and 20 June from 6-8pm, the 7 June from 9.30am -12.30pm and an all day session with multiple models on 20 June. These guided sessions support each participant to develop their technical skills and proficiency in drawing from life and are suitable for adults of all levels of ability, including beginners and those seeking to refresh their skills. 

The drawing sessions take place in our beautiful drawing studio, which is well-equipped with easels and drawing boards, and we work with a range of professional models. Small group sizes ensure individual attention. Please click on the links above or view our newsletter for information on how to book or contact us by phone, 01225 767993, or by email: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

KUSANGANISA  - THE MUSIC PROJECT - 7 JUNE 7.30PM

The Music Project facilitates innovative, creative and experimental performance-seminars at Drawing Projects UK, and we are thrilled to be welcoming Kusanganisa back to Bridge House on 7 June.

Kusanganisa is the Shona word for mixture, that aptly describes this world music project involving four musicians from different traditions. Chartwell Dutiro (mbira and vocals) is from Zimbabwe and has been brought up in the Shona tradition. Leandro Maia (guitar) is a singer and composer from Brazil. Nick Sorensen (soprano saxophone and flute) is a jazz saxophonist whose music is located within the traditions of contemporary jazz and folk music. Chris Blanden [bass] is a rock musician who previously worked at Real World Studios.

Following this unique performance there will be an open discussion with the musicians and an opportunity for the audience to ask questions. Doors open at 7pm. Refreshments available. Booking is recommended as seats are limited for what will be an exceptionally enjoyable event in The Music Project calendar!

Christmas will soon be here - and our holiday opening times are in place for Drawing Projects UK and Studio Cafe. In the run up to Christmas we will be open from 10am to 4pm from Thursday to Saturday only. We will then close until 5 January 2017.

We hope this will give you ample opportunity to visit the current exhibition of Anita Taylor's drawings and to view the exceptional display of OPjects by Kim Jin Eui, amongst the collectables in stock, before Christmas. If you would like to view the exhibitions by appointment, book a meeting room and/or the cafe, or view our workspaces please do contact us.  We will be busy behind the scenes preparing for the next season of Drawing Sessions, Drawing Discussions and Open To Draw programmes. 

In January we will also launch our Second Wednesdays, live music with jazz saxophonist Nick Sorensen; creative writing workshops; and more. We will also be continuing our collaboration with Trowbridge Arts for Exploring Drawing, and our new season of Life Drawing Sessions will start from w/c 23 January 2017.

Our Spring programmes will be published soon. In the meantime, a huge thank you to all our supporters in 2016. We hope to see you again soon. 

And we wish everyone a happy holiday, if we don't see you before! 

We are delighted to announce that Studio Café is now open at Drawing Projects UK.  

Studio Café serves delicious coffees, teas and cakes for you to enjoy during your visit to Bridge House for events and exhibitions. It is open to the public and provides a great place to meet and to relax in a creative setting. 

There will be an exciting programme of events delivered by Studio Café in association with Drawing Projects UK. Currently Studio Cafe will be open when the gallery is open at Drawing Projects UK and during our events. Catering for meetings, room hire and other events held at Bridge House is also provided. 

Please call us on 01225 767993 for more information about the cafe, meeting room hire and the Drawing Projects UK programmes. 

We look forward to welcoming you.

We are just gearing up for the new season of our Drawing Sessions here at Drawing Projects UK. The Drawing Sessions all take place in the beautiful and well-equipped drawing studio at Bridge House and will start again in September and run through until December 2016. 

From 26 September we will run the first six-week block of Monday evening Life Drawing Sessions led by artist tutor Alex Roberts from 6-8pm. Each Monday evening Alex will lead the life drawing session and support each participant to draw from the life model and to develop their technical skills and proficiency in drawing from life. By exploring the underpinning principles and processes of drawing from observation, participants will gain skills, facility and confidence in their drawing practice. With small group sizes that ensure individual attention, these life drawing sessions are suitable for adults of all levels of ability, including beginners and those seeking to refresh their skills by drawing our lovely team of life models with expert guidance from Alex. Earlier in the year, Alex led two very engaging weekend drawing sessions here at Drawing Projects which had excellent feedback from our participants. Therefore, we are delighted to welcome Alex back for this new evening session. You can find details and how to book here or please contact us for further information.

On Tuesday evenings there will be a model available to draw for a two hour drawing session, between 6pm and 8pm. The session will be structured by a lead artist participating in the session and enables experienced artists and creative professionals to come together to draw the life model. The costs of running the session are covered by a contribution by each participant. All places must be reserved in advance as we have limited places available in order to ensure the quality of the experience so please email us if you are interested to know more. We are open to running further sessions on this basis if there is demand.

We are also very delighted to be working with Trowbridge Arts again who will be holding their Exploring Drawing workshop for mixed abilities led by Michele Whiting on Thursday afternoons. We see this unique partnership as very valuable in helping us to share and promote the opportunity to engage in drawing in particular, and the arts more widely, in Trowbridge and beyond. 

Our aim is to develop and facilitate drawing as a key means of visual expression and communication and our Drawing Sessions underpin this objective. There will be a range of new Drawing Sessions, Drawing Talks, After School Drawing Club amongst our programmes as well as our exhibitions and Open to Draw projects coming soon. We hope you will join in!

Drawing Projects UK was established in 2009 to develop, organise and promote projects that provide opportunities to experience drawing and to gain knowledge and understanding of drawing in the UK. In 2015 I was looking for a new studio in the area and, as well as providing me with a beautiful space to make work, Bridge House has serendipitously enabled the opportunity to expand Drawing Projects UK through a new physical space for a centre for the research and development of drawing and contemporary art in Trowbridge. 

Throughout my career, as an artist, educator and exhibition organiser, I have been involved in championing the role of drawing in creative practice and education. The wider passion and enthusiasm to develop knowledge and understanding of drawing has grown substantially in the last few decades and is evidenced by numerous initiatives in the UK, including the annual Jerwood Drawing Prize exhibition of which I am the founding director and have been leading since its inception in 1994 to the present day.

Drawing is both a sophisticated and vital means of thinking and communicating, and readily accessible to all. As a primary visual language, essential for cognitive development and enhanced communication and expression, drawing can be seen to be as important as the development of written and verbal skills. The need to understand the world through visual means would also seem more acute than ever; with images transcending many barriers and enhancing communications in an increasingly globalised world. Drawing is a primary means of expression, and an integral means of creative development and ideation, reflection and information gathering. This surely means we should invest time and resources in the development of our knowledge, understanding, skills and facility, in and through drawing. And at a time when the creative industries have become one of the fastest growing sectors of the UK economy, it would seem extremely important that the role and value of drawing is recognised for the significant contribution it makes to the development and sustenance of creative, cultural, social and economic wellbeing. 

The establishment of The Drawing Centre project space and training room, which underpins our research and development and facilitates public engagement with drawing, was facilitated through generous support from Bridge House Community Trust. This enabled us to programme the first Drawing Sessions and Drawing Discussions with leading artists, designers and makers and our ongoing partnership with Trowbridge Arts to deliver Exploring Drawing. In 2016, our pilot Open to Draw programme has featured artists from the UK and Australia. The scheme is open to applications for the proposal of individual projects that test and develop new approaches to drawing and the exploration of drawing within a wide range of practices. It aims to facilitate the development of new work, and to foster dialogue through public interface with the research and development of drawing via seminars, workshops, display and public presentations within The Drawing Centre as a site for the testing of ideas in and through drawing. 

Bridge House also has 12 workspaces available for individuals and micro-enterprises in the creative and cultural industries, which are ideal for artists, designers and makers, and those who wish to work alongside these creative professionals and the activities of Drawing Projects UK. With the aim of furthering the opportunity for informal networking and exchange, and to support Bridge House as a destination to see, make and discuss drawing, a café will open in October.  

Built in 1929, as the Wiltshire Working Men's Conservative Benefit Society, Bridge House and with the carved motto 'Unity is Strength' above the front door, it seems fitting to aim to foster and build a vibrant, outward facing and inclusive community through the activities of Drawing Projects UK in this landmark building. 

We are still very much in the early days of implementing our vision, to breathe new life into Bridge House as a creative and cultural hub. If you would like to know more, to become involved, or to support what we are doing please contact us.

One of the objectives of Drawing Projects UK is to enable the exploration of the role of drawing within a range of creative practices and contexts. This summer we welcomed three projects under our Open to Draw scheme through which artists or others can propose projects that test and develop their ideas through drawing. 

The first summer project was undertaken by Wendy Sharpe who, alongside her exhibition Theatre of Dreams at Bridge House, also planned and tested an experimental project for the Yellow House in Sydney in association with The Australian Art Quartet. By drawing directly onto the walls in one of our studios, Wendy was able to explore the scale, language, materials, colour, imagery and pace that she would need to deploy to produce a large scale 20-metre drawing as an integral part of a live performance at the Yellow House. See a short video of how this developed back in Sydney: Wendy Sharpe at the Yellow House [courtesy of Derivan].

The second Open to Draw project was undertaken by five artists visiting from Yorkshire - Andy Black, Kate Black, Tracy Himsworth, Lucy O'Donnell and Sally Taylor - who brought a focused energy to the drawing centre as they collectively explored their individual ideas and practice through drawing and dialogue in the project space. The five artists had jointly presented a number of exhibitions over the last 18 months and had identified a need to engage in a different way to better understand the connections in their practices of drawing. Through drawing and working together, rather than through exhibiting completed works together, they were able to extend their individual goals through collective engagement. A Curators and Educators event we held at the end of their short residency brought a distinguished group to the drawing centre and the ensuing dialogue uncovered the value of having a dedicated space in which to test ideas in dialogue with others through practice, and conversation, and revealed insights into the creative process and the value of research and development time for artists, other than the expectations of exhibition practice.

Our current resident artist is Sophie Cape, who has just arrived from a residency in Italy. The project space will afford Sophie the time to reflect on her experiences of working in the marble quarries in Carrera. She will make a series of works on paper developed from preliminary drawings, documentation and sketchbooks, and the materials of the landscape she aims to portray. White marble dust will be a key element of the new drawings as she seek to convey the disorienting, rugged whiteness of the  historic and spectacular Italian quarries. We look forward to seeing how her drawings develop from her experience, and to seeing a preview of them before she returns to Melbourne at the end of the month.