As we look forward to a new year of creativity, we’re pleased to announce full details about our TALP 2019 Open competition, with more than 40 individual prizes worth over£17,000 to be won (see pages 12-13). These include the prestigious The Artist Purchase Prize Award for a work up to the value of £5,000, selected by our guest judge and well-known TV presenter Lachlan Goudie ROI, as well as the chance to exhibit in The Artist’s Collection exhibition at Patchings Art Centre, plus a year’s representation for one lucky artist by The Harbour Art Gallery in Cornwall, owned and managed by Mark David Hatwood. Mark enjoyed meeting the winner of his 2018 award, John Hopkins, recently in Portscatho where the gallery is based, and both were pleased to record subsequent sales of John’s work – a winning partnership. Mark is passionate about supporting and promoting up-and-coming artists and we are happy to welcome him back to our pages with the start of his new series, packed with advice on strategies for marketing and selling your work, on page 78 of this issue.
The benefits of entering open competitions for successful artists are many and various, from the opportunity to sell your work – when I attended the private view of The Artist’s Collection exhibition at Patchings Art Centre last month, exhibiting artists were delighted by the number of sales achieved during the event – to the chance to meet your contemporaries, share ideas and experiences, discuss personal approaches to materials and techniques, and to encourage and support each other.