In July I travelled to Nottinghamshire to serve as one of the judges to help select the prizewinners in this year’s The Artist Open Competition, organised in partnership with Patchings Art Centre. The exhibition opened to the public in the wonderful Barn Gallery on the first day of the ever-popular annual four-day festival, and was well received by a large and enthusiastic audience.
Among my judging colleagues were the two highly respected artists John Sprakes ROI, RBA, MAFA and David Curtis ROI, RSMA. Our discussions were frank and spirited, revealing the different ways in which we reacted to and interpreted the works on show – nuances were vigorously debated and the final winning works democratically agreed upon by a simple system of the most number of votes independently formed. What a great experience!