Friday 14 September 2012

Glasgow Art Club Award RGI 2012

It has been an emotional week.

Last Wednesday I found out through facebook that the postman had delivered the letters from the Royal Glasgow Institute Annual Show. I couldn't go home straight away, so had several hours of agonising until I ripped the letter open. Inside were three letters - the first, rejection of two paintings. I had expected that. In fact I had expected worse - which is why I hadn't told many people that I had entered this year. Next letter was an acceptance for two paintings - jubilation!

But the last letter was the best - so much so, I didn't actually read it properly . . . what it said was that I had won the Glasgow Art Club Award for The Little Mermaid. A prize! Me!

It is a particularly suitable prize for me, as a couple of my friends are already members and I had been talking about joining for a while. The Glasgow Art Club has been around for a while, with many great painters as members both past and present, so being given the award is a real honour.

Unfortunately the bit of the letter I didn't read was a warning to keep the information confidential. Oooops.

I did read about the photo-shoot and with a lot of trepidation agreed to go. This involved seeing the exhibition (lovely), meeting other prize winners (also great) - including Helen Flockhart , Jayne Stokes , James McNaught and Sheila MacMillan, who has been showing at the RGI for several decades. But I also had to get my photo taken. The photographer was friendly and professional, but had me standing on a chair as I am so short and my painting hung so high. (Which is why I don't have a better photo of it than the one above- sorry folks!)

Next, the award was given to me at the varnishing dinner. This is held in the Art Club, so I got to have a wee noisy around - the gallery spaces are (as you would expect) very well-lit. At my table was the club president and ex-president, both lovely, friendly men, with many stories of previous members. Greeting us at the door for the dinner was Karin Currie and Hazel Nagl of the RGI , both of whom looked amazingly glamourous - it is rare for me to feel under-dressed, but I did then.

Anyway, I better stop as this is becoming a long post - more later. The exhibition preview is tomorrow, with it opening to the public on Sunday at noon. It runs until the 6th of October.

4 comments:

  1. This is so exciting - very happy for you Jane!

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  2. Thank you, Daniel - and yes, very exciting! So much so I lost the ability to read!

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  3. Congratulations! Looking forward to seeing the show

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  4. There are some stunning paintings in the show this year, as always - I need to go back to get a longer, closer look. Also a couple of life drawings - never seen that before at the RGI!

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