SLWA at Dulwich Library and the Pavilion Café, Dulwich Park 28 February to 27 March

Final date for submissions – 12 February.

The Selection panel is – Mella Shaw, artist and Head of Exhibitions at Dulwich Picture Gallery, Frances Borzello, writer, and Pippa Graber, of Art Dog Gallery, who will also be curating the show.
Read on to find out more about their backgrounds…

Welcome to the South London Women Artists membership pages

Click on the page tabs at the top to find out about SLWA News, Opportunities and Members Activities.

Contact us with any news, exhibition reviews or opportunities you’d like to publish.

Check back regularly and subscribe to our newsletter to keep up to date.
(This is a different newsletter from the SLWA showcase, so please subscribe to both.)

Matt Roberts at SLWA PPD, Monday 1st February

Matt Roberts of Matt Roberts Arts spoke with SLWA members last Monday 01 Feb as part of our on-going Personal and Professional Developments talks.

Matt Roberts is a not-for-profit organisation which is dedicated towards supporting creative practitioners: artists, designers, photographers etc. in developing their practice and professional knowledge from their project space on Vyner Street, E2 9DG.

If you missed this talk, here is what Matt Roberts Arts has to offer:

- Professional development lectures and portfolio discussions

- Two annual open submission exhibitions

- A free quarterly online art magazine

- A free programme of national and international touring exhibitions

In order to receive the full range of bespoke professional development and to apply for Matt Roberts open submission Salon and Video art Prize you must be a member of Matt Roberts Arts. Membership is £8 per year for those based in the UK and £10 for those based internationally

For further information www.mattroberts.org.uk

Bankside News: Amendments to submission

Please note that the Private View is now 28th April.

Amendments to the Submission Form:

1 Naming of jpgs – surname with first name initial, and the number 1, 2 or 3
e.g.: bloggsj1.jpg bloggsj2.jpg bloggsj3.jpg

2 Maximum sizes – ignore square meters or meters cubed. :
Maximum dimensions are
2D work – including frame – height 1.2 m (120 cm) x width 1.2 m (120 cm)
3D work – excluding plinth – height 1.2 m (120 cm) x width 1.2 m (120 cm) x depth 1.2 m (120 cm)

Top tips from the Bankside workshop: Frames and images

Frames and images – Presenting your work to its best advantage

“Your aim should be to have a catalogue of images of your work at two resolutions, in this way you can instantly respond to sales enquiries or a call for artists.” Julie Bennett

“In more cases than not, a great frame will complete a picture and in turn you can justify that higher price tag” Beth Wintgens

Get good advice from these SLWA professionals:
Beth Wintgens on framing and
Julie Bennett on photographing your work 

Check out some offers for frames and professional photography on the Noticeboard.

Choosing the best frames for your work

by Beth Wintgens, Framer, SLWA

Framing is about enhancing and complimenting an artwork.

Badly presented work cheapens it , can make it stand out in an exhibition for the wrong reasons, and lets down the pieces surrounding it
A well framed piece it shows the artist is proud of her workand that it her how it is seen on the wall.

So things to think about…

Creating perfect images of your work for submission

by Julie Bennett Graphic Designer, SLWA

Your aim should be to have a catalogue of images of your work at two resolutions
- for print at 300dpi/3mb
- for emailing and the web at 72dpi/500k
In this way you can instantly respond to sales enquiries or a call for artists

Here are the stages to achieve that:

Offer to members: Photographing your work

Present your work to its best advantage: Get your artwork photographed by a professional photographer.
At Bainbridge studios and gallery

Simply drop off your work and collect it 3days later with a CD with your digitalized images.
The CD will contain two versions of each image, one suitable for emailing the other being high resolution ready to print.

Prices 10 images – £50
or £10 per image
2D and 3D work

For more information or examples of other work photographed please contact: info@bainbridgestudios.co.uk or telephone 07970929645

South London Women Artists at Dulwich Library

TWO WEEKS to Submission date 8-12 February A great event, two splendid locations, low risk, high opportunity. 5 out of 25 works sold in October Opportunity to hang 47 works this time plus some 3D work. Submissions to Torie Wilkinson, toriewilkinson@yahoo.co.uk
Full details of the submission process are under the Opportunities tab A good exhibition at Dulwich Library raises SLWA’s profile ahead of the Bankside Show!

“It was a fun evening and great to meet some of the other members for the first time. I thought it was a really strong show particularly because of the diversity of the work.” Serena Rowe SLWA.

Top tips from the Bankside workshop: How you can help publicise the exhibition

#1 Add the strap line to your email signature

Think how many emails we are all going to send by May! Free publicity to thousands!
Do it now! Make your email signature:

www.southlondonwomenartists.co.uk showcase comes to town.
Bankside Gallery 28 April - 3 May: Discover, Decide, Buy

To find out how to do this put “signature” into the Help search box of your email and follow the instructions.

#2 Promote the exhibition on your own website

Include the exhibition dates and a link to SLWA’s website:

Wednesday April 28th – Monday May 3rd 2010. Open daily 11-6pm
http://www.southlondonwomenartists.co.uk/bankside

Look out for more tips and Bankside news in the coming weeks

News: Success of our Bankside workshop, Jan 23

“Loved the buzz – it’s going to be a good show – very inspiring”

“A brilliantly organised, professional, useful day. Thanks for kick-starting me into the New Year!”

“Excellent day – I learnt some tricks of the trade from Anita”

Forty SLWA were at Dulwich Picture Gallery for a workshop ‘Presenting your work to its best advantage.’ which was full of practical tips and sound advice from practitioners. The repeated message was:  “Invest in your work – it shows you are proud of it”

We heard from Pippa Graber, Gallery owner, Bankside selector and curator about the importance of presenting you work well, both when submitting for an exhibition and when it is hung. “Exposure, exposure, exposure” was her motto. She also talked about price. “You have one price, for the web, for you own sales, for galleries. Don’t undercut the galleries. They will stop selling you and you will lose your outlets”

Anita Klein, artist, and print maker, had previously exhibited at Bankside. Her message was “If you want to support yourself by your work you have to be professional and committed. Always get back to any request within 24 hours. Having a catalogue of top quality images of your work is essential.”

Julie Bennett, a SLWA who has created the public face of SLWA with the design for our flyers, underlined the importance of a catalogue of good images. She provided information on how to take good pictures and how to manipulate them.

Beth Wintgens, a SLWA painter has recently taken over her parents framing shop, so she understands the business from both angles. “Good quality bespoke framing can be expensive, but this expenditure is well worth it if it secures a sale. The cost of framing is added on top of what you would normally charge so you can reimburse your costs when the painting sells…it more cases than not, a great frame will complete a picture and in turn you can justify that higher price tag”
[Ed: For special offers on framing for SLWA members go to our Noticeboard]

Look out next week for a summary of the tips given by Beth and Julie.

Artists had a full hour to discuss frames with Beth, to try out different packages like Photoshop and Microsoft Picture Manager on half a dozen laptops, to talk to Pippa about pricing chat with other SLWAs and meet Janice Tchalenko, our third selector, who joined us for the morning.

A final wrap up on Bankside Submission processes, the PV and how everyone can help with Bankside publicity brought an excellent session to an end.

In the next few weeks we will be passing on tips for the workshop and info on the PV etc in Bankside News – Keep reading.

“All sounds fantastic. It shows what can be achieved as a group”