| 149TH ANNUAL EXHIBITION 2010 |

 

 

 

Annual Exhibition 2010 - Introduction from Catalogue

 

This Catalogue is full of information on the RGI itself, the Artists, Award Donors, Award Winners, our Advertisers and our Volunteers.

 

Purchases can be made at the Desk and OWN ART terms are available.

 

If you are viewing in the evening do come back in the daytime when the light is shining through the magnificent ceiling onto the works of art below.

 

If you have not looked at our website please do so for information on all our many activities, history and new developments. Call up www.royalglasgowinstitute.org.

 

Each year it seems I have record the death of one of our own. This year started badly with the loss of our Hon President Jimmy Robertson. His family has kindly allowed us to exhibit three works in a memorial tribute.

 

PRIZES are the lifeblood of an open exhibition. The Inverarity One to One Award by Inverarity Vaults Limited continues and is open to all who have a work selected. The cash prize of £1000, a possible commission to produce work for an own label Inverarity Vaults wine, two weeks in a vineyard in France. Part of the prize is provided by the RGI itself - a solo exhibition in the RGI Kelly Gallery of works inspired by the visit. This is the 4th year. Ronnie Smith - 2nd winner - has just had a very successful show. Look out for the details in 2010 of the exhibition of last year's winner Rosalind Lawless.

 

Our most grateful thanks also go to Inverarity who have continually helped us throughout the year with wines at all our functions. Wine Tastings, in our gallery, have been exceptional evenings.

 

To every one of the many Donors of awards thank you. You give the exhibition a wonderful cutting edge and added incentive to reach for high standards. These generous individuals and institutions give their annual prize in many cases for years. The awards builds up renown and prestige, and they become beacons in the curricula vitae of the winners. New awards this year are the A4A Art Foundry Prize and the Norma Frame Foundation Award.

 

We continue our quest for sponsors of the Exhibition which is a massive expense. BARCLAYS CORPORATE and BARCLAYS WEALTH have stepped forward and I am thrilled to announce and thank them for their generous sponsorship to help us this year. I hope they lead by example. If you are contemplating sponsorship of an award or the exhibition as a whole, or part of it such as the catalogue, or the photography or the printing, then please contact myself or the office. Next year we become 150 years old and it promises to be our most active and imaginative. NOW is the time to consider sponsorship if ever there was one for this milestone.

 

We welcome our new RGI Neil MacPherson RSA who was elected by his peers in April. We have enjoyed his work in the past and look forward to seeing it in this and future exhibitions.

 

All Artists please note the entry date for the magnificent 2010 Jolomo Award.

 

My thanks to our Secretary Lesley Nicholl, the entire Council for unstinting work, and our Convenor Simon Laurie and his team of Selectors and Hangers. Neil McIntosh and his team of professional handlers, partition builders, and quality executors of all practical jobs, have created with them and all the artists, whether they have been selected or not, an Exhibition I hope you will discover is a thoroughly enjoyable, varied and interesting visit to The Mitchell.

 

Be you an admirer or a creator of art why not join the RGI for a modest sum and contribute to the long history it has in supporting contemporary art. Entries and award winners come from all airts. Next year - our 150th - will be a great and exciting year. Be part of it from the inside.

 

Gordon C Macpherson

President