Park Gallery is a delightful gallery located in the Montpellier area of Cheltenham, the ‘Arts Quarter’ of a beautiful Regency town. The gallery is proud to announce that it is running its first ever art competition. With the theme “New Life”, the competition is being run in association with Cheltenham’s long running and hugely successful Christian Arts Festival and will feature in CAF's GOSPEL 2023 festival. The competition has two categories, an Open category for all ages and experience, and a Schools category, open to years 9 to 13.
We're really pleased to have the Schools category run through the Cheltenham Education Partnership whose aims Park Gallery is excited to help play a small part - "to expand the horizons of young people in Cheltenham and to help them realise their full potential."
As an independent gallery, we enjoy connecting personally with our artists, and would like to work with more, whether established or new in their artistic vocation! That is why in addition to cash prizes we are also offering representation at the gallery. This not only means space on our walls in a desirable area of Cheltenham but also promotion amongst our patrons and the public, whether online (website and social media) or locally.
The competition is now closed for submissions.
The theme is ‘New Life’ and all successful artworks will need to creatively embrace this idea.
- The competition is available to anyone, regardless of religion, age, skill level etc.
- Painting/drawing/mixed media/sculpture are all accepted
Entrants will be judged on how well the theme has been incorporated into their artwork. Consideration will also be given to the artist's approach to typical elements of art such as creativity, composition, colour, technique etc.
Prizes
Open category
First prize: £1,000 plus representation at Park Gallery for three months with review to extend.
Second prize: £200 plus representation at Park Gallery for one month for two paintings with review to extend.
Schools category
First prize: £150. The winner’s work will be displayed in the window of Park Gallery for two weeks following the award.
Second prize: The runner up’s artwork will be displayed in Park Gallery for two weeks following the award.
Finalists & Awards Evening
A total of 8 finalists from the open category and 4 finalists from the Schools category have been selected. These finalists have also been invited to an awards evening at the beautiful Queens Hotel, Cheltenham, situated just around the corner from the gallery. Final considerations will be made on the awards day and the winner and runner up for each category announced in the evening.
This will be a great evening where we'll celebrate together, both finalists, guests and judge.
The finalist's work will also be exhibited by the Christian Arts Festival on 23nd April 2023.
The Judge
Celebrated artist and sculptor of international repute P J Crook, will be judging the competition in conjunction with Park Gallery. P J Crook is represented by the Panter & Hall gallery on Pall Mall in London and Galerie Alain Blondel in Paris as well as dealers in Canada and New York as well as London.
P J Crook also is a true patron of the arts and has received numerous awards including an honorary doctorate of art in 2010 and MBE for services to art in 2011.
Key Dates
| July ’22 | Open Competition launch |
| October ’22 | Schools Competition launch |
| 27th February | Entry deadline for digital submission for both competitions |
| 13th March | Notification and invitation to awards evening of successful finalists |
| 20th April | Competition awards evening for finalists at the Queens Hotel, Cheltenham |
The Rules
Open competition
- A maximum submission of two pieces of art allowed.
- Digital photo submissions only
Finalists
All finalists will be required to supply the artwork for display before midday on the 20th April 2023.
It is necessary that both the artwork and artist are available for the awards evening. If this is not possible then their invitation will be forfeit and another entrant will be invited to attend instead.
If a finalist is not available for that evening, then a representative can be nominated. If the artwork and the artist or representative cannot make the awards evening then their invitation will be forfeit another entrant will be invited to attend instead.
Schools competition
The rules are the same as the Open category, however only 4 finalists will be selected.
Terms and Conditions
By entering the competition you are giving permission for:
- Artwork to be displayed at the Town Hall on the 23rd April during the Christian Arts Festival (CAF) weekend.
- Park Gallery and CAF to use any of the submitted digital images in any publicity whether printed or digital (online).
Sales
All artwork submitted to the Open category will be available for selection to sell publicly and exclusively through Park Gallery (50% commission applies) unless the artist specifies that they do not wish to for their artwork to be sold. This includes art sold during the CAF weekend (April 22/23 2023), or any exhibition of the work during the following 4 months after 20 April 2023. Valuation of any paintings selected for sale will be set by Park Gallery and agreed with the artist. All submitted artwork cannot be sold privately during the following 4 months after 20 April 2023.
Collaboration
In association with:
Supported by:
Schools category run through:
