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Sally Accepted by SWLA Exhibition
Sally has recently been accepted by the Society of Wildlife Artists’ annual exhibition, held at the Mall Galleries in London.
The exhibition is billed as the most prestigious event in the British wildlife art calendar, featuring just over 400 works of art submitted by both members and non-members of the Society. The inaugural exhibition of the Society of Wildlife Artists (SWLA) was held in London in 1964. The SWLA, which is one of only nine members of the Federation of British Artists (FBA), seeks to “generate an appreciation of and enthusiasm for the natural world” by exhibiting paintings, sculptures and photographs that “evoke the spirit of nature”. Sally was accepted for her piece entitled The Leap, which depicts a gnu leaping from a rock. The sculpture is particularly notable for the technical difficulties that have been overcome during the casting phase of its production. The gnu’s body arches out over a stretch of water, with only one hoof remaining on the rock from which it jumps. As a result, the entire weight of the gnu’s bronze body relies solely on this one hoof for support. Due to this difficulty, Sally struggled to find a foundry that would cast her sculpture. Eventually, she discovered Bellwood Fine Art, a foundry in Wales that decided it would be possible to cast the gnu. When asked how she felt about being exhibited by SWLA, the artist said, “Martin Bellwood – the owner of the foundry – deserves a lot of the credit. Without him, the sculpture would never have been cast and would never have reached the exhibition.” Over the past ten to fifteen years, the exhibition has seen an increase in abstract art. Although the more traditional mediums such as oil and bronze are still represented, there has been a recent shift towards the acceptance of new, innovative materials such as steel, rubber and even chicken wire. One of this year’s entrants, Harriet Mead, has been praised for her piece depicting a pelican made from scrap metal. Last year’s exhibition featured a crocodile made out of old bike chains. According to Chris Rose, the governor of the FBA, the SWLA is able to maintain an extremely high standard of art due to its “rigorous selection process”, which sees around 400 artworks chosen from over 1,000 submissions by a selection panel made up of nine members of the Society’s council. Thanks to the enormous number of entrants, the selection panel can afford to maintain an extremely high quality of art, making the SWLA’s exhibition one of the most internationally renowned of its kind. This year’s exhibition will feature artists from Russia, Spain, Italy, Canada and America, as well as the UK. The 42nd annual SWLA exhibition takes place at the Mall Galleries in London between the 27th September and the 8th October. Please follow the links below to find out more about the exhibition and how to get to the gallery. Society of Wildlife Artists Getting To the Exhibition |
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