Established | 1905 |
---|---|
Headquarters | 108 Old Brompton Road South Kensington, London, UK |
President | Laura Ford |
Vice President | Almuth Tebbenhoff |
Website | sculptors |
Formerly called | Society of British Sculptors (1905–1911) Royal Society of British Sculptors (1911–2003) Royal British Society of Sculptors (2003–2017) |
The Royal Society of Sculptors (RSS) is a British charity established in 1905, which promotes excellence in the art and practice of sculpture. Its headquarters are a centre for contemporary sculpture on Old Brompton Road in South Kensington, London. [1] It is the oldest and largest organisation dedicated to sculpture in the UK. [2] Until 2017, it was known as the Royal British Society of Sculptors. [3]
The Royal Society of Sculptors is a registered charity with a selective membership of around 700 professional sculptors. It aims to inspire, inform and engage people of all ages and backgrounds with sculpture, and to support sculptors' development of their practice to the highest professional standards.
The society has received Royal Patronage since 1911 and Her Majesty, Queen Elizabeth II is the society's current Patron.
The society was founded as a company limited by guarantee in 1905 [10] and has been a registered charity since 1963. [11] It is a selective membership-based organisation, whose members elect its governing council. The council meets regularly to review applications and select new members. [12] [13] The current president of the Board is Laura Ford. [14]
There are two types of membership: Members (formerly known as Associates until 2014 [15] ) and Fellows, who are entitled to use the MRSS and FRSS post-nominal letters. Presidents of the society are entitled to use the post-nominal letters PRSS and Vice Presidents VPRSS. [16]
Formerly FIRST@108: Public Art Award, [17] the First Plinth is a biennial £10,000 award to contribute towards the production costs of producing a large-scale sculpture, thereby offering competing sculptors the opportunity to extend their practice into competing for public art commissions. Open to any artist working in three dimensions. [18] The award is supported by the Mirisch & Lebenheim Charitable Foundation. [19] The current winner of the First Plinth: Public Art Award 2021 is Polly Morgan.
With thanks to the Brian Mercer Charitable Trust the Society offers an annual residency opportunity based at Grizedale Forest. This intensive six-week-long residency aims to foster experimentation and innovation in response to the natural environment.
Past winners
Founded in 2017, Contemporary Sculpture Fulmer is a private sculpture park in Buckinghamshire that surveys the breadth of contemporary sculptural practice. A new area of woodland has been opened out to create an environment for an artist to install a single large work or a series of works creating a solo installation. Society members and fellows are invited to propose new or recent work that is suitable for display outside over summer. The Spotlight exhibition is included on the route taken by all visitors to the gardens, but it is also separate and distinct from the rest of the sculpture trail, and as such applicants are encouraged to engage with the idea of it as a solo exhibition en plain air. The successful applicant works closely with director George Marsh. The current winner is Daniel Solomons.
Past winners
Established in 2000 as the RBS Bursary Awards, [26] it was renamed in 2018 after the artist Gilbert Bayes, whose charitable trust supports the awards. [27] This is an annual award made to a small group of emerging sculptors that the society has judged to be of outstanding talent and potential. It is designed to aid them in the transition to full professional practice, by giving them a package of professional support including an annual membership of the society. The award is open to sculptors of any age, nationality, with or without formal training and working in any medium. Past winners include: Alex Chinneck, Tessa Farmer and William Mackrell.
The wilderness island of Eilean Shona has long been an inspiration for artists and writers. To further build upon this legacy, a members-only residency has been created - a month-long opportunity for a winning member of the Royal Society of Sculptors to live on the island and reflect upon and respond to the natural environment. [28]
Past winners
For Benjamin Britten – one of the foremost composers of the 20th century – a quiet place to compose was absolutely essential. He was fortunate enough to achieve this for most of his life, spending his last two decades at The Red House, down a quiet lane on the outskirts of Aldeburgh, Suffolk. This new creative retreat at The Red House is open to women members of the Royal Society of Sculptors to spend time in Suffolk on a peaceful, creative retreat.
Past winners
Thread Residency
Thread is a residency programme and cultural centre that allows local and international artists to live and work in Sinthian, a rural village in Tambacounda, the southeastern region of Senegal. It houses two artists’ dwellings, as well as ample indoor and outdoor studio space.
Past winners
Two annual scholarships for society members to experiment with stone or bronze under instruction from master craftsmen in Pietrasanta, Italy enable sculptors to learn the technical aspects of the carving or casting process were supported by the Brian Mercer Charitable Trust. [29]
Lady Feodora Gleichen Memorial Fund (1938–1988)
The Feodora Gleichen Memorial Fund was an annual award of £100 for women sculptors and was made from works shown at the Royal Academy Summer Exhibition or any other exhibition at which works by female sculptors were shown. The Funds were administered by the Royal Academy from 1923 – 1938, after which management passed into the hands of the Royal Society of Sculptors. The fund was established following the death of Lady Feodora Gleichen, who was posthumously voted as one of the first female members of the Society alongside Christine Gregory and Flora Kendrick. Winners included Anne Acheson, Rosamund Fletcher, Karen Jonzen, Lorne McKean and Olivia Musgrave.
For many years the society awarded the Otto Beit medal, named after and funded by the philanthropist Sir Otto Beit. [30] Winners of the medal include Michael Clark, Sean Crampton, Philip Jackson, Franta Belsky, David Annand, Dennis Huntley, John W. Mills, Michael Rizzello and Judith Bluck.
Launched in 2013, Sculpture Shock encouraged surprising site-specific spatial interventions in non-traditional spaces outside the confines of a gallery. Three sculptors were awarded £3,000 and a three-month residency in Kensington. The artists then exhibited in one of three environments: Subterranean (the unseen world underneath the city), Ambulatory (without physical confines in movement through space and time) and Historic (an illustrious building in London). Sculpture Shock was supported by private philanthropists. [31]
The Royal Society for the Encouragement of Arts, Manufactures and Commerce, commonly known as the Royal Society of Arts (RSA), is a London-based organisation.
The Royal Academy of Arts (RA) is an art institution based in Burlington House in Piccadilly in London, England. Founded in 1768, it has a unique position as an independent, privately funded institution led by eminent artists and architects. Its purpose is to promote the creation, enjoyment and appreciation of the visual arts through exhibitions, education and debate.
The Royal Scottish Academy (RSA) is the country’s national academy of art. It promotes contemporary Scottish art.
Art Fund is an independent membership-based British charity, which raises funds to aid the acquisition of artworks for the nation. It gives grants and acts as a channel for many gifts and bequests, as well as lobbying on behalf of museums and galleries and their users. It relies on members' subscriptions and public donations for funds and does not receive funding from the government or the National Lottery.
The Royal Society of Miniature Painters, Sculptors and Gravers, more commonly known as the Royal Miniature Society (RMS), is an art society founded in 1895 dedicated to upholding and continuing the tradition of miniature painting and sculpture, generally meaning the painted portrait miniature, a particular English tradition.
Lady Feodora Georgina Maud Gleichen was a British sculptor of figures and portrait busts and designer of decorative objects.
The Society of Women Artists (SWA) is a British art body dedicated to celebrating and promoting fine art created by women. It was founded as the Society of Female Artists (SFA) in 1855, offering women artists the opportunity to exhibit and sell their works. Annual exhibitions have been held in London since 1857, with some wartime interruptions.
Veronica Maudlyn Ryan is a Montserrat-born British sculptor. She moved to London with her parents when she was an infant and now lives between New York and Bristol. In December 2022, Ryan won the Turner Prize for her 'really poetic' work.
Ann Christopher RA is a British sculptor known for her large-scale abstract works.
Kendra Haste is a British wildlife artist who produces both public and privately commissioned sculptures using galvanised chicken wire mesh to create wire sculptures of wild animals. She is a member of the Society of Wildlife Artists, the Royal British Society of Sculptors and the Society of Animal Artists. She lives in Surrey, England.
Rosamund Mary Beatrice Fletcher was an English sculptor. Her works were shown over twenty times at the Royal Academy Summer Exhibition from 1938 to 1965. In 1957, she became a Fellow of the Royal Society of British Sculptors and remained a Fellow until her death in 1993. Her sculpture The End of the Covert won a bronze medal in the art competitions at the 1948 Summer Olympics.
Sam Shendi is an Egyptian-born, British sculptor. He uses contemporary industrial material, steel, stainless steel, aluminium and fibreglass to create his figurative work. He lives and works in North Yorkshire.
Karin Margareta Jonzen, née Löwenadler, was a British figure sculptor whose works, in bronze, terracotta and stone, were commissioned by a number of public bodies in Britain and abroad.
Sally Arnup was an English sculptor known for her depictions of animals. Her studios were located at Holtby, a village near York.
Vivien Mary ap Rhys Pryce is a British sculptor. ap Rhys Pryce has created large public works, including fountains, and also designed medals and trophies. She is a Fellow of the Royal Society of British Sculptors.
Christine Gregory was a British sculptor and potter. She was among the first women elected as a member of the Royal Society of British Sculptors.
The British Art Medal Society (BAMS) was founded in 1982 to promote the art of the medal through commissions, exhibitions, publications and events. The society is affiliated to FIDEM.
Erica Mildred White was a British artist, notable as a sculptor and portrait painter.
Faith Winter was a British sculptor, notable for the statues and memorials to military and historical figures she created for British towns and cities.
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