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I was amazed and truly humbled to be awarded the Best New Artist Award at the Hilliard Society Miniature Exhibition in June! In my latest post I share my journey from the canvas to the award ceremony.
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Dreams of a Miniature Art Exhibition
Earlier this year, for World Wildlife Day, I made a fitting start on a little squirrel, subsequently named “Oh Hai!”, with the hope to submit him to a Miniature Art exhibition, along with my little robin, “Frosty Morning”, from a ‘live drawalong’ last year.
On a very exciting (and a bit nerve-wracking) day in March I submitted these two miniatures into my first exhibition…! The Hilliard Society Miniature Exhibition is juried, so then began the agonising wait for five days to see if they passed the first pre-selection (for newbies!) stage…!
Pre-selected for Exhibition
On 20th March, I was delighted to say that ‘Oh Hai!’ and ‘Frosty Morning’ passed the pre-selection for the Hilliard Society Miniature Exhibition with this lovely feedback: “The pre-selection committee’s reaction to your work was unanimously positive. The committee were incredibly impressed with your drawings and would very much like to encourage you to send them in for the Exhibition.”
Amusingly, (for my artist friends who often comment on how small I work!) when I went back for further advice on framing, the Society also said, “Your artwork is actually quite big for a miniature. Because it is so good and so detailed, the committee would love for you to submit them for the exhibition, as you are a first time exhibitor with all the signs of being a first class miniaturist, and they hope that in future years you might rise to the challenge to work just a little bit smaller.”
(Wow!)
So the day was then spent researching and ordering more suitable frames to fit the high standards required by the Society, ready to send them off for the exhibition committee to view in person, and in hope that they would get juried in!
(And maybe next year I’ll have to rise to that challenge and see if I can produce something smaller..!)
‘Oh Hai!’ and ‘Frosty Morning’ – Both just over 3.75” square, coloured pencil on drafting film.
Mid-April, I waved these two off to The Hilliard Society all framed up with their beautiful new miniature frames. The next time I would see them would be in the exhibition in Wells in June (where they were also up for sale)!
Best New Artist!
In May I was contacted to say that ‘Oh Hai!’ had secured me the Best New Artist Award at the Hilliard Society Miniature Exhibition in June! How exciting/amazing is that?!
“Member Chesca Burrows of Four Paws and a Pencil is very proud of this piece [Oh Hai!], with good reason. It was submitted and accepted for the Hilliard Society Miniature Exhibition, which took place last month. Chesca also won the Best New Artist Award with him! What a great achievement Chesca, well done, he is rather gorgeous.”
Association of Animal Artists – 16 July 2024
I’m still super in love with my little squizzel, and delighted that he was recognised as something special amongst all the talent on show at this prestigious exhibition!!
The Exhibition Day
What an absolutely lovely day I had in Wells, visiting The Hilliard Society Miniature Exhibition for their lunch and awards ceremony. I was honoured to receive the award for Best New Artist, and delighted to be able to travel down to receive it in person!
Not only is Wells the most beautiful city and the historic town hall the perfect setting, the exhibition itself was nothing short of magnificent. An incredible array of works of art in all mediums and a huge variety of subject matter. It was impossible to pick even half a dozen favourites!
Most wonderfully, the people themselves were all really friendly! As a new artist and at my first exhibition, it was easy to feel intimidated when surrounded by so much talent – but I was made to feel incredibly welcome. I met and chatted to three of the incredibly accomplished artists whose works I had admired on first discovering the Hilliard Society earlier in the year and they couldn’t have been nicer or more encouraging to this green newbie.
Side note, to see their work, along with that of a couple of other artists I had similarly admired prior to submitting my own drawings) in person was mind-blowing, the website does not do it justice compared to getting up close and personal with these exquisite miniatures!!
Reflection
For me, it was also lovely to see a couple of pieces in graphite, and three other artists pieces in coloured pencil – the most traditional miniature mediums seem to be watercolour, oil and acrylic, so I wasn’t sure how my pencil work would fit in… I needn’t have worried at all as each medium is respected in its own right, and whilst I remain humbled by the talent on display and know I have a lot still to learn, I didn’t feel out of place either. ❤️
I came away from the day feeling incredibly inspired – possibly to re-dabble with my watercolours, but mostly to work hard on some new coloured pencil pieces so that I can return next year smaller and stronger!!
Now I just need to decide what to draw for next year’s entries…
Own “Oh Hai!” or “Frosty Morning”
Both these miniature drawings are available to buys as 3.75″ square prints in my store!
