In September I had the honor of attending the opening reception of the Ruth Borchard Self Portrait Prize at the Atkinson Museum in Southport UK. The in-person distinguished shortlist exhibition had about 35 works on display from over 1800 entries, Read more on the Atkinson site.
The winning piece by Colin Davidson is an astounding 3d printed head that he scaled up from a model and then painted. The scale can be seen with me standing next to it! Colin Davidson is a Northern Irish artist who has painted the Queen and many prominent figures in the UK and beyond. The award was announced by Robert Travers of Piano Nobile gallery, with Ruth's son Richard Borchard present as well as Stephen Whittle from the Atkinson museum.
I had an amazing time meeting some of the other artists and seeing so many admirable works a few seen here above: Runner up Joel Ely's self portrait as still life, Shani Rhys James' portrait in red shoes, Tom Mead with his glitched self portrait, Rob Cowan's green tracksuit, George Rowlett and Kyla Tomlinson.
Here are some photos from my mixed media 3D self portrait 'A Window In'.
Behind me you can also see Emily Tull and Claire Luxton's portraits. With some strange coincidence I ended up wearing a coat from 1910 that was my great great Aunty's who often visited Southport as a young woman, the same year Ruth Borchard was born, it seemed maybe meant to be.
The exhibition is open until December 16th at The Atkinson Museum, Southport, UK
Mon-Sat. 10am-4pm. Free entry