More than 300 “beautiful and intriguing” works will be on display in the Aberdeen Artists Society’s virtual exhibition taking place this weekend.
Dr Donnie Ross, president of Aberdeen Artists Society, said the organisation had “an excellent response” from artists based all over the UK.
He said: “They have submitted a host of beautiful and intriguing artworks in all media and in a wide range of styles.”
The virtual exhibition, which will include works produced during or after 2019, will open online on Saturday June 12 and will conclude on Sunday August 29.
The society is an artist-led membership organisation, which aims to raise awareness of contemporary visual arts in the north-east and throughout Scotland by providing a forum for creatives to exhibit and promote their work.
Decision to exhibit artworks online
While the society hoped to return to Aberdeen Art Gallery for the first time since 2014 following the gallery’s reopening after an extensive refurbishment, Donnie said they decided to host the exhibition online due to Covid-19 uncertainty.
Donnie, who is also Grampian Hospitals Art Trust founder-member and retired medical director of NHS Grampian, stated: “For many year we’ve had our annual exhibition at Aberdeen Art Gallery and last year – because of coronavirus – while we planned to host the exhibition there again, we weren’t able to do that for obvious reasons.
“This year, again, we hoped to return to the Art Gallery, but it proved to be unlikely to happen – you need to set these things up months in advance, so it wasn’t possible.
“The Art Gallery said to us they hope to see us back again in 2022.”
Donnie said that even though they want to host the exhibition in the popular Aberdeen venue next year, he thinks online showcases will become “permanent features” of what the art organisation does.
“Even if we go back – and we certainly hope that it will happen – we would probably have a parallel online show as well.”
Aberdeen Artists Society is known for showcasing works from both professionals and amateur creatives, with the works selected according to the best judgement of skilled and experienced curators.
Locals will also have the chance to buy artworks when they go on display this weekend.
Art prizes up for grabs
The north-east art organisation will also hand out the following awards:
- The AAS Prizes for excellence: 4 awards of £250
- The MSD* Design Ltd Prize for Drawing and Painting 2021 – Prize: £500
- The GRP* Aberdeen Ltd Prize for Drawing and Painting 2021 – Prize: £500
- The Donnie Ross Prizes for Innovation and Creativity in Watercolour painting – 1x £500 and 2x £250
The MSD Design Ltd* and GRP Aberdeen Ltd* prizes in the list above were gifted by Martin Stevenson, who is the owner of both companies with the aim of encouraging and championing traditional drawing and painting imbued with the British school aesthetic.
All winners will be announced on Saturday June 12.
To find out more, visit www.aberdeenartistssociety.co.uk