No products in your shopping cart.
- Cart - £0.00
Competition for a new BAMS President medal
Update, February 2021 – the competition is now closed –
COMPETITION FOR A NEW BRITISH ART MEDAL SOCIETY (BAMS) MEDAL
BAMS hereby announces a competition for a new BAMS President’s Medal.
The BAMS President’s Medal is the society’s premier award and is presented to individuals and organisations who are considered to have made a significant contribution to the understanding, appreciation and encouragement of the art of the medal. It is usually awarded annually.
The new medal will replace a medal by Danuta Solowiej, which has been presented annually since 2009. For that medal competition, see The Medal, 51 (2007), pp. 57-64.
The medal should celebrate the unique qualities of medals and the aims of BAMS (to encourage, develop and support the practice and study of medallic art in the UK and elsewhere).
The competition is open only to artists who are BAMS members. The prize for the winner is £2,000. There is only one prize.
Artists entering the competition are asked to make drawings (or, if preferred, models) of their proposed medal. Drawings (or photographs of models) should be sent by wetransfer (www.wentransfer.com) to BAMS secretary Janet Larkin (jlarkin@britishmuseum.org). The deadline for receiving these entries is 6 January 2021.
The medal will:
- Be two-sided.
- Have a maximum size of 100 millimetres in diameter or in width and height and a maximum depth of 15 millimetres.
- Include the words BRITISH ART MEDAL SOCIETY in its design. Other text can be added at the artist’s discretion. However, no year should be included, as the medal will remain in use for some time.
The winning entry will be chosen by BAMS Council, excluding any Council members who have entered the competition.
The winner will be notified by 15 February 2021. The winner will then be expected to produce a model for Council to see and discuss before beginning production.
The winning artist will be responsible for producing 10 medals along with their presentation cases; also a printed card to be included in each case giving information on the medal, the wording to be as agreed with BAMS in advance.
The production costs of the medals and cases will be covered by BAMS, up to a maximum of £300 per medal, for which receipts will be required. BAMS will also cover postage costs.
The first medal and case will be required by 1st November 2021, with the remainder following on an annual basis. The first award using the new medal will be in 2022, the society’s 40th anniversary year.
BAMS will retain copyright on the medal, but the artist will have the right to reproduce images of the medal where appropriate, eg in catalogues of their work and on their professional website.
2020 BAMS President Medal and Marsh Award
The 2020 BAMS President’s Medal is to be awarded to the American Numismatic Society for its longstanding promotion of the history of the medal and contemporary medallic art.
The Society has been the foremost supporter of the study of medals in America since its formation in 1858. Its activities embrace many aspects of numismatics but one of its outstanding promotions has been the presentation of the J Sanford Saltus Award for distinguished achievement in the field of the art of the medal, created in 1913. This was initially awarded to American based artists but, in 1983, was extended to include artists from other countries. Since then it has honoured some of the most outstanding practitioners of the art of the medal in many countries, thus increasing the attention and prestige of this art form. Alongside its extensive educational and profile-raising activities, ranging from regular seminars, lectures and podcasts alongside publications and exhibitions, the society makes regular purchases of BAMS medals to enhance its collections and recently purchased the significant archives of the Medallic Art Company to preserve them for posterity.
The 2020 Marsh Award for the Encouragement of Medallic Art is to be awarded to Lisa McGovern of City of Glasgow College, an enthusiastic supporter of the BAMS Student Medal Project.
Lisa McGovern is Curriculum Head for Craft Design at City of Glasgow College. She teaches students who are involved with different aspects of making, such as sculpture and jewellery. In recent years Lisa has been very involved with the Student Medal Project, using it as part of the teaching curriculum at Glasgow College. In 2019 she set the theme of ‘plastics in the environment’ and the resulting student medals were very imaginative, with one awarded a prize. Lisa organised and ran a medal symposium in 2019 which brought in students and others from outside the college, and speakers such as Kate Ive, Mark Jones, Roddy Mathieson, Ulrika Kjeldsen and Marcy Leavitt Bourne. BAMS and The Marsh Christian Trust are delighted to acknowledge the work Lisa does to encourage medallic art and bring it to new audiences.
LECTURE: Enea Vico, medals and portrait prints in C16 Italy
Monday 13 January 2020
Cutlers’ Hall, Warwick Lane, London EC4 at 5.30pm
“Enea Vico, medals and portrait prints in sixteenth-century Italy”
Gemma Cornetti, Warburg Institute PhD candidate and British Museum Michael Bromberg Fellow
LECTURE: The medals of Benjamin Disraeli
Monday 10 February 2020
Cutlers’ Hall, Warwick Lane, London EC4 at 5.30pm
“’He admires the medal as a work of Art’ – The medals of Benjamin Disraeli”
Benjamin Alsop, National Trust Curator
LECTURE: Britain’s first medal collectors
Monday 11 November 2019
Cutlers’ Hall, Warwick Lane, London EC4 at 5.30pm
“Britain’s first medal collectors”
Andrew Burnett, British Museum
LECTURE: Grazing medal and other work
Monday 30 September 2019
Cutlers’ Hall, Warwick Lane, London EC4 at 5.30pm
“Grazing medal and other work”
Zoë Pearce, medallist and painter
The Marsh Award for the Encouragement of Medallic Art will be presented to Giles Last on the same evening.
BAMS Student Medal Project 2019 prizes and awards
Fourteen colleges in the UK and two from Japan created a total of 130 medals this year, a record.
The judges met on 2nd March: Rick Scorza (President of BAMS), Gregory Fattorini, Danuta Solowiej, Emma Broughton and Marcy Leavitt Bourne, with input from Janet Larkin, who was ill.
We have awarded ten prizes, one visit to an artist’s studio for a learning session, and 6 ‘Merits’
The Grand First Prize, sponsored by the Worshipful Company of Founders: Richard Barnes, City & Guilds of London Art School, with his medal As the World Falls Away (pictured).
The Grand Second Prize, sponsored by Thomas Fattorini Ltd: Gabriele Slekyte, Rochester University College of Art.
Prize presented by Pangolin Editions: Rebecca Pilot, Birmingham City University, School of Jewellery.
Prize presented by the Worshipful Company of Tin Plate Workers alias Wire Workers: Amy Eves, Central Saint Martins.
Prize presented by the Worshipful Company of Cutlers: Katie Stuart, Rochester University College of Art.
The Herbie, for a political medal: Hamed Arab Choobar, Birmingham City University, School of Jewellery.
Prize for lettering, presented by the Eric Gill Society: Sue Aperghis, City & Guilds of London Art School.
The Michael Roberts Memorial Prize: Katie Hemming, City of Glasgow College of Art.
Honourable Mention presented by the Bigbury Mint: Maike P. Venzlaff Ruiz, Edinburgh College of Art.
The ‘Best Guest’ Prize, presented by Lunts Castings: Yang Liujing, Tokyo University of Art.
The award given by Kate Harrison to enable a student maker to visit a professional studio for a learning session: Holly Worland Young, Falmouth University, School of Art.
Merit Awards, which are in recognition of good work: Aaron Jay Davies, Cardiff Metropolitan University; Georgia Fraser, City & Guilds of London Art College; Georgia Phillips, Edinburgh College of Art; Sofi E. Aptor, City of Glasgow Art College; Yume Tanaka, Rochester University College of Art; Wakana Ikeda, Nagoya University of Art.
The Prize-Giving will be on Thursday 4th April at the Art Workers’ Guild, 6 Queen Square, London WC1N 3AT from 6 pm to 8 pm*
We hope that many of the prize-winners can be there, and also those who have sponsored the prizes.
Please RSVP to marcyleavittbourne@gmail.com
BAMS New Medallist Scheme 2019
Applications for the BAMS New Medallist Scheme 2019 are now open. Artists that have left art college within the past 3 and a half years of the commencement of their participation in the scheme, and have shown a keen interest in medal-making are eligible to apply.
The award includes a £3,500 grant; a place in a medal-making course abroad; mentoring sessions with an experienced medallist; a week’s work experience in the engraving department at the Royal Mint; time with the medallic collections at the V&A and British Museum; and more.
For full information about the award and how to apply, see this link.
Annual BAMS conference 2019 – Rochester
**THE CONFERENCE IS NOW FULLY BOOKED**
Weekend Conference, Rochester, Kent, Friday 12th – Sunday 14th April 2019
“It has a long straggling High Street, with a great black and white clock at a small red Town Hall, halfway up – a market place – a cage – and assembly room – a church – a bridge – a chapel – a theatre – a library – an inn – a pump – and a post office.”
Charles Dickens, Sketches by Boz.
Join BAMS as we visit the historic city of Rochester which so inspired Dickens.
The weekend will begin with an opportunity to show and view medals at The Bridgewood Manor Hotel in nearby Chatham, which will be the base for residential delegates.
Delegates are invited to bring medals to display (at their own risk) during a pre-dinner drinks reception followed by dinner at the hotel.
Our Saturday morning we will take a coach into the city of Rochester to begin our day at The Huguenot Museum, the only museum of Huguenot history in the country. Director Dinah Winch will welcome delegates and introduce us to collections revealing the story of Britain’s first refugees and the skills they brought to the UK.
The morning lectures will feature talks by Philip Attwood, Keeper of Coins and Medals at The British Museum, on the subject of émigré medallists in Britain, and by Dutch sculptor Geer Steyn on the subject of two medals dedicated to early Dutch emigration into Queensland, Australia. The AGM will be followed by lunch at the museum. Delegates are then invited to take a guided walking tour of this small and very picturesque city. We will finish the walk at Rochester cathedral for a well-earned afternoon tea followed by a tour of this magnificent building. Early evening drinks will be held at the Guildhall Museum where we will be welcomed by the curator Steve Nye. Dinner will be taken in the 14th century vaults beneath a nearby pub, The George Vaults.
On Sunday we will again make the coach journey to our base at The Huguenot Museum where two students from the University for the Creative Arts, Rochester will talk about their work and their involvement in the BAMS student medal project. This will be followed by the traditional BAMS workshop lead by Danuta Solowiej on the theme of embossing. Lunch will be taken at the museum before delegates depart at 2pm.
To book your place, please return the 2018 delegates booking form with your cheque to Janet Larkin, or order online:
Full residential fee – £260 per person.
Non-residential fee – £145 per person (includes all lunches, dinners and events)
The full programme will be sent to delegates in advance.
Please note that places are strictly limited by the capacity at our venues. You are advised to book early to avoid disappointment.
Bookings and payments must be received by 8th March at latest when bookings will close. All bookings will be acknowledged.
We very much look forward to seeing you in the delightful city of Rochester.
© Copyright - British Art Medal Society