The 207th Exhibition of the RI officially opened yesterday at 3pm to a packed gallery of visitors keen to view this year’s RI members’ collections alongside the 38% of exhibition submissions by non members in the open section and RI Candidate collections. President Rosa Sepple welcomed everyone and then handed over to Anthony Lester who made an entertaining and thought provoking speech before declaring the 207th exhibition open. The presentation of prizes and awards followed with congratulations given to all recipients. Finally the four new members elected to membership in 2018 were invited to the stage to collect their membership diplomas.
Image L to R,top to bottom: Visitors gather for the speeches and award ceremony; Candidate Zi Ling wins the Cass Art Prize; Anthony Lester entertains the audience; Rosa Sepple PRI welcomes exhibitors and visitors; Rosa with new member Tianya Zhou RI, beside his award winning collection; Deborah Walker RI RSMA is awarded The ArtsBox Solo Prize; Tianya Zhou RI receives his membership diploma from President Rosa Sepple; Lillias August RI beside her awarding winning collection with the Megan Fitzoliver Brush Award and The Escoda Barcelona Award; Tianya Zhou RI with his award winning collection of watercolours.
| Royal Institute of Painters in Water Colours 207th Exhibition | Prizes & Awards 2019 | ||
| Award | Winner | Work |
| The Winsor & Newton Award (£3,000) | Tianya Zhou RI | Tibetan Ama (407) |
| The Winsor & Newton Product Prize | Felipe Chavez | Building a Stalker (73) |
| The ArtsBox Solo Prize | Deborah Walker RI RSMA | Group of work (374 – 379) |
| The Leathersellers’ Prize | Junwei Dai | Tuscan Sunshine (92) |
| The Matt Bruce RI Memorial Award | Tim Gustard | The Little Pasta Tin (157) |
| The James Fletcher-Watson RI Award | Geoffrey Wynne RI | Revolution in the Academy (395) |
| The Baohong Artists’ Watercolour Paper Prize for a Member | Harry Price RI | Medieval Fishpond, Baddesley Clinton (292) |
| The Baohong Artists’ Watercolour Paper Prize for a Non-Member | Juliette Losq | Corpus (220) |
| The Chaoshan Watercolour Award | Pauline Fazakerley RI | The Old Booking Hall (119) |
| The Neil Meacher RI Watercolour Award | Matthew Phinn | Runswick Bay (279) |
| The Cass Art Prize | Zi Ling | Bridge (217) |
| The Richard Plincke RI Prize for Colour | Delia Cardnell RI | Evening Light (60) |
| The John Purcell Paper Prize | John Wiltshire | Us and You with a Ring of Salt (386) |
| The Debra Manifold RI Memorial Award | Gary Denny | Celt (100) |
| The Dry Red Press Award | Julia Trickey | The Last Rose (369) |
| The Escoda Barcelona Award | Lillias August RI | Empty Nests (9) |
| The Frank Herring Easel Award | Yellon Ran Huang | The City You and I Live In – 2A (178) |
| The Megan Fitzoliver Brush Award | Lillias August RI | Empty Nests (9) |
| The Schmincke Prize | Paul Murray | Hillside Thaw (245) |
| The Anthony J Lester Art Critic Award | David Gleeson | The Vanishing Museum: Kelvingrove (140) |