WNAA Exhibitions

The Association is not primarily an exhibiting group, but as part of promoting the work of its members usually has two exhibitions per year.

Annual Summer Exhibition

The major Summer Exhibition is always held at the time of the King's Lynn Festival, normally starting in late July and running for two weeks. For many years the venue has been the historic St Nicholas Chapel, King's Lynn, which provides a large and attractive space in which to showcase members' work. The venue is made available by the Churches Conservation Trust.

Members are permitted to enter a maximum of four works, and the exhibition is curated by a team of three selectors drawn from the WNAA membership. The curating team changes annually. The number of works selected for exhibition is at the discretion of the selectors, but normally all entrants will have at least one work selected and shown.

There are a number of awards presented at the Summer Exhibition. The Syd Davison award for the best work in the show is chosen by an invited guest selector. Syd was the first chairman of the WNAA, who sadly died in 2004. The award, an engraved glass trophy for the winner to keep in perpetuity, was set up in Syd's memory by his wife Joyce.

Visitors to the show are invited to vote for their favourite work, which leads to the Visitors' Choice award, a cheque for £50 sponsored by the WNAA.

Finally, the Association has recently also been able to present several Purchase Prizes, thanks to the generosity of local sponsors who have agreed to purchase one or more works from the exhibition.

Other exhibitions

For most of its life the WNAA has only held one exhibition per year. However, in 2009 and 2010 the Association has held a second exhibition, during the month of May. Both these exhibitions were on a "Small Works" theme, with the size of exhibited works being limited to twelve inches square including any frame.

For 2011 the "Small Works" theme continued, this time with an exhibition in the Shakespeare Barn at King's Lynn Arts Centre, from the 10th - 17th September. Curated by Andrew Schumann and John Hughes, the exhibition was much admired by visitors to the Arts Centre. Each work was placed on a square painted background, the colour being the choice of the artist, and this created a very striking display. In the Spring of 2012 a third exhibition will be added, with the theme "Tall and Thin". This will be held during the month of May, at Greyfriars Art Space, King's Lynn.

How to take part in a WNAA exhibition

Association exhibitions are only open to members, so you first need to ensure that your membership of the WNAA is current. There are a number of rules for each exhibition, relating to size and type of work and how recently it has been created. The venues used normally require invigilating throughout the run of the show, so members entering work must be prepared to undertake two or more invigilating sessions of usually 3 hours each.

Entry details for all WNAA exhibitions are published in the Update newsletter well in advance of each show. If you wish to enter a particular exhibition and have not received entry information, use the details on the Contact page to get in touch.