The 76th annual Exmouth Art Group exhibition showcased the talents of a wide variety of artists and creatives in Devon.

The 13-day exhibition was held on the second floor event space in Ocean’s seafront venue, with floor to ceiling windows overlooking the River Exe.

On display and for sale was a broad array of high-quality artwork including paintings, mixed media, drawings, prints and three-dimensional work, as well as a large selection of greetings cards featuring members’ artwork.

The winners of the coveted Norah Pearse Trophy were selected by local and internationally renowned artist Dawn Jordan, who spent hours exploring the 300 paintings and drawings submitted by members of the popular art group.

Dawn explained that the standard was so high, it was a daunting task to choose just three winners; in fact, ten additional artists were presented with the ‘highly commended’ award. 1st - Penny Silverthorne, ‘Honesty Life Cycle’ 2nd - Annegret Nicholas, ‘Fresh as a Daisy’ 3rd - Hilary Ferns, ‘Riverside Woodland, Devon’ The Neilson trophy, chosen by the Art Group’s President, Gillie Newcombe, was awarded to Soo Rimmer, for ‘Canal Art - Scales’ This year’s best in show Channel Cup winner, voted by the public, was Linda Bartlett with her painting entitled ‘Coastal Sunset’, and the art group members voted for their favourite piece for the Shelley trophy, with Nick Phipps with ‘The Crest’ being the most popular choice.

The exhibition was launched at a VIP preview event on October 13, attended by the Patrons of Exmouth Art Group, Nigel and Heleen Lyndsay-Fynn, County Councillor Jeff Trail, and many local business people. The evening was attended by over 150 guests who revelled in the quality and range of artwork, with many pieces being sold before it opened to the public the following day.

The remainder of the exhibition was attended by 1,500 visitors from the local area and those enjoying a vacation in the South West. 146 pieces of artwork and 372 cards were sold, and the raffle raised £1,000 for Exeter-based charity, the South West MS Centre, chosen by last year’s Channel Cup winner.

The raffle was drawn by Rory Gibson, Chair of the charity and fellow Exmouth resident, who was overwhelmed by the excellent quality of work and promptly signed himself up for membership to the art group. Part of the exhibition space featured work from students at Exmouth Community College undertaking their Art A-Levels.

The winner of the students’ work, selected by Gillie Newcombe, was Alice Parker with second prize to Louisa Jones. The exhibition also featured a panel displaying work of the group’s youngest members (aged 11) to the oldest (90+), highlighting that the group welcomes people of all ages to join.

Gillie Newcombe hailed the annual exhibition as one of the group’s best yet and thanked Ocean for their hospitality and excellent service, and the Exhibition Committee for organising the whole event.

She expressed her gratitude to Dawn Jordan for sharing a day with the committee to judge the artwork, to all of the visitors, to the tutors and students of Exmouth Community College, and especially to all of the members of Exmouth Art Group who provided such wonderful quality artwork and volunteered their time to support the event.

For those interested in finding out more about Exmouth Art Group and how to join, please visit http://www.exmouthartgroup.co.uk/.

Their next exhibition will be in May 2023.