ILMINSTER Arts Centre is now accepting entries to the annual Open Exhibition.

The deadline for entries to the exhibition, which will help local artists get their work seen, is 6pm on Friday, May 3.

Paintings, original prints, drawings, sculptures, ceramics and textile pieces will be considered for exhibiting.

This doesn't include photography.

An award will be set aside for emerging artists. There will be a total prize of £750 to be won across several awards.

Winning artists will be invited back to take part in a group exhibition in 2025.

The art centre's website explains further: "A total of £750 in prize money will be awarded and awards will include one overall winner, two runners up, an emerging artist prize (Students and recent Bachelor Degree graduates) and a Visitors' Choice Award, voted for by our visitors during the month-long exhibition.

"The Ilminster Open Exhibition 2024 is supported by Somerset Art Works, a countywide agency dedicated to developing the visual arts, and sponsored by local firm Branston."

Judges will include Anna Morris, Christine Ackerman and Art Centre manager Bryony Tidball.

The judges will be assisted by expert sculptor and arts centre volunteer Mike Lanigan.

Painter Stewart Geddes will also be on the judging panel. Stewart, who is a former president of the Royal West of England Academy (RWA), used to be an associate lecturer at Bridgwater and Taunton College.

Stewart has also worked with Philip Selway of Radiohead in producing visuals for his solo albums Strange Dance and Live at Evolution Studios.

In 2019 he curated ‘Albert Irvin and Abstract Expressionism’ in conjunction with the Albert Irvin Estate and Tate Gallery at the RWA.

Stewart currently works at BV Studios in Bristol.

Judge Anna Morris, an art teacher, completed an MA in Fine Art at Wimbledon College (University of the Arts London). 

She has exhibited in galleries in the UK such as the Irving Gallery and the Wiseman Gallery in Oxford, showcasing her work which explores the transient effects of light.

Meanwhile, Christine Ackerman is a painter and former Trustee of the Art Centre, whilst Bryony Tidball is an ex-student of Bridgwater and Taunton College.