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LECTURE: The ironies of moderate successes …
Zoom lecture, 11 January 2021, 5.30pm GMT
The ironies of moderate successes and how plaster relief has played a part. Julian Cross, artist, sculptor, goldsmith
A link will be sent to members by email ahead of time.
Ron Dutton Award – invitation to apply
The BAMS Ron Dutton Award — invitation to apply
This award is given annually by the British Art Medal Society. It has been made by possible by a generous gift to BAMS from the sculptor and medallist Ron Dutton, which the society received in 2020.
The award is given to one or more UK-based artists who either are set to graduate from art college during the calendar year of the announcement of the award or have graduated within 12 months of the announcement. It is intended to help artists to continue to make medals after graduation.
Activities that the award is intended to assist include (but are not limited to): equipping a medal-making studio with the necessary tools travelling in order to research medals contacting organisations and individuals to encourage them to commission medals
travelling to and spending time with an experienced medallist (the society can help with placements),
Proposals are now invited from eligible artists, that is, UK-based artists who graduated in 2020 or are set to graduate in 2021. Applications ranging from €200 to €1,000 will be considered.
Proposals should include:
l. The name and full contact details of the applicant.
2. A curriculum vitae and brief statement on plans for the future.
3. Images of recent work (6 maximum).
- A brief explanation Of how the applicant intends to spend the award (200 words maximum). This should explain how the funding would allow them to continue to make medals.
- The sum applied for and a breakdown of how it is to be spent.
Applications should be sent to Janet Larkin, BAMS secretary, at jlarkin@britishmuseum.org and should be received by 19 February 2021. No email should exceed 2MB in total size or it may be blocked.
The society may subsequently request further information.
The society will decide whether to fund each application in whole or in part or not to provide funding. The society’s decision is final.
Applicants will be informed of the society’s decision by 31 March 2021. Successful applicants will receive their funding shortly afterwards.
Successful applicants will be expected to produce a brief report on how the funds have been spent and the outcomes made possible by the funding by 30 September 2021.
BAMS reserves the right to refrain from making an award in any particular year.
January 2021
LECTURE: The Omnipresent Medal
Online lecture, via Zoom, Monday 8 February, 5.30pm GMT
The omnipresent medal. Philip Attwood, Honorary Research Fellow, British Museum.
A link will be sent by email to members in advance of the lecture.
BAMS Struck Medal Award
BAMS and medal manufacturer Thomas Fattorini came together in early 2015 to create an international award for struck medals. The BAMS Struck Medal Award takes the form of a medal struck in sterling silver bearing a posthumous portrait of Thomas Peter Fattorini by Ian Rank-Broadley. It is intended to encourage artists and designers around the world to engage with struck medals and to encourage mints, both private and public, to produce struck medals of high artistic quality.
Initially the award was made annually. In years in which a FIDEM exhibition was held, the award was made for the struck medal that was considered to be the most successful in that exhibition; in other years it was awarded for the work judged to be the most successful recently produced struck medal. In 2020 it was decided that the award should be made solely in those years in which there is a FIDEM exhibition. All the struck medals shown at each FIDEM exhibition are considered for the award.
The Award
- The BAMS Struck Medal Award is presented by the British Art Medal Society and Thomas Fattorini Ltd (“the organisers”). The award was initiated in 2015 in honour of Thomas Peter Fattorini (1932-2010).
- The award is intended to encourage artists and designers to engage with struck medals and to encourage mints, both private and public, to produce struck medals of high artistic quality and to celebrate the artists and designers who provide the models and designs.
- The award takes the form of a sterling silver medal 75 millimetres in diameter bearing, on one side, a portrait of Thomas P. Fattorini by Ian Rank-Broadley and, on the other, the British Art Medal Society logo.
- Production of the award medal and its case is undertaken by Thomas Fattorini Ltd.
- The award is made to the individual artist or designer of a struck medal judged to be the most successful in each FIDEM exhibition.
- The award is international in scope and is open to artists from all countries. The winning medal may have been struck by a mint in any country.
- The winning medal may either have resulted from a commission or have been produced on the initiative of the artist or the mint concerned. The winning artist is responsible for informing the commissioner or mint about the award.
- The winner may be an independent artist/designer or an employee of the mint striking the medal or of any other body.
- Each award medal is engraved with the words THE STRUCK MEDAL AWARD, the name of the winning artist, and the year. The mint striking the winning medal is acknowledged in all publicity.
- The winning artist and the mint striking the medal are permitted to use images of the award medal for publicity purposes.
- An award may not be presented if a suitable winner cannot be identified in any exhibition.
The process
- The judges are appointed before each exhibition by agreement between Thomas Fattorini Ltd and BAMS Council.
- The judging takes place at or immediately after each FIDEM exhibition and is confirmed by BAMS Council. The decision is final.
- BAMS informs the winning artist/designer.
- Fattorini liaises with the artist/designer concerning the wording of the engraved subscription and presentation of the medal.
- The award is advertised through BAMS and FIDEM, using those organisations’ websites and networks and The Medal journal.
Competition for a new BAMS President medal
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
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