Young Artists' Summer Show 2020
19 October 2020 - 10 January 2021
Clore Learning Centre
Tues–Sun: 10am–6pm
To visit, please book a free ticket to our Collection Gallery.
Friends of the RA go free
Inspired by the RA’s iconic Summer Exhibition, the Young Artists’ Summer Show brings together work by primary and secondary-level students from across the UK and beyond.
The RA is closed due to coronavirus restrictions, and will reopen when government guidance allows.
For ticket enquiries or to move tickets to future dates, please contact us on 0207 300 8090 or tickets@royalacademy.org.uk, 10am – 5pm.
Artists are at the heart of everything we do – we’ve been championing them since 1768 and firmly believe in nurturing young talent.
Last year, we launched our first Young Artists’ Summer Show which is back for a second year and curated by Cathie Pilkington RA, artist and Keeper of the RA Schools. We received more than 17,700 inspiring and inventive submissions from artists aged 5 to 19 – and our expert panel of judges whittled it down to 392 artworks, all of which are available to view online with a selection of works in the on-site exhibition in the Clore Learning Centre. It's a unique opportunity to encounter ambitious work from some of today's most promising young artists.
Tues–Sun: 10am–6pm
To visit, please book a free ticket to our Collection Gallery.
Friends of the RA go free
Supporters
Made possible by
Robin Hambro
Inside the Young Artists’ Summer Show 2020
Our expert judges sifted through nearly 18,000 submissions, a record number, to select artworks to be exhibited as part of the Young Artists’ Summer Show. Due to the second lockdown, we’ve had to close the physical exhibition at the RA, however, you can still see every single work in our online exhibition.
Highlights from the Young Artists' Summer Show
Social Isolation, 2020
This was painted in the midst of the disoriented time of global lockdown due to the Covid-19 pandemic. The figures are cooped up in a room that is brought to life by an amalgamation of patterns and colours. The painting bustles with familiar symbols and motifs of this strange time, conveying the experience of being socially isolated and kept in a cage; your own home.
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Coalza, 2020
This drawing was inspired by the tubes and railways in London and the waiting people have to do for them.
See more of the online artworks in the 2020 Young Artists’ Summer Show
Secret Garden, 2020
The Secret Garden was painted as a birthday present for my Mum and is inspired by the song thrush and the nature in our Cornish garden. The palette was created by mixing acrylics, inspired by the colours of St Ives, and those that I know she loves.
See more of the online artworks in the 2020 Young Artists’ Summer Show
Map - Venice 2019, 2020
My mum holding a map up in our Airbnb in Italy whilst the sun lit it up.
See more of the online artworks in the 2020 Young Artists’ Summer Show
Twelve, 2020
I was interested in how black people have been depicted in western art and specifically in the colours that artists used for black skin tones. I decided to paint 12 girls at my school who all have very different tones of black skin, but who are described as black.
See more of the online artworks in the 2020 Young Artists’ Summer Show
The Missing Pieces, 2020
Inspired by Angelica Dass’ 'Humanae' that demonstrates the great amount of diversity we have in the world, my artwork portrays the lack of representation of races within the beauty industry. Symbols were made by the sgraffito technique with women of different races combined with jigsaw pieces to display how they are part of an incomplete puzzle, just like they are a part of the diverse world, yet they are still being
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View from Primrose Wood, 2020
This was a collaborative piece using acrylics and mixed media. During a visit to the local Primrose Woods, Archie and Zac sketched the view and the edge of the woods then combined their sketches to produce this abstracted piece.
See more of the online artworks in the 2020 Young Artists’ Summer Show
Teatime Parade, 2020