Display

Young Artists' Summer Show 2023

18 July - 13 August 2023

Clore Learning Centre | Burlington Gardens

Tues–Sun: 10am–6pm
Fri: 10am–9pm

Free
no booking required

From gangster chickens to penguin parades, mind galaxies to space parties, the artists featured in the fifth year of the Young Artists’ Summer Show have astounded us once again.

Artists are at the heart of everything we do at the Royal Academy of Arts – we’ve been championing them since 1768 and firmly believe in nurturing young talent and celebrating the next generation of artists.

Now in its fifth year, the Young Artists’ Summer Show is a free, open submission exhibition for students aged 4–19 studying in the UK. Artworks are judged by a panel of passionate artists and arts professionals, with selected artworks displayed online and on-site at the Royal Academy of Arts.

More than 21,000 students participated this year, thanks to the commitment of teachers, parents and guardians who are championing the role of art in education. Our judges were overwhelmed by the passion, insight and skill in the artworks they saw, and all expressed how difficult it was selecting the artworks exhibited.

Rebecca Salter, President of the RA, has awarded a variety of prizes to this year’s artists and you can vote for your favourite artworks in our annual People’s Choice Award.

Made by students aged 4–19 across the UK, this exhibition is a showcase and celebration of the imagination and creativity of young artists.

Download a catalogue

#RAYoungArtists

Tues–Sun: 10am–6pm
Fri: 10am–9pm

Free
no booking required

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Made possible by
Robin Hambro

Meet the artists

Hear from some of the stars of this year's Young Artists' Summer Show about what inspired them and how they created their artworks.

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Gallery

The Bat After the Flood,
This is about a bat who lives in a cave on his own. He accidentally moves something in the world and then the flood comes. No animals survive except for the bat, who has a really tight door on his cave so the flood can't reach him.

See this artwork on the Young Artists' Summer Show website
Avalanche,
I got inspired by the mountains because avalanches sometimes happen in the mountains. Running for your life is also kind of related to the mountains because avalanches can kill people.

See this artwork on the Young Artists' Summer Show website
Love,
This painting is about love which makes people beautiful and bright inside. This painting is about how to be close when you love.

See this artwork on the Young Artists' Summer Show website
When Mummy Met the Good Wolf,
Mummy has long hair and her hair is blowing in the wind. It is night time and I am also there next to a house with a pointy roof. There is a ‘U’ that sounds like: UUUUUuuuuuuuuu, it’s the good wolf coming to meet us.

See this artwork on the Young Artists' Summer Show website
Disability Pot,
This clay pot represents my disabilities: ADHD and OCD. I struggle to sit still in any environment and feel extremely uncomfortable and on edge if something isn’t in the right place. This pot helped me to express these feelings in a visual context. I used acrylic paint and used expressive marks to paint it, as I wanted to demonstrate the ‘dizzy’ and ‘confused’ emotions I feel regularly.

See this artwork on the Young Artists' Summer Show website
Bear Hug,
After looking at the strong emotions and power in Käthe Kollwitz’s work, I was inspired to make this work to show the mother and child bond through the body like animals do.

See this artwork on the Young Artists' Summer Show website
Identity,
The artwork shows three different pictures of me, each representing a different aspect of myself.

See this artwork on the Young Artists' Summer Show website
Tube Shoes,
Part of a series focusing on shoes.

See this artwork on the Young Artists' Summer Show website
My Old Diary,
Celia is as unique as her genetic mutation and she is a brilliant young advocate for neurodivergent young people. My Old Diary is hours of Celia’s time recording important information in her unique way; lists upon lists of names and activities, culminating in a wonderfully unique mark-making work.

See this artwork on the Young Artists' Summer Show website
Gran,
My gran lives in a care home, where she moved during lockdown. She loves bingo, quizzes, gossiping and snoozing.

See this artwork on the Young Artists' Summer Show website
The Black Stone,
I made this fossil because I thought black and grey were the best colours for a fossil. I also made the lines of the fossil dark so it would look cracked.

See this artwork on the Young Artists' Summer Show website
What the Northern Lights Look Like in Real Life,
This is my painting of the Northern Lights. The sky is a bit green and turquoisey because the green Northern Lights are putting greenness into the sky. The trees are blue because they are in the dark and far away. I painted it for my mummy for her birthday. I kind of like it.

See this artwork on the Young Artists' Summer Show website
Six Thousand Bricks and Counting,
This is a detailed drawing of the Great Wall of China, as imagined by Idris. He spent three months adding each individual brick and kept a running total on the same piece of paper at the same time. The total number of bricks is six thousand but he informs us that it is not fully finished and never will be. He wanted you to know that keeping a running log of how many bricks have been used helps in planning for future walls.

See this artwork on the Young Artists' Summer Show website
Clee Hill,
I was particularly inspired by Joan Eardley and the sense of place depicted within her work; a subject which has become increasingly important following lockdowns in the past few years. I wanted to convey a sense of movement and energy within the landscape through using quick gestural marks evocative of the direction of the wind and bright earthy-toned colours to depict the late summer season and sunny spell before an approaching storm.

See this artwork on the Young Artists' Summer Show website