An exhibition inspired by ‘1000 Beautiful Things’ by Annie Lennox… although I know it would be too big a job, for me, to bring together 1000 pieces of work together for the final exhibition of 2026 - 100 seems enough.
Beauty is In essence, not merely a "shallow" or decorative concept in psychology; it is vital to health, wellbeing and for us to flourish.
‘Beauty, it turns out, is capable of launching not just an armada of ships, but a cascade of the same feel-good chemicals you get from being in love, eating chocolate, exercising, and having orgasms: dopamine, endorphins, serotonin, oxytocin. It also lowers stress, blood pressure, and heart rate.
In other words, aesthetics isn’t superficial. It’s biochemical. And it isn’t a luxury, but a deep human drive.
This is by design. In evolution’s logic, beauty brings pleasure, and pleasure reinforces useful behavior, whether in the selection of a mate (symmetry of face and luster of hair, for instance, signal good health and strong genes), or the selection of an environment to live in (lush greenery signals water and fertile land; scenic overlooks make it easier to spot predators). Furthermore, beauty keeps you aroused and interested in life, reinforcing behaviors that make you eager to sustain it, to remember that life is pleasurable and worth living.
Psychologist Abraham Maslow’s famous hierarchy of human needs places “aesthetic needs” near the top of the pyramid (below only “self-actualization” and “self-transcendence” needs), and they encompass our motivations to seek out and appreciate beauty, harmony, and order in our environments and experiences.
This applies whether the beauty you’re beholding is art, architecture, nature, music, a well-designed room, a virtuous action, a beautiful face, or a beautiful idea like “love thy neighbor.” It applies whether the beauty is an elegant mathematical formula, a perfect pitch in baseball, or a monster truck rally. There are, after all, beauty contests for hogs.
Clearly, there’s no universally agreed-upon checklist of what constitutes beauty, though researchers have identified some common attributes like simplicity, symmetry, certain juxtapositions of color or musical notes, and certain ratios and geometries in the arrangement of physical elements. But beauty is whatever gives you an aesthetic charge.’ - The Health Benefits of Looking at Beauty’ - Psychology Today.
So I’d love for you to step forward and help me fill the gallery to bursting with BEAUTY.
Exhibition Dates: 21st November - 20th December
Submissions Criteria & Information:
Please ensure that you read all of the information below before submitting your work. Any application form/email missing info from the list below will not be considered for the exhibition.
Open to all artists aged 18 and over resident within the UK.
Open to all disciplines including ceramics and sculpture.
All work must be available for sale & No reproductions of originals/giclee prints accepted.
Maximum number of pieces submitted per artist - 3.
Submission to the call out is free/no fee - however if selected to exhibit in the show there will be a £20 per artist exhibition fee payable on selection.
Size restriction - 1 metre square
Price restriction: £1500
OTHER INFO
All artists will be contacted re; selection etc by approx 4th Oct.
You must be able to deliver work on Saturday 14th November 2pm - 3pm.
I accept postal deliveries of work - this option is available to all exhibiting artists - work must be scheduled to arrive on 13th November. You will receive further info on this if you are selected.
I am able to return unsold work via post - however this option is only available to artists who live outside of a 1.5 hour travelling radius of the gallery.
If selected you will need to deliver & collect your work to/from the gallery prior to the show or send via courier/post. And this includes any unsold work at the end of the show too. All costs incurred re; delivery/post/collection will be covered by the artist.
Artists will be solely responsible for insuring their artwork whilst it is in transit prior to and after the show.
If selected the gallery commission on any sales is 50%.
All works will need to be framed - unless on a box frame/stretched canvas or board. All pieces ready to hang/No mirror plates.
Due to the high volume of submissions received no feedback will be available at any point throughout the submission/selection process.
SUBMISSION FORM AND IMAGE INFO
A submission form must be completed and emailed to: theoldlockupgallery@gmail.com - you’ll find the form at the foot of this webpage. Along with JPEGS of all work being submitted: please don’t send separate emails.
Submission forms can be downloaded, printed off and handwritten/completed - and a photograph sent as a jpeg if you prefer/find it easier. Please make sure any photographs of the application form are easy to read/decipher.
PDF’s of your work/embedded into a document will not be accepted. Neither will links to your work/images that require downloading to view them.
Good quality JPEG’s of your work: with no blurring and cropped to size - with no background showing must be emailed along with your submission form to the above email address: attached in one email only - please don’t send separately.
File names for your JPEGS will need to be the title of your work or an abbreviation of the title.
Any submissions that don’t meet the above criteria or application process will not be considered.
OPEN for submissions to the call out for the show from March 28th - 30th September and I warmly invite you to step forward and submit your work up until the deadline on 30th Sept at midnight.
It’s advisable that you download the form prior to this as this webpage will be removed at 9pm on the 29th Sept.