I’m excited to announce our last call for artists submissions for our final show of 2025

‘Solstice’ - Exhibition opens 22nd Nov - 21st Dec

The Winter Solstice teaches us about resilience and hope in the face of darkness: it reminds us that the sun rises again - even after the longest night. It seems the perfect theme for our final show as it draws to a close on the Winter Solstice… The solstice promises us the chance of new beginnings and brighter days. A time to reflect on our own inner light and the continuous cycle of growth and renewal. Some cultures saw the solstice as an opportunity to create light or goodness, in the face of darkness or evil. It’s fundamentally a time of illumination and celebration. A time of gratitude.

The Buddha's Last Instruction by Mary Oliver

“Make of yourself a light,”
said the Buddha,
before he died.
I think of this every morning
as the east begins
to tear off its many clouds
of darkness, to send up the first
signal -- a white fan
streaked with pink and violet,
even green.
An old man, he lay down
between two sala trees,
and he might have said anything,
knowing it was his final hour.
The light burns upward,
it thickens and settles over the fields.
Around him, the villagers gathered
and stretched forward to listen.
Even before the sun itself
hangs, disattached, in the blue air,
I am touched everywhere
by its ocean of yellow waves.
No doubt he thought of everything
that had happened in his difficult life.
And then I feel the sun itself
as it blazes over the hills,
like a million flowers on fire --
clearly I'm not needed,
yet I feel myself turning
into something of inexplicable value.
Slowly, beneath the branches,
he raised his head.
He looked into the faces of that frightened crowd.

I would love to receive an array of work which you as artists feel explores the theme of the Winter Solstice: pretty much anything that fits seamlessly with this theme: both literally and metaphorically.

Submissions Criteria & Information:

Please ensure that you read all of the information below before submitting your work. Any missing info from the list below will not be considered for the exhibition.

  • Open to all artists resident within the UK.

  • Open to all disciplines including ceramics and sculpture.

  • Open to artists aged 18 and over.

  • All work must be available for sale

  • No reproductions/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.

  • 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.

  • 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.

  • 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.

  • Size restriction - 0.5 metres square

  • Price restriction: £650

  • You must be able to deliver work on Sunday 16th November 3-4pm.

  • We accept postal deliveries of work - work must be scheduled to arrive on 14th November.

  • We are 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 the gallery commission on any sales is 50%.

  • All artists will be contacted re; selection etc by approx 2nd November.

  • 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.

Any submissions that don’t meet the above criteria will not be considered.

We are now OPEN for submissions to the call out for the show and we warmly welcome you to step forward and submit your work up until the deadline of the callout on 31st October at midnight.

It’s advisable that you download the form prior to this as this webpage will be removed at 9pm on the 31st October.