The Society of Women Artists 164th exhibition 

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The Society of Women Artists proudly hosted its 164th Annual Open Exhibition at the Mall Galleries in London in June 2025. And what a wonderfully rich and diverse exhibition it was (and still is online). 

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We had another brilliant batch of submissions from members and non-members from all over the world. It was a truly punishing task to reduce the nearly 3,000 works we received, down to the 450 we were able to show.  There were literally hundreds of works we loved but were unable to show and we really hope that artists who didn’t get work selected this year will give us another chance next year.  

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The exhibition opened to the public on Tuesday afternoon, 24th June, and was formally ‘opened’ (at our Young People’s Art Initiative special guest event on Tuesday evening) by the celebrated photographer Dora Bertolutti Howard, wife of distinguished artist, the late Ken Howard OBE RA.  Our Guest Speaker that evening was Lisa Carrodus, a representative of The Circles of Art (one of our major award sponsors). 

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We held our special private view day on Wednesday 25thJune.  Our loyal and much-loved patron, HRH Princess Michael of Kent, always officiates at the Awards Ceremony on that day, but unfortunately, this year HRH was struggling with the record-breaking temperatures and unable to join us.  Princess Michael sent her lovely Lady in Waiting, Janie Harris instead who made it a happy and celebratory day. We congratulate all the award winners and extend our very sincere gratitude to all our sponsors whose generosity enables us to offer twenty-one awards with a combined total of £7,250.

On Wednesday evening we held an dazzling “Evening of Colour”, to raise money for the cancer charity “Look Good, Feel Better’.  This was beautifully organised by one of our council members, Tessa Jane.  And on Thursday evening, we hosted anotherfundraising event organised by ‘Meningitis Now’.  Several of our members generously donated works for raffles on both evenings.  Very many thanks to: Tessa Jane, Roya Khalili, Rachel Parker, Penelope Timmis, Diane Urwin and Liz Watts.

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Throughout the week, we sold raffle tickets for our traditional album of signed, original artworks by over thirty members, beautifully complied by council member Estelle Day.

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We also had our Playing Cards (designed by fifty-four SWA members) on sale all week.  

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And we had a keen response to our Visitors’ Choice vote.  

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Throughout the exhibition, visitors enjoyed live demonstrations by our talented member artists, offering an engaging insight into their creative processes. We wish to extend our sincere thanks to the members who shared their time and expertise:Christine Roychowdhury, Nicola Stratton-Tyler, Justine Lois Thorpe and Tessa Jane. 

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We look forward to continuing our tradition of celebrating women in art and thank everyone—artists, patrons, and visitors—who made this year's exhibition a resounding success.