Pastel Society | Annual Exhibition 2026
This is the Pastel Society NEW website.
Updates still in progress!
Key Dates
Submissions are now closed
Receiving Day (if selected): Saturday 10 January 2026, 10am to 5pm
Private View (invite only): Tuesday 20 January, 5pm to 8pm.
Official opening at 6:30pm by Mark Cazalet, Senior Member of Faculty at the Royal Drawing School
Exhibition opens: Wednesday 21 January, 10am to 5pm daily
Exhibition closes: Saturday 7 February, 5pm
Collection of unsold work: Thursday 12 February 10am to 5pm
The Pastel Society Sealed Bid Appeal
To view all donated works go to:
2026 Pastel Society Sealed Bids
Awards and Prizes 2026
The Pastel Society would like to thank the individuals and companies who generously award the following prizes:
Cash Prizes:
Caran d’Ache Prize
£1,000 for the best work in the exhibition as selected by Caran d’Ache
Pastel Society Prize
£1,000 for the best Member’s work in the exhibition selected by the Pastel Society Council
The Yoshimoto Prize
£1,000 for an outstanding work in any dry medium by a non-member
The President’s Prize
£500 for the best work by an artist aged 35 or under
The Bob Last Prize
£400 for a work that celebrates the spirit of Bob Last (1932-2020), a member of the Pastel Society who was known for his imaginative use of dry media, excellent drawing skills, and passion to present work that was different and innovative.
With thanks to his daughters, Joanne Last and Jackie Jones, who will select the prize winner.
The Anthony J Lester Art Critic Award
A certificate and cheque for £50
Product Prizes:
Caran d’Ache Product Prize
The Daler-Rowney Prize
As part of its ongoing support of British Artists we are pleased to announce a generous new prize from Daler-Rowney
that will be given for an outstanding work of art at the Pastel Society Annual Exhibition.
The prize consists of £1,000 in art materials from Daler-Rowney and their associate companies.
Frank Herring Award
Henri Roche Award
Mamut Award
Pith Sketchbook Award
UART Award
Unison Member Award
Unison Non-member Award
Unison Young Artist Award
West Design Award
Publication Prizes:
Painters Online Award
An interview to be published in The Artist section of
Leisure Painter & The Artist
Pastel Society Catalogue Awards
First and Second Prize
The winning works illustrated in the exhibition catalogue
Plus:
Visitors’ Choice Award
A set of Caran d’Ache pastel pencils
The Studio Prize
Sponsored by Hillview Studio, two prizes of a £100 Cass Art E-Gift card for pastel or dry media work undertaken in The Studio during the exhibition
FBA Fundraiser – FBA Editions
Prints for a Cause
Limited Edition Prints from the Federation of British Artists
To view the full range of prints available:
https://www.mallgalleries.org.uk/exhibitions-events/fundraiser-fba-editions
Pastel Society Members Tanya Avchinnikova and Ian Rawling are featured.
The 126th Anniversary Exhibition Guest Speaker will be: Carole Hübscher CEO of Caran d’Ache sponsors of the Pastel Society.
Interview with Caran d'Ache CEO, Carole Hübscher
THE ReMARK January 2026
A belated Happy New Year from The Pastel Society. Celebrations and the last details to be sorted for the 127th PS Annual Exhibition 2026 got in the way of a prompt January ReMark and so apologies.
Work is now arriving and over the 19th and part of the 20th January, we will hang the work and set up the studio. The preview night is the evening of the 20th and the exhibition then runs from the 21st January to the 7th February. For details, including the studio programme, please go to the Mall Galleries website.
https://www.mallgalleries.org.uk/exhibitions-events/pastel-society-annual-exhibition-2026
As well as all this this information, The Pastel Society website also includes the members’ Sealed Bid paintings’ gallery for you to look through. The money from these framed paintings, given freely by members, is the society’s main source of income at the current time with 10% going to the AGBI.
Sealed Bids:The Pastel Society Sealed Bid Appeal
During the exhibition, there will be activities every day for anyone. There are demonstrations and workshops in various types of pastel and dry media as well as plenty of time for anyone to try out materials that are provided. You also have the chance to win a prize of £100 towards artist’s materials. And remember that after a small entry fee, all is free, except that is for the food and drink you may need to buy in the gallery’ café to keep you going. Spot a PS member wearing a lanyard and have a chat!
But besides all this, we are not sitting on our laurels. We know there are many frustrated pastellists and Friends out there who would like to see pastel and dry media outside of London as well. There are a good many Members too! Well, we are still looking at possible venues for later this year but we are now already planning a Pastel Society ‘Roadshow’ exhibition run by the society in 2027. But please be patient, because we need to ensure good foot-fall and the time to plan a process for all the future exhibitions outside of London if this works. So don’t expect that this next project will be far from our home at the Mall Galleries.
In the meantime, there is a small exhibition of pastel portraits from the 1700s at The Holburne Museum in Bath, including fellow Bath artist William Hoare. Details are below. Only 11 paintings but the beauty of pastel is shown as a match for any oil portrait.
https://holburne.org/events/powder-and-presence-pastel-portraits-in-the-eighteenth-century/
We hope to see you at:
DIRECT TOUCH PS Annual Exhibition 2026
Weds 21 Jan – Sat 7 Feb. 10am – 5pm
Say hello, have a chat and get involved.
Simon B. Hodges VPPS
Please keep sending your pastel images to us for potential inclusion in ReMark to info.thepastelsociety@gmail.com
Featured artist
Maria Kaleta PS
Artist’s Statement:
For me, art is a source of joy, but also a way to live. It pushes the artist to observe the world more freely, noticing beauty in the diversity of life. It also teaches a certain modesty and appreciation for the creation that surrounds us.
Multiculturalism has always been an important topic in my work. My home town, Kępno, was a melting pot of religions and cultures growing up. I then moved to London in my forties and dove into one of the most multicultural cities in the world. I am drawn to the pulse of these urban spaces, their energy and dynamism, as well their history. I like the idea that they become a living chronicle of events, transforming before our eyes – and us with them. I feel at home sketching on the streets of London, or on the London Underground, whether through “pixels” on my iPad, or with a pencil and sketchbook.
Ever since the rise of digital in the early 2000s, I have also been interested in the virtual world – the interaction between the real and this fourth dimension. Most recently, the pandemic brought everyone to the screen as we sought to maintain relations with loved ones. It underscored the value of real interaction, as we found the world of Skype and Zoom ultimately unsatisfying. As humans, we crave genuine connection with friends, family and nature. I have always felt at home in the outdoors and I enjoy involving natural landscapes in my work, learning from their composition of colours and forms.
I suppose the thread running through all of this is an attraction to big ideas. I try in my work (to varying degrees of success) to convey something about everyday life, existence, identity, as well as friendship and/or loneliness. The experience of living in a multicultural city like London reaffirms the truth that we must stick together in our troubles. Instead of dismissing the problems and rights of others, we should strive to understand them. In an age of technology and computer screens, we should be doing our best to seek out human faces.
