The first RBSA Watercolour Prize for over a decade celebrates work created using water-based media; including watercolour, ink, gouache, and acrylic paint. Despite early use as a medium in its own right, historically watercolour was most often used by artists for sketching, employed in preparation for final works completed in oils. The medium finally gained...
The RBSA Gallery is proud to present the first ever RBSA Young Artists Prize. This exhibition was open to children aged between 4 and 17 from across the city of Birmingham, Sandwell District, Solihull, Wolverhampton, and Dudley. Entering was free and the aim of the show is to give the region’s young creatives a taste...
Comprising more than 20 works on paper, including a series of large-scale multi-layered portraits, and exploratory drawings, Curtis Holder: Portraits Of Brotherhood reflects the artist’s core aim: to use line to search for connections and explore conversations. Throughout the project, conversations with Holder’s sitters centred around their shared experiences as Black and Brown men. Behind...
This exhibition opens on Thursday 18 September at 6.00pm. In This Time is both a celebration of and a catch up with the current cohort of RBSA Graduate Artists. Having been elected in 2023, Graduates have benefited from broader exhibition opportunities as well as mentorship from RBSA Members and Associates. This exhibition brings visitors up...
This exhibition opens on Thursday 18 September 6.00pm. Mapping the Archive, Birmingham's Journey Through the RBSA Permanent Collection focuses on the changing face of Birmingham's cityscape, travelling through its architectural history by way of the Society's Permanent Collection. Work dating back as far as 1814, the same year that the RBSA's earliest incarnation the Birmingham...
The Royal Society of Painter-Printmakers is one of the world's premier organisations representing the work and interests of printmakers. All Members of the Society are practising professional printmakers, elected by a panel of their peers. This exhibition shows a cross section of work by the current Membership, and highlights the enormous diversity of techniques and...
Debbie Baird and Brian Wood are figurative oil painters who studied together and have previously exhibited with other artists in London. Both artists share an interest in expressing the essence of the individual, and the nature of their relationship with the world. Each has their own approach, creating a mix of vibrant emotive images and...
Cristina Gardiner ARBSA is a landscape painter whose work crosses between abstraction and representation, borne from strong emotions in response to place. In her exhibition Transitory Landscapes, Cristina draws on three instances: Estuarine, time; Urban, space; and Elemental, light and emotion, exploring her interest in post-industrial/urban sites and abstraction. Cristina's work starts with her experiences...
Founded in 1879, the Birmingham Art Circle has strong links with the Royal Birmingham Society of Artists, and many of its artists are also Members of the RBSA. The elected membership covers all art forms and their objective is to bring together artists of all disciplines to share ideas and constructively discuss their art. The...
The ever changing RBSA Membership is given the opportunity to exhibit current work every year in the Society's flagship show, the RBSA Annual Exhibition. In 2025, the Society welcomed 16 new Associates, and four artists were elected to become full Members. This annual growth ensures the survival of the RBSA and means that, not only...
The annual RBSA Friends Exhibition gives artists with a Friends subscription the opportunity to exhibit their work in the RBSA Gallery and get to know the Society and its Membership. RBSA Friends have been part of the Society since the 1900s, and the RBSA was one of the first art societies to give their subscribers...
This unique exhibition celebrates an exciting collaboration between the Royal Birmingham Society of Artists and the Birmingham Royal Ballet. Exploring the movement and poise of the ballet dancer, alongside the colour and vibrancy of the stage setting, the show aims to give visitors an insight into the artists’ process, as well as the backstage world...
