The Evelyn Williams Drawing Award
The Award is made every two years and was inaugurated in 2017. The 2025 award has just been made to Eric Butcher (see below).
How it works
The award is made as part of the Trinity Buoy Wharf Drawing Prize exhibition which is organised by Drawing Projects UK. Artists have to submit work for selection to this exhibition. If selected, artists will then receive an invitation to submit an exhibition proposal based on their particular approach to drawing. The Proposals are judged by a selection panel. The award recipient then has the chance to research and deliver an exhibition as part of Hastings Contemporary’s programme.
For Past Award holders and their exhibitions, please scroll down and click on the links below.
I often ask myself "What makes a good drawing good?" Many people much cleverer than me have tried to crack this one. I wrote once of its usefulness - "It can be an invaluable aid to memory, or to plan the construction of a work in any medium. Or a simple way to plug into the unconscious and introduce the humanity of man-made marks rather than those of a machine" I've discovered it’s not something easily learnt or taught. I know that before beginning a drawing, a leap of faith is necessary. And I believe that we need a very strong idea of what our intentions are, and why we are doing it.”
Extract from Evelyn Williams opening speech at the inaugural Welsh Drawing Biennale in 1997
Barbara Walker, the first award-winner, writes: “Winning the 2017 Evelyn Williams Drawing Award was an immensely important achievement. The award supplied a space to examine new territories, learning new skills and knowledge, moving me out of my comfort zone. This in turn equipped me with a newfound confidence. This is exactly what I wanted to explore as part of my continued fascination with the process of drawing. The award arrived at a pivotal time in my career. The experience was life-changing in terms of sustaining my inner belief and drive with regard to my practice. I will always be truly grateful to the Evelyn Williams Trust.”
Our most recent Award Winner is
Eric Butcher
In his submission, Eric said:
”I would seek to create a site-specific installation of my work on a series of wall-sized transparent sheets of thin diaphanous Japanese paper suspended from the ceiling or from a network of steel wires, in layers throughout the gallery space. Hung in such a way as the audience can walk among them, they will create a complex series of overlapping coloured shadows, like the shadows resulting from sunlight through stained glass windows.”
Eric Butcher
Between 1994 and 2004, seven year-long Evelyn Williams Drawing Fellowships were set up, each at a different provincial art college in England.