RIP Zaha Hadid

Very sorry to hear about the sad death of award winning architect, designed of the Olympic aquatic stadium and regular RCA secret contributor Zaha Hadid.  Apparently she died of a heart attack today.  RIP Zaha. 

Grayson Perry and John Baldessari named as contibutors

An email from the college to their RCA secret mailing list has confirmed the news we were all hoping for - that Grayson Perry has again contributed to RCA secret.  After a break last year it is such wonderful news to have Grayson Perry back, not least because of the care and love he puts into every card he makes for the show.   I know Grayson gets asks to do loads of charity gigs and he does contribute art to lots of different causes but his support of RCA secret has been immense over the years.

I count myself very lucky to have a couple of cards by Grayson in my collection.  Fingers crossed for this year too.


John Baldessari has also donated works to the exhibition on a number of occasions before and his presence is again extremely welcome.  When you add in the previously announced Sir Peter Blake, Paula Rego, Yinka Shonibare and Jeremy Deller it's certainly looking like a very exciting year.

If there is to be no raffle this year you have to wander what the queue is going to be like come sale day with such big names present.  The lack of raffle will certainly add a new dimension come queue time.

Contributor news and some images

These two articles feature contributor news and some images of cards from this years sale.

Some great new contributors to get interested in - Damon Albarn, Steve McQueen, Thomas Heatherwick and William Orbit plus some now familiar favourites.

Watch this space for more contributor news and also we've got some artist interviews coming up shortly as well....

It's nice that

The Royal College of Art has revealed further details of the RCA Secret 2016 show, including the participating artist and designers contributing anonymous postcard-sized artworks for this year’s event. Almost 2,000 works have been created for the show, now in its 22nd year. Names from the star-studded line-up include Peter Blake, Margaret Calvert, Jeremy Deller, Lawrence Weiner, Steve McQueen, Thomas Heatherwick and musicians Damon Albarn, William Orbit and Pete Fowler. Each of the postcards will be sold for a fixed price of £55, with the maker’s identity only revealed once their work has been bought, and all profits support emerging artists and designers through the RCA Fund.
RCA Secret 2016 exhibition in on 8 – 15 April at the Royal College of Art in London.

www.london.secret.rca.ac.uk

Design week

The Royal College of Art (RCA) is set to hold its annual secret postcard exhibition, and has revealed that Margaret Calvert and Peter Blake will be contributing.
Stewarts Law RCA Secret 2016, now in its 22^nd year, will be taking place in April and will feature roughly 2,000 postcard-sized designs that will be exhibited and sold anonymously.

Spanning all professions

Makers of the postcards will span professions including designers, cartoonists, illustrators, ceramicists, sculptors, artists, and musicians, as well as alumni and current students at the RCA.
Designers will include Peter Blake, Margaret Calvert, Steve McQueen, Alison Wilding, Yinka Shonibare, Joseph Kosuth, Thomas Heatherwick, James Dyson, David Bailey, Zandra Rhodes and Pete Fowler.
Musicians Damon Albarn and William Orbit will also be taking part, alongside up-and-coming designers.

Buyers encouraged to “crack secret”

All postcards will be exhibited together and sold at a fixed price of £55 per artwork. Buyers will only find out the identity of the designer once they’ve bought a postcard, with the RCA encouraging art collectors to “take the challenge to crack the secret”.
Alongside these, there will also be a series of 23 limited edition Shakespeare-based prints, as part of Shakespeare Lives: a yearlong selection of events organised by the British Council to mark the 400^th anniversary of Shakespeare’s death.
These will be available at a steeper £350 each, and the RCA will also donate a set of these prints to the British Council Collection.

Funds raised go to training young designers

All profits from the exhibition and sale will go to the RCA Fund, which aims to support emerging artists and designers through scholarships to the college.
Running alongside London’s RCA Secret 2016, will also be an exhibition and sale in Dubai, now in its second year. Postcard artworks will be available to buy for 500 AED.

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Stewarts Law RCA Secret 2016 will take place at London’s Royal College of Art, Kensington, Kensington Gore, London SW7 2EU from 8-15 April.  
RCA Secret with Art Dubai will take place at Alserkal Avenue, Dubai on 14 March and at Art Dubai on 17 March.
Some of this year’s anonymous postcards – can you guess the designer?

Paula Rego a contributor

Paula Rego has announced on her Facebook page that she is again a contributor to RCA secret.  Absolutely fantastic news!!!