Arriving outside the college we were greeted with what appeared to be an organised queue, smiling friendly staff brandishing pastries. I was curious as to how the queue would be dealt with inside but assumed we would be let into the exhibition in stages and be assembled in order inside. In the 3 queues outside there was no attempt to assemble people in order save for the division of the three queues.
It was a bonus when one of the organisers announced that we would be let in soon and could go into the exhibition.
Nowhere in any of the literature before the sale was there any suggestion that there would be a free for all once inside the building. Indeed the winning notice from the college assured winners:
"your place in the queue is guaranteed"
As we all now know though that was the colleges intention of how it would work once inside which led to anger, bitterness and a sense of being unfair and cheated. I can totally understand all these emotions. Whilst I was not badly affected by the issues, as we probably ended up in a similar position than we would have been had the queueing system been implemented as promised, it was inherently just so unfair, especially to those who had been drawn in the top 10 and ended up low down in the actual queue.
The college have apologised for this huge misjudgment and offered to consult with regular attendees going forward. Good for them for apologising, I'm sure they've been deluged with complaints from people most of which are entirely justified. The bottom line is now that it happened, mistakes were made, we all need to move on and hopefully there will be a more consultative process going forward. There's a lot of love for rca secret, we all want it to succeed and we all want positive news stories coming out about it.
Before I move on to happy stuff I thought I might share some of my thoughts about the changes. These are my views and you may well disagree.
1. The 250 raffle - this could have worked well if the college had properly enforced the queueing. I liked the fact that photo ID was insisted upon but cannot understand the illogical decision to allow people to win multiple places in the queue (even though I benefitted from it this year). It's much fairer to give each raffle winner one winning place in the queue at most. If the college want to stop queuing the more different people winning the raffle the better.
2. No in person viewing before sale day - I really, really don't get this. Last year only having 2 days to view was bad enough but this year not having any is completely baffling. Unless the college are going to release much more information about the media cards have been created in the photographs online are not sufficient to give people enough guidance about what the card is. We need to see them in the flesh.
3. No contributor information - only on the day before the sale were we told some of the contributors for the sale, and even then key contributors weren't mentioned. Was a decision made not to publicise the sale? It certainly felt that way, maybe because there is so much concern about queueing.
4. Drawing the blinds - a minor point but the decision to draw the blinds on the exhibition made it feel very dreary. That space the college have is so wonderful with those big windows and natural light. Why not show it off.
5. Too few cards - a decision was made to only send 2 cards to the vast majority of contributing artists and as a result there were only 1450 odd cards in this year's exhibition. Less choice, less money for the college bursaries. Less than half of the cards of some of the bumper years. A real shame.
6. No reveal at time of purchase - I thought the system of handing out the envelopes with the artists name at the time of purchase was great last year. If collection day is still happening, which I remain unconvinced about, then please can we have that back?
7. The quality of the cards - the card stock used this year felt a bit thinner than usual so as a result more cards curled or got dented.
Anyway enough of that you want to know my experience! Firstly the raffle. I was obviously delighted with my daughter carys winning and she was equally as excited. My 2 daughters have grown up with rca secret and for years have made their own lists and bought their own cards.
On the day the cards were released I spent hours pouring over them online until my eyes were exhausted, having taken off a day at work to do so. I'd spotted some I liked but it is so difficult online without the in person validation.
At least the night before the sale was spent in a nice warm bed but I did miss the cameraderie of the queue and seeing all the old (and new friends in it). Some of the people I have met through rca secret have become close friends who I have seen every year at the sale, and at numerous other art events for the last 15 years- what's better than meeting someone who has the same interest and enthusiasm for art that you do?
Anyway the morning of the sale arrived with the usual nervousness and excitement. Would my favourite care be there when I got to the front.
Carys and I eventually got to the front of the queue. She went first and picked 2 cards for her, one for her sister and one for her mother. I'll let you know what she got too.
I then bought. I got the following cards
A painting, number 1349, a lot darker than the cards I would normally go for. It and its sister painting were probably my favourite cards in the show. I had no idea who painted it. It was by Jim Threapleton
Card number 649, a lovely drawing by Olivia Sullivan.
Card 786 which was by Ann Christopher - a fine 3 dimensional example of her work
And finally this card 1082 which was second on my list. Very pleased to have got this card which is by the wonderful Kate MccGwire.
My daughter carys picked these card numbers - illustrations of which are through this post
162 - her favourite card in the whole show - a drawing of a bird. She loves this so much. It was by Ruth Addinall.
515 - a painting of an ice cream. What's not to like. By Richard Davidson.
724 - this was for my other daughter Elodie. It is a really interesting card and looks so much better in the flesh By Mark Fenton Pearson.
763 - all the family liked this trio of cards depicting a girl and a bear which might initially appear quite twee but also have perhaps a sinister underbelly. By Lucy Boyle.
Anyway enough from this marathon post. As usual let me know what you bought and who it is by. If you'd like to write something for the blog about the sale then please get in touch. Until a (hopefully better organised) RCA secret 2018!
Leonard Manasseh was an architect. He died earlier this month at the age of 100. Even when into his 90's he was a regular contributor to RCA secret and I know many collectors who prized his quirky cards. 
