The Trinity Buoy Wharf Drawing Prize has an established reputation as the UK’s most important annual open exhibition of drawing. Led by its founding Director, Professor Anita Taylor, the exhibition is known for its promotion and celebration of excellence in contemporary drawing practice. The Trinity Buoy Wharf Drawing Prize is supported by the Trinity Buoy Wharf Trust, and 2021 marks the fourth year of their generous support for this annual open exhibition that was founded in 1994. The Trinity Buoy Wharf Drawing Prize provides an important platform for drawing, and for artists, designers, and makers as a catalyst within their careers. The annual exhibitions are selected from drawings submitted from across the world by a roster of passionate and distinguished drawing experts – artists, architects, curators, designers, writers, and collectors. 

The Trinity Buoy Wharf Drawing Prize 2021 exhibition includes 101 drawings by 89 artists selected by Sheela Gowda, Artist, Simon Groom, Director of Modern and Contemporary Art at National Galleries Scotland, and Zoé Whitley, Director of Chisenhale Gallery in London, and 13 drawings by 12 drawing practitioners selected for the Working Drawing Award and display by Leonie Bell, Director of V&A Dundee, Charles O. Job, Designer and Architect, and Paul Finch, Programme Director of the World Architecture Festival.

 This diverse exhibition of 114 drawings overall reflects a broad scope of current drawing practice by artists, architects, designers, and makers at all stages of their careers – living and working across the four nations of the UK as well as Australia, Belgium, Brazil, Cyprus, Denmark, Germany, Greece, India, Ireland, Italy, Norway, Spain, The Netherlands, and the USA. The Trinity Buoy Wharf Drawing Prize 2021 received 3,300 entries from 1,673 drawing practitioners from 46 different countries for the exhibition and awards of £27,000.

The 101 drawings shortlisted for Trinity Buoy Wharf Drawing Prize 2021 are by: 

Valérie Abadie / Gabriela Adach /  Marcelo Albagli / Claire Anscomb / Emily Ball / Federica Beretta / Victoria Clare Bernie / Jackie Berridge / Jules Bishop / Kate Black / Frances Aviva Blane / Caroline Blythe / Su Bonfanti / Georgia Boukla / Gavin Bowyer / Mark Boylan / Ann Bridges / Nell Brookfield / Chris Bruce / Ian Chamberlain / Kristina Chan / Yoonhee Choi / Philippa Clarke / Amy Collins / Karen Conway / Jacquetta Cook / Yvonne Crossley / Andrea Cryer / David Cutts / Hannah Davies / Robert Davies / Bob Deakin / Emma Douglas / Jo Dumpleton / Amy Dury / Jill Eastland / Laura Elkins / Paul Fenner / Fierce Fine Art / Craig Fisher / David Gardner / Zoe Gibson / James Gosling / Euan Gray / James Gregory / Bea Haines / David Haines / Habib Hajallie / Susie Hamilton / Ben Hancocks / Georgia Kitty Harris / Justin Harris / Lia Anna Hennig / Russell Herron / Denise Hickey / Roland Hicks / Harriet Mena Hill / Sandy Horsley / Yvonne Kay / Hannah Kokoschka / Jenny Laskowsky / Gary Lawrence / Cheryl Lewis / Esther Martínez Rey / Fiona Michie / Arianna Tinulla Milesi / Elizabeth Nast / Simon Nicholas / Sofia Nifora / Catherine O'Donnell / Patrick O'Rourke / Steve Payne / Freya Pocklington / Caroline Pool / Selina Pope / Alberto Repetti / Elwina Robinson / Xavier Robles de Medina / Gabriela Schutz / Mark Seely / Katy Shepherd / Mark Shields / Aleksandra Stepien / Natalia Stoyanova / Sam van Strien / Roma Tearne / Freya Thompson / Iva Troj / Rebecca West-Beale 

The 13 drawings shortlisted for the Working Drawing Award 2021 are by: 

Zahra Akbari Baseri / Joshua Bristow / Marc Brousse / Ian Chamberlain / Sheila Gaffney / Christopher Green / Georgia Kitty Harris / Jessica Heywood / Julie Menelaou / Esha Mittal / Quy Phu Nguyen / Alejandro Pascual   

Trinity Buoy Wharf Drawing Prize 2021 Educational Resources: A free and downloadable education pack devised by Drawing is Free is available here and an introductory film of the exhibition is available on the Drawing Projects UK YouTube channel here. The fully illustrated exhibition catalogue is published by Drawing Projects UK is available to purchase and many of the drawings included in the exhibition are for sale. Further resources include the recordings of online events online with the exhibiting artists, selectors and guests convened by Drawing Projects UK in London and in Wiltshire (where the public engagement programme and exhibition was supported by Arts Council England). All online Drawing Discussions were convened by Professor Anita Taylor, Director of the Trinity Buoy Wharf Drawing Prize project and Dean of Duncan of Jordanstone College of Art & Design at the University of Dundee, and recordings of these Drawing Discussions and the Drawing Symposium: Drawing Lockdown I & II are, or will be, available on the Drawing Projects UK YouTube channel.