A York artist has been selected for the Summer Exhibition at the Royal Academy of Art in London. This exhibition is 
one of the most prestigious in the world, where great artists such as Turner made their name.
Mrs Lesley Birch, who also teaches English at St Peter's School in Clifton, initially had two of her artworks shortlisted out of a longlist of around 12000 entries.
Lesley's shortlisted works were “Pilgrimage”, a monoprint from the “Edge of the World Series”, inspired by Michael Powell’s 1937 film set on a remote Scottish island, and “The Red Beret”, a mixed media with collage work.
She then discovered that “The Red Beret” had made it into the exhibition.
As part of the ceremonial opening of the exhibition, Lesley and other selected artists attended ‘Varnishing Day’. The traditional reason for this day is to allow artists to perform any final touches to their works, but it is now mostly symbolic.
Varnishing Day involved a procession from the Academy down Piccadilly to St James’s Church, where a Service for Artists took place. The procession was led by luminaries of the art world Norman Ackroyd and Tracey Emin.
In the historic church, the Academy President addressed the assembled artists, and revered printmaker and Royal Academician Norman Ackroyd read words from Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream.
Lesley said: “As a teacher of English, I was excited by the use of this wonderful quotation and it confirmed again to me that all the arts are linked – literature, music, poetry, visual arts.”
Mr Ackroyd was followed by The Revd Malcolm Guite of Girton College, Cambridge who delivered a thought-provoking 
address echoing the Bard’s words and inspiring the artists on to keep true to their creativity.
Now in its 245th year, the Summer Exhibition remains a much anticipated highlight of the arts calendar, serving as a unique window on to all areas of the contemporary art world. It is the world’s largest open-submission exhibition, displaying more than 1,000 works in all styles and media, including painting, printmaking, photography, sculpture, architectural models and film.
Lesley said: "Having tried before and been rejected, this is very exciting for me.
Much of my work is based around the literature that we teach in school. Attending the opening ceremony was a very special occasion and one I shall treasure for ever."