Toby Wiggins studied at Bournemouth College of Art and Design (Shelley Park –1990), Falmouth School of Art (1991-94) and the Royal Academy Schools (1996 – 99).
He has exhibited widely including at the Royal Academy of Arts, Royal West of England Academy, National Portrait Gallery, Mall Galleries, Holburne Museum Bath, the Jerwood Space, the Hellenic Centre Marylebone and Russell Cotes Museum Bournemouth.
Toby was elected a member of the Royal Society of Portrait Painters in 2006. He won the Prince of Wales Drawing Award in 2005, the Changing Faces Prize in 2006, the Lynn Painter-Stainers Prize for figurative painting in 2009, the Royal Drawing Prize in 2013 and the Ondaatje Prize for Portraiture in 2023 with his portrait of the Dorset hedgelayer Russell Woodham.
In 2006, after winning the BP Travel Award, Toby made portraits of the rural community of Wessex, which were exhibited at the National Portrait Gallery in 2007 and subsequently at Dorset County Museum in 2008.
From 2005-15, he continued the tradition of artistic practice in the Dorset studio of his friend and mentor the sculptor, Mary Spencer Watson (1913 – 2006), previously her father's studio, the painter George Spencer Watson R.A. (1869 – 1934). Toby continues to live and work in Dorset.
Selected Awards
2023 The Ondaatje Prize for Portraiture (RP)
2013 Prince of Wales Drawing Prize (RP)
2009 Winner of the Lynn Painter Stainer Prize (Worshipful Company of Painter Stainers)
2007 University of Wales Purchase Prize (Print Originals, Mall Galleries )
2006 Elected member of the Royal Society Portrait Painters
BP Travel Award (National Portrait Gallery)
Changing Faces Prize (RP)
2005 Prince of Wales Drawing Prize (RP)
Teaching and Lecturing
2015 to present Various tutoring roles for art organisations and summerschools
2017- 22 Tutor in drawing and painting at Heatherleys School of Art, Chelsea
2017- 20 Tutor in drawing and painting at The Art Academy, Borough
2004 -2019 Visiting Tutor at the Arts University at Bournemouth (AUB)
2013 Portrait tuition National Portrait Gallery, London
Education
1996-1999 Royal Academy Schools, London. MFA in Painting
1991-1994 Falmouth College of Art and Design, BA Hons Degree in Fine Art (First),
1990-1991 Bournemouth College of Art and Design, Foundation Diploma
Selected Exhibitions
2003- present ‘Royal Society of Portrait Painters’ annual show, Mall Galleries
2004-8/2012 ‘Summer Exhibition’, Royal Academy, London
2003/4/5/7 ‘Discerning Eye’, Mall Galleries, London
2003/4/6/7 ‘BP Portrait Award’, National Portrait Gallery, London
2007/8/9 Bournemouth University Arts Loan
2024 ‘Artists in Purbeck; Spirit of Place’ Russell Cotes Museum,
Bournemouth
‘The heart has its Reasons; three painters in conversation’
Highgate Literary and Scientific Institute
2023 ‘Arbor’ a celebration of Trees, Sculpture by the lakes, Dorset
2019 Mani. Painting the Southern Peloponnese
The Hellenic Centre,London
Heatherleys Staff Show, Bankside gallery, SE1 9JH
The Last Hurrah, Bohun gallery, Henley on Thames.
2018 Mani. Painting the Southern Peloponnese:
In the footsteps of Patrick Leigh Fermor, Amanda Aldous Fine Art
2017 'Drawn' Royal West of England Academy
RP annual show
2015 Painter Stainer 10 year Exhibition , Mall
RP annual Show
‘Still Alive: The Contemporary Still Life’
Beverley Art Gallery, East Riding Yorkshire
2014 ‘Small Paintings’ Bohun Gallery, Henley on Thames
‘Contemporary Drawing’ The Arts Stable, Childe Okeford, Dorset
Society of Wildlife Artists, Mall Galleries
‘Still Alive: The Contemporary Still Life’ Mall Gallery
Winchester RP show ‘Family Familiar’
2013 ‘RAC Centenary Exhibition’, Woodcote Park, Epsom
‘Royal Society of Portrait Painters’ annual show, Mall Galleries
2012 ‘AA Fine Art’, Hackwood, Hants
‘Holburne Portrait Prize’, Holburne Museum, Bath
‘London Views’, Mall galleries
‘Painting the Sea’ Kelly Ross Art Stable, Dorset
‘R A Summer Show’, Royal Academy of Arts
2011 ‘RAC Centenary Exhibition’, Pall Mall Clubhouse, London
2010 ‘Discerning Eye Exhibition’, Mall galleries
‘20/21 British Art Fair’, Royal College of Art
‘Holburne Portrait Prize’, Holburne Museum, Bath
Kelly Ross Art Stable, Dorset
Bohun Gallery, Henley on Thames
2009 ‘Lynn Painter-Stainers Prize’, Painters' Hall, London
‘Portrait Prize Painters’, A Gallery, Wimbledon,
‘Timeless Bath’, Quest Gallery, St James St, Bath
‘Working Artists, Dorset’, Poole Lighthouse Arts Centre, Dorset
‘Remembered Landscape’, Long & Ryle, John Islip St, London
‘London Arts Fair’, Business Design Centre Islington,
(represented by Long and Ryle)
2008 ‘Wessex Land, Wessex People’, Dorset County Museum (solo show)
‘20/21 Art Fair’, Royal College of Arts (represented by Long & Ryle)
‘Two Portrait Painters’, St. Barbe Museum, Hants
‘Human Form’, Atrium Gallery, Bournemouth University
2007 ‘Still Lives’, Arts Stable, Dorset
‘Bulldog Trust RP Self Portrait’, Temple Place, London
‘Figure This’, Mall Galleries, London
‘Past Present’, Sesame Gallery, London
Exhibition with Victoria Jinivizian, Morgan Boyce Gallery, Wilts
‘On Form’, A Gallery, London
‘Print Originals’, Mall Galleries, London
2006 ‘Contemporary British Arts Fair’, Royal College, London
‘Jerwood Drawing Prize’, Jerwood Space, London
‘Mystery Portrait Postcards’, National Portrait Gallery, London
Rebecca Hossack Art Gallery, London
Beaux Arts, Bath
2005 ‘New English Art Club’, Mall Galleries, London
‘Royal West of England Academy’, Bristol
Works in the collections of:
The Bertarelli Foundation, Association of Anaesthetists, The Kennel Club, Girton College Cambridge, Imperial College London, University of Wales, Bournemouth University, Falmouth College of Art and Design, Somerset County Council, Dorset County Museum, Alleyns School Dulwich, Worshipful Company of Painter Stainers Hall, ICAEW Chartered Accountants Hall, The Landmark Trust.