COUNTY DURHAM .- New Light, a forward thinking charity that exists to support talented contemporary artists in the North of England, announces the artists selected to exhibit their work in the
New Light Prize Exhibition 2015, which this year will tour to a trio of high profile galleries across the country, opening at the Bowes Museum in County Durham from 17 October 2015 – 7 February 2016.
New Light received a record number of submissions this year for deliberation by the distinguished panel, comprising: Norman Ackroyd CBE RA, artist and organiser of the Royal Academy’s Summer Exhibition; The Lord Crathorne KCVO Kst J FSA LLD, Chairman of the All-Party Parliamentary Arts & Heritage Group; Laura Gascoigne, art reviewer; Matthew Hall, Co-Founder, Panter & Hall; and Annette Petchey, Chief Executive, New Light.
The biennial New Light Prize Exhibition is the largest open prize dedicated to art from the Northern regions. It is open to all artists who were born, studied or live in one of the historical counties of the North of England. It recognises and rewards the skills of talented artists in the North and awards the region’s best prizes and exhibition opportunities.
The judges selected a total of 84 works by 61 artists which following the Bowes Museum exhibition will tour to the Mercer Gallery, Harrogate, in February after which a selection of the works will travel to Panter & Hall Gallery, London in June.
Prizes worth almost £15,000 will be announced and presented on 16 October 2015 at a private awards ceremony. They include the Valeria Sykes Award of £10,000; the Patron’s Choice Award of £2,500; the Swinton Foundation Prize for emerging artists, offering mentoring, professional advice and exhibition opportunities; the Printmakers’ Prize; and the Visitors’ Choice Award, which will be voted for by visitors at each of the three exhibition venues.
The short-listed artists hail from across the North, representing the counties of Co Durham, Cumbria, Lancashire, Teesside, Tyne & Wear and Yorkshire. Other exhibitors (who were either born or studied in the North) have made the short-list from as far afield as Cornwall, East Anglia, Ireland, Glasgow and Carmarthenshire. The judges were specifically looking for wall-hung work which showed exceptional artistic skills. Portraiture, landscapes and abstract works all made it onto the short-list with the selection including paintings, prints, sculpture and mixed media.
Art reviewer and 2015 Judge, Laura Gascoigne, reflects: “True to its name, New Light is a revelation. None of the open exhibitions I've judged in the past has tapped into such a pool of undiscovered talent. There are always a few established artists whose work one recognises, but nearly all the artists here were new to me and there were several I was astonished - and rather ashamed - not to have come across. I hope this exposure will make them more visible in future. The sheer variety of work, at all levels, was heartening - it bolstered my faith in the vigour of British painting.”
The artists selected to show in this year’s exhibition are: Michael Ashcroft • Henna Asikainen • Jake Attree • Sarah Jane Bellwood • Laney Birkhead • Neil Bousfield • Gareth Bunting • John Byrne • David Chandler • Helen Clapcott • Anthony Connolly • David Cook • Hester Cox • Anne Desmet RA • David Dodsworth • Maxwell Doig • Alan Flood • Brian Gallagher • Sarah Garforth • Sally Gatie • Rachel Gibson • Pam Grimmond • Peter Holt • Glenn Ibbitson • Andres Jaroslavsky • Peter Knight • Steven Lawler • Emma Lawrenson • Peter Layzell • Paul Lewin • Debbie Loane • Moira McTague • Hugh Miller • David Morris • James Naughton • Tony Noble • Zosia Olenska • Mandy Payne • Genevieve Pennington • Anja Percival • Anna Poulton • Peter Quinn • Chris Rigby • John Ross • Jonny Shaw • Lotty Alexander Smith • Louis Smith • Paul Stone • Alan Stones • Kate Sully • Jo Taylor • Chris Thomas • David Thomas • Andrew Thursfield • Robyn Townsend • Joshua Waterhouse • William Watson-West • Patsy Whiting • Lynne Wixon • Christopher P Wood • Tom Wood
