The Cumbrian Artist of the Year Exhibition opens this Saturday 25th April at the Rheged Centre with 5 artists in the running to win the £2000 award now revealed.
From an astounding 74 initial entries representing the very best of Cumbria’s contemporary artists an expert panel, including Rory Stewart MP, selected 25 artists to take part in the exhibition at Rheged.
The five artists short-listed for the ultimate prize are Richard Hughes, Di Mcghee, Phil Morsman, Alan Stones, and Sarah Tew.
Painter Alan Stones draws his inspiration from the human condition in his imposing and esoteric works, and has exhibited both nationally and internationally in the past. Stones says ’my work might include landscape/nature but this is nature as metaphor for human activity’. Fellow painter Phil Morsman, while working in the same medium and also being inspired by the landscape, shows bold and vibrant works with geometric shapes in vibrant colours.
Richard Hughes sculpture and wall pieces typically make use of found objects, materials, and images. Di Mcghee’s work is often site specific responding to the landscape directly. She says of her art work ‘often I make tools from found objects establishing a relationship between the site and the work. This work has taken me to a range of sites; the coast, the landscape, rivers and dismantled railways.’ Also shortlisted is Sarah Tew whose installations in the gallery at Rheged will explore the themes around, as she herself describes, ‘picking away at the hierarchical values within artistic processes’.
In total the exhibition is made up of 25 artists selected works with visitors being given the chance to vote for the artist they feel is best in the People’s Choice award. The artist who receives the most votes will receive a £500 prize which will be presented alongside the Cumbrian Artist of the Year and the Young Cumbrian Artist of the Year, also with a £500 prize fund, on 14th May.
The exhibition is an annual celebration of the best of Cumbria’s visual arts. Part of the hugely successful C-Art programme managed by Eden Arts, the exhibition at Rheged and other events such as the two week open studios in September highlight the huge depth and skill of Cumbria’s artists, bringing them to the attention of visitors and locals alike.
John Stokes, Arts Manager at Rheged added ‘we are thrilled to be supporting the first ever Cumbrian Artist of the Year Award. We hope that the prize we are sponsoring will be a real sign of recognition for the artist who wins it, asserting that Cumbria is home to a wealth of excellent artistic talent. These five shortlisted artists must be very excited – one of them will be the first ever Cumbrian Artist of the Year.’
Entry to the exhibition is free and open 7 days a week from 10.30am to 4.30pm at the Rheged Gallery, Rheged Centre, Redhills, Penrith. For more details visit www.c-art.org.uk/events. The exhibition forms part of the programme of visual arts events across Cumbria, culminating in the open studios event from 12-27 September with the new C-Art participants announced in May 2015.