New Light Prize Exhibition comes to Harrogate

The exhibition features the FIVE winning pieces, as well as those from 121 shortlisted artists who impressed the esteemed panel of judges with their unique artwork.

This is the final stop of the prestigious 2023/24 New Light Art Prize exhibition which has so far been shown at the Bankside Gallery in London, the Gallery at Rheged in Penrith, The Biscuit Factory in Newcastle and the Williamson Art Gallery & Museum in Birkenhead. Artists from across the North – or those who have close associations with the North – were invited to submit their entries over the course of three months last year. Following a gruelling judging process, the winners were announced in September 2023 and the artwork has been amazing art enthusiasts up and down the country ever since.

Rebekah Tadd, CEO at New Light Art says: “The New Light Art Exhibition has been hugely popular at every gallery we have been to on our journey so far. We are so grateful for all of the galleries, sponsors, judges and artists who have taken part as we celebrate the diverse talent we have in the North of England. We have launched our first ever New Light Sculpture Prize in 2024, sponsored by The Biscuit Factory Foundation, to fantastic reviews. We are thrilled to bring the exhibition to an end at The Mercer Art Gallery, it is a wonderful gallery and this is a particularly fitting celebration as New Light visited The Mercer on its first tour 15 years ago.”

The Mercer Art Gallery was built 200 years ago as the Promenade Rooms, used as a place for spa visitors to socialise. It later became a theatre, then Town Hall before its rebirth as the Mercer Art Gallery in 1991. The event will be sponsored by McInroy & Wood, personal investment managers and Raworths LLP Solicitors in Harrogate.

Karen Southworth, Curator at The Mercer Art Gallery, says: “We were proud to host the first New Light Prize Exhibition 15 years ago and we’ve watched this amazing event go from strength to strength since then, bringing the work of Northern artists to such a wide audience. We’re looking forward to bringing the 2023/24 exhibition to North Yorkshire.”

Liz Wild, Investment Director at McInroy & Wood in Harrogate says: “As long-standing supporters of the arts, McInroy & Wood recognises the vital role art plays in the fabric of our society. Our relationship with New Light is now in its sixth year and we are delighted to be once again supporting the community and the wonderful work on display.”

Simon Morris, Managing Partner at Raworths said: “We’re so excited that this touring exhibition is culminating its UK-wide run here in Harrogate and that we’ve been able to play a part in making this happen. The town has a long-standing reputation as a place where creativity is nurtured and celebrated. It is home to some of the UK’s most prolific cultural festivals, including the Harrogate Literature Festival which we’ve been proud to headline sponsor for the last decade. The New Light Prize Exhibition not only shines a light on the incredible visual artists we have in the North, but offers grants and mentoring to continue supporting and championing talent – and this really chimed with our values as a business. We hope visitors take this opportunity to see the incredible breadth of artwork right here on their doorstep, against the beautiful backdrop of the Mercer Art Gallery.”

The exhibition is free to attend and will include the following pieces of winning work:

- ‘Lockdown’ by Frances Bell - winner of The New Light Valeria Sykes Award and £10,000. Frances has lived in Wooler in Northumberland, not far from Newcastle, for the past 20 years. Born in 1983, after developing an early interest in drawing and painting, she pursued art and art history, making her way to Florence to pursue classical training at Charles H. Cecil Studios in 2001 for three years, where she taught sporadically for the further seven summers. Since completing her training, Frances has been a full-time professional portrait and landscape painter, exhibiting internationally and across the UK.

- ‘Bog Bumper Emerging from the Moss’ by Robert Cook – winner of the £2,500 New Light Patron’s Choice Award. Robert lives in Poulton-le-Fylde in Lancashire. After graduating in scientific illustration at Blackpool & The Fylde College, Robert worked as an illustrator before going into teaching, sharing his knowledge of drawing, painting and passion for nature as a lecturer in scientific illustration. Since leaving education, he has worked as a wildlife artist honing his craft.

- ‘During the Endless Night She Felt Herself Losing Her Mind’ by George Melling – winner of The New Light Emerging Artists Award sponsored by Saul Hay Gallery, where the winner has been awarded mentoring, professional advice and an exhibition at Saul Hay Gallery George is from Preston in Lancashire. After finishing his MA at Chelsea College of Art, George taught at Kingston University before moving back to Lancashire in 2000 where he set up his own painting practice. Working as a butcher two days a week to enable George to focus on his artwork for the rest of the week, his current body of work draws on images from photographs of family and friends from childhood, representing an interrogation of the past, what we inherit, what we cherish and what we discard.

- ‘Bewick’s Place’ by Neil Bousfield – winner of The New Light Printmakers’ Prize sponsored by Zillah Bell Gallery – where the winner will receive a solo or group exhibition at the Zillah Bell gallery in North Yorkshire, host to some of the UK’s very best printmakers’ shows. Neil was born in Middlesborough and grew up in the coastal village of Marske-by-the-Sea and Redcar in North Yorkshire. He studied at Cleveland College of Art & Design in Middlesborough and Teesside University, Middlesborough. He now lives on the North Norfolk coast. He works within the discipline of relief printmaking and contemporary wood engraving. ‘Bewick’s Place’ comprises 16 small square blocks to represent a grid or a plotting and mapping method, which have been engraved, cut and printed using the reduction method. Each block has been engraved in sections and printed as one.

- ‘The Art of Balance’ by Christine Stables – winner of The New Light Purchase Prize. Christine lives in Stockport in Cheshire. After working as a textile artist for many years, Christine became an abstract painter in 2019 so that she could mix and use her own colours to suit her work. She uses acrylic paint, glazes and inks, and in her winning piece ‘The Art of Balance’ she uses organic shapes, created with loose white lines, showing off the colour orange by using contrasts in textures, translucency, opacity and complimentary colour.

The New Light Prize Exhibition, established in 2010, has become one of the UK’s largest and most talked about open touring exhibitions and offers some of the region’s best awards and opportunities for aspiring and established artists.

The judging process began in May and included some of the UK’s best art experts including Olivia Heron, Curator of The Whitworth Gallery, Matthew Hall, Director of Panter and Hall, London, Nan Perell, New York Collector specialising in contemporary British paintings, Mark Demsteader, renowned figurative artist and Rebekah Tadd, CEO of New Light Art.

Frances Bell, winner of the New Light Valeria Sykes Prize says: “I feel so optimistic for the future of northern art in being part of this show. Such an ambitious exhibition, over so many wonderful venues, and months in which to tour the country, with such a rich crop of work to show alongside. There is great depth in the artistic community in the north and this show demonstrates so much of that. To have won the Valeria Sykes Award is beyond my wildest expectations, I'm really delighted. The painting was made at the tail end of the second lockdown, which so affected us all. My sitter is another Northumbrian and a great friend of mine. The atmosphere of that time comes through for me when I think about the painting, almost like a time capsule from the past.

“It feels balancing that a painting which stems from being compelled by circumstances to remain in one locality through a hard moment in our recent history, should be shown in an exhibition celebrating that same area, and those who live and create art there.”

Artists who were born, live or have studied in one of the historic counties of the North of England - Cumbria, Durham, Lancashire, Northumberland, Yorkshire and – for the first time – Cheshire, were invited to submit their work online via www.newlight-art.org. Entry into the competition was £20 for the first two pieces of artwork and £10 for any subsequent entries.

Established in 2010, New Light is a charity that celebrates and promotes both well-known and emerging artists by offering some of the region’s best awards and opportunities. As well as the New Light Prize, it runs New Light Art for All, an education programme which includes talks, workshops and school projects. In 2021 it launched the New Light Collection which aims to make the best in Northern visual arts available to more people, by loaning pieces free of charge to public bodies and charities.

The common thread through everything New Light does is a deep belief that the visual arts matter and the north of England deserves to be celebrated. New Light is run by a dedicated group of people who are passionate about the visual arts in the north of England and relies entirely on donations and sponsorship.

For more information visit www.newlight-art.org.uk

The Mercer Gallery is located at 31 Swan Road, H arrogate, HG1 2SA and the exhibition is free to attend.