The Northern Art Prize at Leeds Art Gallery

Last Wednesday I helped out on the door at The Northern Art Prize at Leeds City Art Gallery – even though it was snowing and really cold there was a good turn out and a good buzz around the art on display. All the artists have produced new, never exhibited work for the exhibition which made it all the more interesting.

Rosalind Nashashibi

The four artists nominated for the competition are Margaret Harrison, Emily Speed, Rosalind 

Nashashibi and Joanne Tatham & Tom O’Sullivan (collaboration). The artists, all selected by curators and arts specialists, must all be practicing in the North and interestingly there are no boundaries around age or medium making the exhibition very varied - as Pippa Hale, the Director of the Northern Art Prize said 'a variety of mediums with artists ranging from 33 to 72'. Apparently many prizes relating to contemporary art put boundaries around age and medium, excluding those who don't fit into the specific boxes which is what makes the Northern Art Prize so nice. The winner will be announced on 23^rd May and will receive £16,500 as prize money. 

Of the four artists my favourites were Margaret and Joanne & Tim. I was lucky to receive a tour from Sarah Brown, curator of Leeds Art Gallery, before the masses of people arrived as I was helping out – unfortunately I was a little late and missed the talks on Rosalind and Emily so I may be a little biased as I learnt more about Margaret and Joanne & Tim’s pieces from the start!

'The Reiterative Grimace' - Joanne Tatham & Tom O’Sullivan

Joanne & Tim’s pieces are not only fun to look at – they also use the gallery space well to divide up the new and the old (as you can see from the pic above). As well as 'The Reiterative Grimace' above, there are some photos of past pieces showing the range of work they've done in the past - Looking in their work a bit more I particularly like 'Direct serious action is therefore necessary' - I like it so much I've added it below!

Direct serious action is therefore necessary - Joanne Tatham & Tom O’Sullivan

Common Reflections - Margaret Harrison

Margaret’s work fits in well with the kind of work I’m growing to like more and more with feminist meaning behind the work. I particularly like her piece 'Common Reflections' (above) - it's an interpretation of the fence from RAF Greenham Common that represents the site outside the base where in the 1980s women set up a peace camp to protest about nuclear weapons kept there - the mirrors are a clever twist as the women held up mirrors to the guards to hold them to account. I also liked the use of mixed media in her work. 

I still need to go back and look at Rosalind and Emily's work in more detail as I soon got swept away from the galleries when guests started to arrive. All in all a good exhibition- looking forward to seeing who the winner is in May!