Sheffield’s Yorkshire Artspace will soon host an exhibition of paintings by artists from across the UK. The 17 featured artists have been shortlisted for the Contemporary British Painting Prize, beating off competition from over 1200 hopeful applicants.
The exhibition has already toured venues in Cardiff and London before finishing in Sheffield, where the winners of the Judith Tucker Memorial Prize will be revealed.
Turner Prize-winning artist Lubaina Himid will make the announcement at a special launch event on Saturday 30 November, where two lucky painters will be awarded prizes of £3,000 and £1,500.
Judith Tucker (1960-2023) was a British artist who taught Fine Art at the University of Leeds. She demonstrated a lifelong commitment to painting and was Chair of Contemporary British Painting at the time of her death in November last year.
Georgina Kettlewell, Director of Yorkshire Artspace, is passionate about contemporary painting. She worked for several years at Dulwich Picture Gallery in London and is married to contemporary painter Jack Kettlewell. She said: “We’re delighted to be working with the brilliant team from Huddersfield Art Gallery to host this exhibition in Sheffield.
“Like Contemporary British Painting, we have an enduring interest in contemporary work being made in studios today. If you love painting or are just plain curious, this is a great opportunity to see work from a diverse mix of painters and to experience, side-by-side, the many possibilities of painting.
“I hope this is the first of many more collaborations that delight painting fans and create new ones in a city famed for its artists and creatives.”
Joanna Whittle is a celebrated Sheffield painter, who won this prize back in 2019. Now, she is the Vice Chair of Contemporary British Painting and has been instrumental in bringing the prize to Sheffield. Joanna said: “I am very excited that Yorkshire Artspace will be hosting the final leg of this year’s prize exhibition at Persistence Works.
“I have been living and working in Sheffield for eight years now and it is such a creative and supportive community. The city also represents a creative hub in the north and it is great that the exhibition will be so accessible to these communities and the wider public. It’s very exciting for me as a painter, that the medium of paint will be celebrated in a contemporary space in the heart of our creative city. “
The exhibition is being held in collaboration with Huddersfield Art Gallery, which is currently closed while a new home in Huddersfield town centre is being built. The development in a former library will house the art gallery alongside two floors of museum exhibitions, plus a shop and cafe with outdoor terrace.
Everyone is welcome at the launch event on Saturday 30 November, 2-5pm at Persistence Works Gallery, 21 Brown Street, S1 2BS, with free drinks. The event is supported by The Pearl at Park Hill and architects Feilden Clegg Bradley Studios.
For more information on the event see their website here.
