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Cheeseburn Sculpture announces shortlist of artists for North East Young Sculptor of the Year

Northumberland-based sculpture garden and gallery, Cheeseburn today announces its ten shortlisted artists and sculptors who will compete to be named the Gillian Dickinson North East Young Sculptor of the Year which comes with £5,000 to create a brand new sculptural work for the visual arts destination.

Cheeseburn has seen steady growth since its official opening almost eighteen months ago. In September 2015, a partnership with the Gillian Dickinson Trust initiated by the founder of Cheeseburn Sculpture Joanna Riddell, resulted in a project to give a platform to young artists and sculptors of the region; the Gillian Dickinson North East Young Sculptor of the Year

Over twenty artists, aged 18 - 25 years old applied from across the region, and the shortlist of ten sees four of the region’s universities represented. “Our shortlist features students or recent graduates from Newcastle, Northumbria, Teesside and Sunderland universities,” explained curator at Cheeseburn, Matthew Jarratt “we are delighted to see these key education partners represented amongst a very talented pool of young, emerging artists and sculptors. Both Joanna and I would like to thank all those who applied and congratulate our shortlist!”

The successful ten artists on the shortlist will each receive £300 to develop a proposal for a sculpture or installation to be sited at Cheeseburn this autumn, the artists are:

Amy Thompson (Fine Art, Sunderland), Anthony Hensman (Fine Art, Newcastle), Dan Gough (Glass and Ceramics, Sunderland), Harry Fletcher (Kingston University, London) Hope Stebbing (Fine Art, Northumbria), James Railston (Fine Art, Sunderland), Katy Curran (Fine Art, Teesside), Lauren Drummond (Fine Art, Newcastle), Oliver Perry (Fine Art, Northumbria), Rene McBrearty (Fine Art, Newcastle)

Visitors to Cheeseburn this spring will be able to see the proposed installations and sculptures before a selection panel announces the winner at a special event on Saturday 28 May.

2016 promises to be another exciting year for Cheeseburn, who recently attained Charitable Status having seen steady growth since its official opening in October 2014. Joanna Riddell, owner of Cheeseburn Grange in which the sculpture garden is set said “We are very pleased to be able to showcase the work of these fine, emerging artists within the grounds of Cheeseburn and with the generous support of the Gillian Dickinson Trust. This is just a part of the work we are doing to offer opportunities to support young talent, we’re also part of Sunderland’s Graduate into Enterprise Scheme, in fact we have two students on placement with us currently, preparing for an exciting year ahead.”

Cheeseburn Sculpture will open for its first weekend of 2016 on Saturday 30 April and will open on all three days of the bank holiday weekend.

Visitors can take a self-guided tour of the gardens by picking up a map on arrival (or downloading from the website cheeseburn.com) - the tour should take around an hour, and is free of charge, though donations to the charity are encouraged.

Home-cooking and refreshments will be available to purchase.

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Jon Corbett .