Art lovers, time to start planning your exhibition visits for 2024, with the announcement of the winners for the second North East Emerging Artist Award at Seaton Delaval Hall.
This post has been shared from the marketing team at Seaton Delaval Hall.
Visitors can look forward to seeing work from sculptor, Rachel Blackwell, fashion and textile designer, Jacob Goff and writer, director and actor, Wambui Hardcastle.
The exhibition of the following year’s proposals will also be on display at the same time as the winners’, with visitors once again invited to take part in the judging process and vote for their favourite. There will also be longer to enjoy the exhibitions which are now running for six weeks from Wednesday 15 May until Sunday 23 June 2024.
Seaton Delaval Hall is a National Trust property in the bottom corner of Northumberland near Seaton Sluice.
About the award:
The award was developed by curator, Matthew Jarratt and Seaton Delaval Hall's general manager, Emma Thomas. The award is open to artists from all artfroms and applications are encouraged from music and sound, theatre, film, fashion, literature and design as well as fine art.
Matthew is based in North East England, and has worked across the UK, Europe and China on arts commissioning, curatorial projects and cultural policy.
Matthew worked as an artist from the mid 1980s to mid 1990s and then spent 15 years at Arts Council England as a creative broker helping to shape the North East’s culture led regeneration, working on many new arts buildings, artist’s commissions and opportunities for new artists across the region.
About the winners:
Rachel Blackwell.
Photo by Colin Davison Photography.
Sculptor Rachel’s work, Flight of the Pipistrelles, will feature cast pewter bats suspended by a steel ring, representing the bats that have made the hall their home since the fire of 1822. Rachel said:
‘It’s been absolutely fascinating learning about the history of Seaton Delaval Hall. It is a unique opportunity to be able to respond to such a historic site and I’m so grateful to receive the funding and support to realise a project of this scale in such an amazing location.’
Jacob Goff.
Photo by Colin Davison Photography.
Jacob Goff’s work, Many Hands, will explore the contributions made by volunteers to keep the hall running. Using his preferred medium of upcycled materials from various sources including the hall’s lost property box, Jacob will create a series of hanging textile quilts, each highlighting an area of volunteers’ work:
"I feel very lucky to be able to engage with Seaton Delaval Hall and its inner workings to expand on my work. I aim to celebrate the team of volunteers who work at the hall as an essential part of its operations using materials that have been left and found on site, ultimately demonstrating that the space is shaped, moulded and ushered into the future by the people who contribute their time and effort."
Wambui Hardcastle.
Credit: Gary Malkin Video Productions
Wambui Hardcastle, who portrayed a housemaid as part of November Club’s The Unlocked Door last November, will bring audio installation, Time Flies in a Blink of an Eye, to the hall. An immersive audio journey will encourage us to imagine the future of Seaton Delaval Hall, with an invitation to the audience to share their hopes for each other and the hall, connecting strangers now and ones to come.
Of her involvement in the North East Emerging Artist Award, Wambui said:
‘I am honoured to have been chosen as one of the North East Emerging Artists, and to be trusted in to realise my performance proposal at Seaton Delaval Hall in Spring 2024. This recognition means more than words can properly describe.’
The recent inaugural winners’ exhibition included a film installation featuring contemporary dance from Maria Isidora Vincentelli, an audio and photography exhibition in the Stables by Chantal Herbert and Dami Fawehinmi and play-based architectural models, Vanbrugh Croquet, by Caroline Collinge and Edmond Salter of Cabinet of Curiosity Studio.
Note: The call for proposals for the third year of the North East Emerging Artist Award will be announced in the autumn.
Seaton Delaval Hall is open Wednesday – Sunday, 10am – 5pm during term time and seven days a week during Northumberland school holidays. Last admission is 4pm. Standard admission applies.