Building Enterprise through the Arts.

Artsmix Emerging Artists Awards
15th October 2007

Report

To present the 2007 Emerging Artists Awards artsmix* held an evening event at the Electric Press Building, Millennium Square. The facilities were kindly donated by Richard Wood, centre manager at the Electric Press Building. Full cooperation and assistance was given by Revolution, Ha Ha! and The Spice Quarter, the bars/restaurants within the Electric Press Building.

The idea of the awards is to encourage local artists and the new social enterprises that artsmix * and Mosaic have supported in their development to reflect on their artistic and production techniques.
Artists were invited to put forward the work they felt truly encapsulated their ethos into two award categories; one for the Social Enterprises and one for the wider artist client base who have participated this year in the Mosaic market.

The awards were judged by an independent panel comprising of:
-Casey Orr, a freelance photographer and Lecturer at Leeds Metropolitan University,
-Andy Sames, a ceramicist and technician and Tutor at Leeds College of Art & Design,
-Monair Hyman, an established artist with national and international exhibition credits and winner of a British Council Award in 1999.

The awards were presented by Jonathan Smith and Helena Jones during the evening.

The winner for The Social Enterprise Category was Karen Dennis, Ketchup clothes with a piece called Leather.

The winner for the Mosaic wider artist was Marianne Springham with a piece called Scooping for the Truth.

The winners will receive an individual exhibition of their work.

Artsmix Emerging Artists Awards Winners

Kit Beaumont, Cai Nyahoe and Sara Frith created the theme and design for the event and organised the logistics.

Invites for the evening were sent to past and present supporters of Mosaic and artsmix* and also to business contacts across the city. In excess of 60 people attended the event and enjoyed, fire juggling by Holly Spencer, a fashion show of Ketchup clothing, a waiter on stilts provided by Urban Angels Circus, live flamenco guitar music by ‘Ramtin’ Mageed Montazemy, a buffet provided by the bars in the Electric Press Building as well as a chance to see and buy work by a wide selection of the artists who are part of the Mosaic market. (see attached for list of artists displayed)
£186.99 was taken at the event which will be distributed directly to the artists whose work was sold.

The event was also an opportunity to share the vision of artsmix* and ways that businesses are able to support local artists. (see attached flyer ‘Business Opportunities to Support Local Artists’)

Short listed Artists

Joanne Eisenberg - Night & Day
Night & Day is one piece of work consisting of 2 halves depicting the opposites of light and dark, hot and cold, a mirror image of each other.

Karen Dennis - Leather
Taking inspiration form environmental concerns I take old clothing and turn it into new. Garments are dismantled, re-cut and put back together again thus eliminating signs of wear and tear. Every piece I produce is original and one off.

Piers Edsall - Natural Timber
I make my work from renewable, recycled or waste wood; I like to show that wood which has been discarded can be made into beautiful original forms, showcasing the beauty and character of the natural timber.

Giles Hadleigh Edsall Metamorphosis
My work is born out of a combination of obsession, compulsion and repetition. I start by finding images of nature and animal behaviour that fascinate me, then the work evolves organically, as a concept, then as a three dimensional ideal. Colour and content lend themselves to the original thought, feeding the final image.

Miriam Laville Sycamore Keys
The inspiration for this piece is from natural forms and the utilisation of various artistic techniques. These processes oppose and compliment each other providing a dynamic combination. The painting evolves through the progression of layering paper and paint over each other, then scratching into its surface.

Eric Moss Raku
I like the way the finished pots reflect their elemental journey from mud to ceramic; I think this particular process imparts ‘a sense of life;’ within a piece. My current forms are inspired by natural seeds and nuts, ringed plants, flower bracts and mechanical aero/spacecraft engine parts.

Nico Dawson Going to the Ball
Thoroughly committed to the old fashioned art of lovingly making things by hand, our unique accessories are painstakingly made from forgotten, discarded and re-cycled materials tenderly brought back to life in imaginative ways.

Zoe Rollins The Cluster Collection
Whilst coming to terms with a lifelong disability, I began designing and creating jewellery. The Cluster Collection demonstrates not only the individuality of my designs, but also the love and commitment that is the key ethos to our business. Each piece is designed individually from the finest locally sourced materials.

Yuet Tsang Stars
As a sufferer of rheumatoid arthritis I recently had to replace my passion for knitting with a more manageable art form. My piece was inspired from looking through the window at the night sky one of my many sleepless nights. It is made from very old papers magazine covers with every star individually wrapped, rolled and pushed into shape, all connected together with silver plated pins.

Marianne Springham Scooping for the Truth
The wooden platter for this piece was bought at a car boot sale for £1 in August. I get inspiration from objects that I find at home, objects that people usually take for granted. The image I created for the platter was taken from an old drawing of a spoon. “Scooping for the Truth” is a spoons motto. The bowl was painted using acrylic, Indian ink and finished with a lacquer.

Artists Work on Display

Anne-Marie Smith
Vicky Burnett
Janette Sergeant
Patricia Sharry
Gill Ford
Andrew Helm
Ru Telford Brown
Liz Rose
Natasha Harris
Sada Abdala
Marianne Springham
Gretchen Sandiford
Ben Kershaw
Giles Hadleigh Edsall
Karen Dennis
Mags Ashman
Piers Edsall
Zoe Rollins
Yuet Tsang
Miriam Laville
Eric Moss
Joanne Eisenberg
Nico Dawson
Laura Creer
Alex Lavigueur
Jennie Collins
Martin Sutherland