Leeds Art Gallery hosts ‘Northern Turner Prize’

Karen Guthrie and Nina Pope have been awarded the first Northern Art prize during a ceremony at Leeds Art Gallery. The pair – who call themselves ‘Somewhere’ - won the coveted award, as well as £16,500 for a range of works, including We Are Not Afraid of the Future, a film about the closing of two British shoe factories, and Living With The Tudors, which saw the artists take part in a historical recreation.

The Lake District-based Somewhere said that they were delighted to win the prize for their work, which was created "to give voice to peripheral sections of society." One of the awards four judges was Wakefield-born artist Martin Creed, who won the Turner Art Prize in 2001. He declared Somewhere to be worthy receivers of the prize and was keen to praise their work. He said: "For me the winners' work was extremely interesting and very funny – it made me laugh, but it also immediately captured my attention."

The Northern Art Prize has been established to raise awareness of artists in the Northwest. Although the British art scene is mainly based in London, the Northwest has produced a number of great artists in recent years, including David Hockney, Damien Hirst, Henry Moore and Barbara Hepworth.

Catherine Blanshard is one of the prize’s founders and, although she was happy with Somewhere’s win, she believes that it would be good to see a winner from Leeds in the future. She said: “The prize is guaranteed for another two years so it would be brilliant if we could have a winner from Leeds by year three."

The three other finalists in the prize were Tim Brennan, Dan Holdsworth and Eric Bainbridge. Work by these artists and Somewhere will be on display in the city's Headrow Gallery until 10th February.

Source:

Yorkshire Evening Post

Guardian

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