The county’s finest creatives will showcase their talents as SAOY 23 rolls into action this October
SAOY 23 is at New Ashgate Gallery in Farnham from Sept 23-Nov 4.
One of the most important events in the Surrey arts calendar for the past 13 years, SAOY champions the best contemporary art and craft in the county, shaping artists’ careers and involving the community in arts as the ‘curators’ of the project.
Jointly organised by the host venue New Ashgate Gallery in Farnham and Surrey Artists Open Studios, the shortlisted artists – as voted for by the public during open studio visits this summer – come together for a programme of events from Sept 23 to Nov 4. Members of the public can vote for their top choice before midday on Oct 27.
The artist with the most votes from public and judging panel is named Surrey Artist of the Year 2023. This year’s shortlisted artists are Caroline Bond, Barbara Bradshaw, Sinéad Fox, Georgie Gardiner, Annabel Hocking, Christine Hopkins, Diana King, Joanna Lloyd, Julie Matthews, Faye Mayo, Peg Morris, Lucy Dorothy Nichols, Julie Patton, Sue Ransley, Sarah Rawlins, Sue Roche, Alison Saunders and Sonya Vine.
The winner receives a bursary of £1,000, a solo show at New Ashgate Gallery and a free winner’s stand at the Surrey Art Fair, as well as a £100 Loxley voucher. The runner-ups receive £25 Loxley vouchers. At the same time as the 2023 competition, the gallery displays a solo exhibition by last year’s winner, Jane Browne. Jane is a textile artist and her tapestries are inspired by the natural contours of the landscape and different crops in the changing seasons. The pieces are based on actual sketched scenes and created using a variety of yarns, including wool, cotton, linen and rafia, blending thick and thin, coarse and fine together to gather the effect.
During her time as Surrey Artist of the Year, Jane has explored new techniques in her landscape tapestry. “I am working on tapestries inspired by the Esso fuel pipeline, which has cut swathes through the local countryside,” she says. “This pipeline has provoked much negative reaction, but from a purely artistic point of view, it has provided opportunities to capture a moment in time before the pipeline returns to the field landscape as it was.”
Since the beginning, the SAOY project has promoted 186 artists and makers and profiled assemblage, mosaics, ceramics, collage, stained glass, photography, jewellery, painting, digital work, printmaking, textiles, and sculpture.
It has also awarded 13 funded solo exhibitions and created a series of collectable catalogues and a programme of community events.
See newashgate.org.uk for info. The exhibition coincides with Farnham’s Craft Month in October and a busy programme of free community workshops and events at the gallery during the October half-term holidays. Cast your vote before October 27.
