Exhibition: Flourish Award 2020

3rd October until 31st January 2021

Woodend Gallery, The Crescent Scarborough

Selected from open submission, the 11th annual Flourish Award for Excellence in Printmaking exhibition launched in our project space in Huddersfield town centre on 1st August and is open to the public on Tuesdays, Fridays and Saturdays until 12th September.

Established in 2009 to champion printmakers working throughout Yorkshire, Flourish now celebrates work from across the UK, selected from open submission. The exhibition brings together a wide range of prints made by artists shortlisted for this year’s award, chosen by an independent panel of judges. Stephen Snoddy, artist and Director of New Art Gallery, Walsall; Bronwen Sleigh, artist and printmaker; and Grant Scanlan, Huddersfield Museums Manager have carefully considered artworks submitted from all over the country. Their selection presents a diverse, rich and imaginative group of 13 printmakers to be displayed in Huddersfield before touring to Scarborough. The winner of the Flourish Award will receive a 2-week residency at West Yorkshire Print Workshop and the chance to present a solo print exhibition at Huddersfield Art Gallery in 2022. Visitors to the exhibition are invited to select their own favourite for our People’s Choice Award, which will be announced at the end of the exhibition tour.

This year’s show

Shortlisted artists for the Flourish Award 2020 are: Paulette Bansal, Suzanne Bethell, Louisa Boyd, Tony Carlton, Louise Garman, Pam Grimmond, Ian Irvine, Nick Loaring, Lucie MacGregor, Flora McLachlan, Lucy May Schofield, Claire Willberg and Susan Wright.

Our partnership with Huddersfield Art Gallery enables the winner of Flourish to present a solo exhibition of their work in the year following the award. While we manage the challenges of COVID19 and Huddersfield Art Gallery is closed for essential repairs, Kirklees Council are supporting this year’s Flourish exhibition in Unit 2 at the Piazza (opposite Huddersfield Library and Art Gallery). This is a medium-term project space which we currently run as part of the town’s cultural regeneration programme.

In addition to presenting Flourish in Huddersfield, we are developing a partnership with Scarborough Museums Trust. The exhibition will be presented at the iconic Woodend in Scarborough (adjacent to the town’s main art gallery and Crescent Arts) from 3rd October until early January.

The Flourish Award presents a unique insight into printmaking from across the UK and the changing panel of selectors ensures each exhibition is quite different from the previous year. There is always an intriguing mix of highly skilled traditional printmaking alongside more experimental, unconventional work, pushing the boundaries of scale and medium. In addition to visiting the show, there is a programme of artists’ talks online during the run of the exhibition to get involved with.