FRESH is an annual cross-disciplinary exhibition of art from early career artists in the North of England.
In 2022, the exhibition will take place Friday 9th – Friday 23rd September 2022 at The Courthouse, Thirsk.
Northern artists within the first 5 years of their practice* were invited to submit work from a wide range of media, including but not limited to painting, drawing, photography, printmaking, textiles, ceramics, glass, sculpture, installation, film and projection.
Up to 8 artists will be selected by the end of July, and each will receive a mentoring and support package valued at £400. One artist will be chosen as the winner of the FRESH Award 2022, receiving a solo exhibition at The Courthouse, Thirsk in 2023 and a support and mentoring package worth £3,000.
*Artists must be in the first five years of their self-defined professional practice, and must be based in or be from the area defined as the North by Arts Council England.
Exhibiting Artists
Congratulations to this year’s exhibiting artists:
Artist Responsibilities
Selected artists are required to:
- Participate fully in the marketing of FRESH 2022, sharing information and materials with personal and professional networks
- Attend the Preview where possible
- Pay for the delivery of works (or any associated costs – e.g. printing) to Rural Arts
- Engage in the administrative process of curating the exhibition promptly (e.g. providing pricing, biography etc. within the timescale provided)
In return,
- You will receive a mentoring and support package valued at £400
- You will be in the running to win the FRESH Award 2022, which will provide a solo exhibition and a prize package worth £3,000
- Rural Arts will pay for return postage of your artwork
- Rural Arts will act as an agent for the sale of your works during the exhibition at a rate of 40% commission (It is requested that most works are for sale, but we appreciate this might not be possible)
Mentoring and support
Between selection and the exhibition, each of the 8 artists will receive up to 2 days of mentoring and support from Rural Arts’ exhibition programmer and shop manager, valued at £200 per day.
In addition to this 2 days, the FRESH Award 2022 winner will receive up to an additional 3 days of mentoring and support in the development period prior to their solo exhibition from Rural Arts’ exhibition programmer and shop manager, valued at £200 per day.
Solo exhibition
The winner of the FRESH Award 2022 will be offered a solo exhibition at The Courthouse during 2023. The duration of this exhibition shall be no less than 7 days.
The donation of The Courthouse space and Rural Arts’ staff time in programming, operating and marketing the exhibition is valued at £2,000, making the winning prize package worth a total of £3,000 (including mentoring detailed above).
The artist is responsible for any and all additional costs (transport, postage, framing etc.) of participation in this exhibition.
Rural Arts reserves the right to delay or withdraw the offer of a solo exhibition should the artist not be able to fulfil their obligations, which includes displaying a full range of high-quality artistic works that merit a solo exhibition.
