The largest open exhibition in the north west has returned to Warrington Museum and Art Gallery – and this year it is bigger than ever.
Warrington Arts Festival’s annual Open Exhibition celebrates the talents of some of most promising new and emerging creatives in the region.
The competition acts as a springboard for gifted artists of every discipline and the opportunity was available to anyone within a 60-mile radius of Warrington, although most the entries this year were from the town.
The 2024 Open also benefited from the relaunch of Warrington Arts Festival.
Re-energised by an expanded team and powered by £840,000 in grant funding from Arts Council England, Warrington Borough Council and Warrington BID, this led to the event breaking records with the most submissions in its 14-year history.
It attracted almost 900 entries and, after a meticulous and painstaking curation process, 96 ambitious artworks of various sizes and forms were selected by 70 artists.
The substantial and thought-provoking body of work can now be seen in the Museum’s Large Art Gallery and Mezzanine Gallery until the end of September
Sarah Harris, a multidisciplinary artist who grew up in Warrington, was this year’s guest curator.
She said: “By supporting contemporary art, Culture Warrington is investing in the future of our town. It’s essential for creative minds to have the space to produce work that challenges and inspires us.
“The exhibition features a remarkable array of artists from across the north west, with a strong representation from Warrington.
“This showcase reflects our current times, highlighting the themes that resonate with our artists. It’s been fascinating to explore the issues they are addressing.”
Skye Baker
After a judging ceremony and launch event on Thursday, Skye Baker was awarded First Prize for a performance piece called Guttural, while Kamil Duda was named Emerging Artist.
Short film, Guttural, is part of a larger body of work by Skye called Foreign Body. It shows the artist fully submerged in a bathtub, as black food dye pools out of her mouth for an exploration of her personal identity and vulnerability.
Her prize includes a solo show at Warrington Museum with full support in 2025 to develop their practice.
Kamil Duda
Emerging Artist Kamil’s A+B is a large double headed rocking horse accompanied by a video, showing the horse out in action around Manchester city centre, encouraging passers-by to have a rock. The judges loved the playfulness and technical skill of this work.
Also Highly Commended were Jasper Pedyo, Chloe Watts, Richard Meaghan, Lawal Ibrahim, Sean O’Farrell, Olivia Hawkswell and Justine Lesage.
This year’s judges were David Sinclair, lead curator at New Art Exchange, Imi Bailey, Warrington Arts Festival Young Producer and art student at Royal Vale College, artist Morag Myerscough, Ryan French, from Castlefield Art Gallery and Manchester-based artist-led organisation Short Supply.
Roger Jeffery, Producer at Warrington Museum, added: “It’s been so inspiring to see all the artwork submitted to this year’s Warrington Open.
“I’d like to thank all the artists who entered, the judges for going through all the submissions and making their selection, and of course Sarah Harris for doing such a wonderful job of curating the exhibition.”
The Open Exhibition is free to view and runs at Warrington Museum until 29 September.
