arts

The exhibition is a result of an art competition ran earlier in the year, and reflects the region's landscapes.

Over 120 entries were submitted and 49 works were short-listed for inclusion in a regional touring exhibition, which includes Goole, Warter and Barton-Upon-Humber.

The winners of the competition were announced at an awards evening at the Gallery on Thursday 20th July.

Steve Upton, winner of The Elwell Prize

Steve Upton from Beverley, who had recently moved from Coventry, won The Elwell Prize, the Beverley Art Gallery’s £500 cash award, for his painting 'Queensgate Beverley'. He was presented with a certificate by Philippa Naylor, the chairperson of the Gallery’s Friends committee.

“It’s the first prize I’ve ever won, which is very nice.” said Mr Upton. “This is the first landscape I’ve painted. I usually paint very urban things.”

“It’s a picture of Queensgate cemetery in Beverley. It was a very, very sunny day so the colours were incredibly bleached and the shapes were almost distorted. I took some photographs and did some drawings and then I produced the painting.

“It’s not quite how I would have wanted. It’s not bright enough and I think I chickened out a bit. I’m going to do another one of Spurn.”

Colin Reid, winner of the BBC Peoples Choice Award

Colin Reid’s ‘Riplingham Wold’ won the BBC People’s Choice Award. Mr Reid was presented £500 worth of art vouchers by BBC Radio Humberside’s Phil White.

“It’s fantastic to be a winner but it’s also fantastic to know that so many people appreciated my work and voted for it. It’s a lovely feeling.

“I was stunned. I really was. I did not expect to win at all. There are so many good paintings here that I was very surprised that it was me.” added Mr Reid.

A panel of three judges including John Bernasconi, director of fine art at University of Hull, Dr. Diane Dubois, head of drama at University of Lincoln and author Michael Carson selected The Elwell Prize winner, while the BBC People’s Choice Award was chosen by the audience via an online vote.

Judges: John Bernasconi and Dr. Diane Dubois

The works on display are varied from figurative to abstract and in a variety of formats from oil paintings, watercolours to textiles and ceramics.

Paul Willis, curator at the Beverly Art Gallery said: “The exhibition took roughly a week to setup and it was enjoyable to play with the works to actually see the differences and how they complemented each other.

“It was a real challenge to display the works and to let them come to life on their own, so we really experimented with it to showcase the works to their best extent.”

Exhibition tour dates:

Beverley Art Gallery: 30th June - 28th July 2007
Goole Art Gallery: 6th August - 1st September 2007
Yorkshire Heritage Centre, Warter: 8th - 29th September 2007
Baysgarth House Museum, Barton-Upon-Humber: 5th - 28th October 2007