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First Art Unlimited Bursary Awarded
24 June 2024
Art Unlimited awarded its first Bursary on Saturday with the endorsement of a Chain of Mayors
A Chain of Mayors gathered to endorse the presentation of the first Art Unlimited Young Person’s Bursary which was awarded to Kathryn Conway of Woodroffe School, Lyme Regis, Dorset on Saturday 22nd June 2024 in the Art Unlimited Gallery on South Street, Bridport, Dorset, DT6 3NR.
Howard Flanagan, owner of Art Unlimited and initiator of this inaugural Award was joined by Cllr Anne Rickard, Mayor of Bridport and Cllr David Ruffle, Mayor of Lyme Regis to present Kathryn with her Bursary cheque for £2500.
Kathryn's family, Richard Vine (Kathryn's art tutor from Woodroffe School), Alex Alsop (Director of Norrsken Windows, sponsor of the Competition's Best in Show Award for 2024) and the Mayors' partners were also in attendance.
The Bursary has been funded by entry fees from the 2023 Art Unlimited International Open Art Competition
and the generosity of an anonymous donor. This inaugural Award was created to support young student artists within the community and their further education.
Howard Flanagan: ‘We are keen to work closely with both schools and colleges as well as the business community in order to foster young talent and develop a platform here in Bridport from which they can shine.’
Students from local schools including Bridport’s Sir John Colfox Academy and Woodroffe School in Lyme Regis were invited to submit a 250-word personal statement stating what this award would mean to their future artistic career.
Kathryn’s stood out as this excerpt clearly demonstrates: ‘What this bursary could provide for me is resources to create art and to sell my work as an artist, as well as access to paid-for online courses in addition to my university studies. Having the ability to take further courses would drastically improve my skills, ready for my career as an artist. Having higher skills would also limit competition against me in finding the best jobs, something that is even more important nowadays with the pressure created by AI.’
There was a great feeling in the Gallery at the presentation on Saturday and Cllr Anne Rickard shared it was: 'So good to know young people are being recognised and encouraged in this way [Bursary]. It was heart-warming to witness this happening here in Bridport'.
The 2024 Competition
is currently open for online submissions until Wednesday 31st July 2024 with this year’s entry fees going towards at least two 2024/25 Bursaries.
The Shortlisted artists will be announced on 16th August 2024.
An exhibition of all the finalists’
works will be on display at The Malthouse Gallery, Town Mill, Lyme Regis from 10th – 22nd September 2024.
For more details on how to enter, judges, prizes and sponsors, for the Art Unlimited International Open Art Competition, please click HERE.
From Monday 18th until Saturday 30th November, we will be holding an fortnight Exhibition to prominently display art work from our Gallery Artists that is priced between £25 - £200. It will be a great event to pick up any Christmas presents or for a small indulgence in a treat for yourself! For more information on our Affordable Art Fortnight or to view the artwork that will be on display check out its dedicated webpage here. Also we are now offering a Layaway Scheme, to help spread the costs of purchases between £150 - £5,000, subject to our terms and conditions, to help make the art that we sell more attainable to purchase. More can be found out about this scheme by contacting us directly, or speaking to a member of the team when visiting the Gallery.
We are proud to now offer our customers the ability to pay for Gallery purchases using our Layaway Scheme. For purchases between £150- £5,000, you can now spread the cost with weekly or monthly instalments payments that are relative to the purchase amount and interest free. Each Layaway Scheme is individual and tailored to you - working within our general framework and subject to our terms and conditions. If you would like to find out more contact us directly or speak to a member of the team when visiting the Gallery.
With the judged categories announced at the Awards Night on Saturday 14th and the People's Choice announced via social media on Sunday 29th, we are pleased to further announce the winners of our 2024 International Open Art Competition on our website too. We have been thrilled to have been able to show case these amazing Artists and their artwork with you and if you would like to find out more about them follow the link here. Congratulations to all our winners and also thank you to everyone that has participated in the 2024 Competition, with either entering, visiting the Finalists Exhibition or voting to help choose our People's Choice winner.
The evening of Saturday 14th September 2024, saw us hosting our Awards Night for our International Open Art Competition 2024, at the Malthouse Gallery, at The Town Mill, Lyme Regis, where our Finalist Exhibition for our 2024 Competition was held. The evening was an opportunity to celebrate the mesmerising artwork and talent shown by the Finalists from this years Competition and to announce the Competition's category winners - excluding the People's Choice Award which was announced on Sunday 29th September via social media. In attendance on the night were; the finalist artists and their loved ones, the amazing sponsors who support the different category prizes for the Competition, the fantastic judges who choose the winning artwork and other brilliant people who help bring our Competition to life. The evening had a buoyant, buzzing feeling with guests talking with one another and important network connections were made. A video of the highlights from the Awards Evening, and that of the Judging night to can be viewed here . It was a lovely highlight to the 2024 Competition and we would like to say thank you to everyone who came and made it an unforgettable evening. The winners announced on the night were: The Norrsken Award for Best in Show: Kanmi 'Me, Myself & I' The Daler-Rowney Under 18s Award: Kay Benbow 'Conniption' The Advantage Digital Print (ADP) Award for Best Digital Piece: Judi Brachi 'Other Dreams' The Furleigh Estate Award for Best Creative Piece: Aloysius Ong (Syn Wei Ong) 'Meadow - Dance of Freedom' The Lyme Bay Dental & Implant Clinic Award for Best 3D Piece: Matt Sowter 'Angler' The RISE Award for Best Concept Piece: Ruth Baker 'Day Dreamer' Announced on Sunday 29th September: The People's Choice Award, sponsored by Unique Framecraft: Violet Von Riot 'The Bath Collage'
The evening of Thursday 12th September, saw the in person judging of our International Open Art 2024 take place, at The Malthouse Gallery, The Town Mill, Lyme Regis. Our wonderful judges, Lady Victoria Conran, Julie Montagu, Viscountess Hinchingbrooke and Richard Vine, came and cast their eyes over the Finalist artworks we had on display, scoring each work in each of the different judging areas. We are truly grateful to the judges for giving their time and giving their opinion on each of the artworks we had on display. Photo Credits: Andy Morel
It's been a cracking start to our Exhibition of the Finalist Artworks from our International Open Art Competition 2024, since we opened the Exhibition doors on Tuesday. Coming from the Malthouse Gallery, The Town Mill, Lyme Regis, for the first time this year, the Exhibition has already been well attended by visitors and has had great feedback. The Exhibition is open daily, 9am - 5pm from now until the 22nd of September and you can view the artwork online if you are not able to attend in person. Find out more on the link below: https://www.art-unlimited.co.uk/finalists-exhibition-2024
We are delighted to announce that our International Open Art Competition, that closed for entries on Wednesday, has received a record number of entries! We have been blown away by the response of Artists entering our Competition which has seen an 50% increase on last years entries. We now have the difficult job of distilling all the entries down to our finalists, whose work will be hung in a Finalists Exhibition , that we will be hosting at The Malthouse Gallery, The Town Mill, Lyme Regis, DT7 3PU on the 10th-22nd of September. The finalists will be announced on Friday 16th August, so check in with us again soon to see the results!
On Saturday 4th of May we made a big splash at Bridport's Saturday market to promote that our International Open Art Competition for 2024 was open for submissions. With the help of the Bridport's Town Crier the word that our Competition was open for submissions was well and truly heard! To find out more about our International Open Art Competition, how to enter, the prizes, the judges the sponsors, and much more please CLICK HERE .
Art Unlimited are pleased to be currently hosting the Exhibition of Duncan Park , who was the Best in Show winner from our International Open Art Competition 2023 . Duncan is not only showcasing his sublime talent in sculpture using Portland stone, but also his flare for painting local landscapes with watercolour and oil paint. The Exhibition will be at our Gallery in Bridport, Dorset until Saturday 25th May - do come along to view for yourself!
Get your art supplies ready, we will be opening for submissions for our International Open Art Competition on Wednesday 1st May 2024 and closing on Wednesday 31st July 2024. We are hoping that this year will build on the success of the previous to years to be our most successful year yet, with record number of entries received. More information about the Competition can be found on our dedicated Competition page using the link below: https://www.art-unlimited.co.uk/open-arts-competition-2024 Remember if you aren't an Artist, you still have your part to play in the Competition by spreading the word about it, and also visiting the Finalists Exhibition which will be showcasing the shortlisted entries. This year the Finalists Exhibition is being held at the fabulous Malthouse Gallery at The Town Mill , in Lyme Regis, from the 10th to 22nd of September 2024. Good luck to all entrants and we look forward to seeing everyone at the Finalists Exhibition in September!