Exhibition
ArtWorks Together
29 May 2021 – 27 Jun 2021
Regular hours
- Monday
- Closed
- Tuesday
- Closed
- Wednesday
- 10:00 – 16:00
- Thursday
- 10:00 – 16:00
- Friday
- 10:00 – 16:00
- Saturday
- 10:00 – 16:00
- Sunday
- 10:00 – 16:00
Wentworth Woodhouse
Address
- Wentworth
- Rotherham
England - S62 7TQ
- United Kingdom
ArtWorks Together is a new international arts competition which celebrates the work of artists with learning disabilities, autism or both.
About
The work of 9 competition winners, including artwork from the USA, Canada, Portugal and the UK, will be exhibited at stately home Wentworth Woodhouse in Yorkshire, from 29th May to 27th June.
ArtWorks is a small arts organisation which specialises in supporting artists with learning disabilities and autism in accessing the art world. An important part of this work is regular exhibitions which demonstrate the talent of these artists to the public equally to non-disabled artists. In response to the initial lockdown, ArtWorks organised the first virtual exhibition of their artists’ work, to maintain this crucial connection to the public. This inspired the conception of ArtWorks Together.
‘The response to the initial exhibition was overwhelming and made us think why couldn’t we open this virtual space up to others worldwide and celebrate more people’s creativity?’ – Emma, Arts Coordinator at ArtWorks
The competition received over a thousand entries in its first year running! 34 shortlisted artists were selected through an inclusive judging panel of artists with learning disabilities, autism or both from ArtWorks. Their work has been exhibited in a virtual exhibition on the ArtWorks Together website since 25th March. 9 winners of the competition were chosen by 6 high profile artists and curators: Alison Lapper, Helen Pheby, James Lingwood, Michael Morris, Rachel Gadsden, and Tony Heaton. The ArtWorks Together exhibition at Wentworth Woodhouse displaying the work of the winners will be open Wednesday-Sunday 10am–6pm. There will be 8 public workshops running over the weekends for audiences to enjoy:
Drawing Together 5th and 26th June
Let your hands dance your way through drawing!
Cyanotype 6th and 20th June
Create your own print in collaboration with the sun!
Collaborative Sculpture 12th and 27th June
Build a colourful sculpture and add to the cardboard landscape growing outside Wentworth Woodhouse!
Screen Printing 13th and 19th June
Learn how to screen print and make your own sustainable shopping bag!
Participants will be able to book their space here: https://wentworthwoodhouse.digitickets.co.uk/category/29581?navItem=237965
As articulated by the Arts Council England in the 2016 Equality, Diversity and the Creative Case report, “by championing diversity, we strengthen our cultural ecology”. Yet disabled people are underrepresented within all areas of the arts and cultural sector. The arts are a way of processing the world, revealing the deepest emotions, and creating a raw picture of the human condition. By overlooking these artists, the cultural sector is missing a significant fragment of this picture. ArtWorks Together aims to challenge this by creating a platform which demonstrates how the unique skills of learning-disabled and autistic artists can be better incorporated into the broad contemporary art landscape.
“We want to galvanise change within the arts and celebrate the works of so many incredibly talented artists with learning disabilities, who are currently significantly underrepresented in the sector.” – Kayleigh Cruickshank Director at ArtWorks