Editorial Feature
Emerging artists step into the limelight through unique campaign to cultivate talent arlier this year Castle Galleries, fine art publisher Castle Galleries, launched a campaign to find the UK's newest emerging artistic talent and give them an opportunity to have their work publicly showcased. Aiming to reach a nationwide audience, IN:SIGHT 2015 was an open call to all unsigned artists - from painters, street artists and sculptors to photographers and sketchers. With no style, genre or medium off limits, artists were invited to submit their portfolios for review by the publisher's creative team, for the chance to be selected to exhibit their work at an inaugural Summer Exhibi- tion. Glyn Washington, founder and creative director of Washington Green said: "With ongoing government cuts in arts funding, we feel that as the UK’s leading fine art publisher, we have a responsibility to give something back and invest in the future of the UK arts scene. Nurturing home grown talent and providing a stage for artists to express themselves and shine is vital, and setting up IN:SIGHT and the subsequent Summer Exhibition is our way of recognising this." Last year's success stories included Dan Lane aka Mechanica, Scarlett Raven and Frédéric Daty. TALENTON SHOW The response to IN:SIGHT was overwhelming, with over 400 submissions received. With so much talent to choose from, whittling them down to a final 20 artists for inclusion in Summer Exhibition 2015 was not an easy task. Held at Castle Fine Art at Birmingham’s prestigious International Convention Centre, the 4-week long exhibition in August showcased an exceptional array of works and represented the diverse nature of contemporary art. Differing in age, methodology, subject matter and medium, the exhibitors ranged from painters, photographers and sculptors working in a myriad of materials - from pen and pastels to charcoal and oils. Some had honed their skills by undertaking fine art degrees, whilst others were self-taught and had chosen a creative path after first having careers in fields as varied as healthcare, architecture, textiles and blacksmithing. Their collective talents combined to take the viewer on a journey from the precision of pointillism portraiture to visual storytelling through photography, and from the intricate beauty of origami to striking landscapes, oil paintings of heroes from childhood literature and more. "We have great belief in the promise of this eclectic and talented group," said Glyn Washington "and we look forward to watching as their respective success stories unfold over the coming months and years." With the work on show throughout August, the exhibition gave a vast number of people the opportunity to view the remarkable portfolios. Visitors were also invited to choose their favourite artist, with the 'People's Choice Award' going to Glyn Davies.
One of the success stories of IN:SIGHT and the Summer Exhibition is Robert Oxley who has recently been signed by Castle Galleries, with three newly published pieces unveiled here
Manchester-based Oxley's work explores themes of loss of natural habitat and species extinction. A completely self- taught artist, his love of nature and wildlife began in his childhood.
“As a kid I would make and paint dioramas for imaginary zoos and when I was about 12 years old, I became obsessed with birds and natural history. My grandad challenged me to draw every bird in his Illustrated Book of Birds, which I still have."
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AUTUMN2015 FIN e ARTC o LL e CT o R 27
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