We are excited to announce the three new partners for Jerwood Art Fund Makers Open: Amgueddfa Cymru – Museum Wales as lead partner, Pitzhanger Manor & Gallery and York Art Gallery.
Each of the partners will curate the new works in dialogue with their own collections and contexts to reflect different aspects of the creation process and concepts: Amgueddfa Cymru is home to an inspirational wide-ranging collection of art, craft and design. As Wales’s national museum, Amgueddfa Cymru provides a platform to showcase the work of contemporary artists and makers. Being exhibited in this space represents a prestigious opportunity for the five selected artists and makers.
The former home of Sir John Soane, Pitzhanger Manor & Gallery sits at the intersection of art, architecture and design making it the perfect context in which to explore the new commissions.
At York Art Gallery, the Centre of Ceramic Art (CoCA) displays an extensive collection of British Studio Ceramics, including collections from WA Ismay, Henry Rothschild, and Anthony Shaw, framing the innovative and new works from the five awardees.
These new partners will extend the reach of the ninth edition of Jerwood Art Fund Makers Open, which will offer five extraordinary early-career artists and makers a significant commission to be exhibited in England and Wales throughout 2025.
Established in 2010, the award invites early-career artists and makers from a broad range of material and craft disciplines – including glass, textiles, ceramics, and silversmithing among others – to submit ambitious proposals for a new body of work that experiments with their practice and process.
This ninth edition of Jerwood Art Fund Makers Open is the second collaboration with Art Fund. It will open at National Museum Cardiff in January 2025, before touring to Pitzhanger Manor & Gallery in June 2025, and York Art Gallery in October 2025.
The selection panel, made up of expert curators and artists from across the UK, will include Dr Helen Walsh, curator of ceramics at York Art Gallery, Angharad Pearce Jones, blacksmith, sculptor and installation artist based in West Wales, Phoebe Collings-James, multidisciplinary artist working in sculpture, ceramics, sound and video, and Celia Joicey, Director of Dovecot Studios in Edinburgh. The panel will be chaired by Director of Jerwood Arts, Lilli Geissendorfer.
Funding from Jerwood Arts and Art Fund includes a dedicated Exhibition Project Manager, hosted by Amgueddfa Cymru, to support the project and realise the commissions for exhibition. Recruitment for the role will start shortly.
Lilli Geissendorfer, Director, Jerwood Arts, said:
“Expanding our national reach to connect early-career artists from across the UK with high profile opportunities is at the heart of what we do. I’m delighted we’re able to announce this ninth edition with support of Art Fund of Jerwood Art Fund Makers Open, creating valuable space for experimentation at the intersection of applied and visual arts in some of the most exciting museums and galleries across the UK.”
Nia Williams, Director, Learning and Public Programmes, Amgueddfa Cymru – Museum Wales, said:
“Amgueddfa Cymru is delighted to be working in partnership with Jerwood Arts to bring the Jerwood Art Fund Makers Open to Wales. As lead partner we welcome the opportunity to host an exhibition project manager, developing much needed skills and capacity within the sector. We look forward to working with partners on this prestigious award to showcase new work by outstanding early-career artists and makers based in the UK.”
Jerwood Art Fund Makers Open is funded by Jerwood Arts and Art Fund through Reimagine grants, delivered by Jerwood Arts in partnership with Amgueddfa Cymru and touring to York Art Gallery and Pitzhanger Manor & Gallery, London.
The national call for entries will be launched in October 2023 by Jerwood Arts and run until December 2023, with the selected artists announced in April 2024.
