Eight contenders for fifth annual Emerging Artist Award
Proposals go on show in May
Eight artists have been shortlisted for the annual North East Emerging Artist Award at Seaton Delaval Hall.
With the shortlisting come bursaries and mentoring to help them research and develop proposals which will be displayed at the National Trust property – in the impressive Georgian stables - in May and June.
The public will have the chance to vote for their favourite among the eight and three will then be selected as finalists to have their work displayed at Seaton Delaval Hall next year.
The fully developed proposals by the three finalists from 2025 – David Kenney, Joanna Manousis and Wilfred Sears – will be on display at the same time.
This year’s shortlisted eight are…
Anthony Downie, a North Shields-based Sunderland University graduate who draws inspiration from his immediate surroundings, revealing beauty in overlooked spaces.
His work is highly visible since last summer he was selected for the North Shields 800 murals project run by arts charity Elevation. You can see his mural on a gable end at Trevor Terrace, North Shields, near The Gunner pub.
Anna Marie Gallares, who lives in Newcastle, also studied fine art at Sunderland University.
She came to the North East with her family from the Philippines when she was a child and her work explores themes of migration, memory, identity and what it means to belong.
She was chosen by the Artists Futures Fund to be one of its 2025-26 Breakthrough Artist Fellows.
Claire Ong, who is studying for an MA in visual practice (fine art) at Sunderland University, blends textile collage with contemporary sampler making, deploying historical and modern techniques.
In recent years she has had work selected for open exhibitions at Arts Centre Washington and Baltic Centre for Contemporary Art.
Joseph Marsh is an illustrator who studied at Newcastle College before completing postgraduate study at Edinburgh University.
In his work he uses familiar, everyday spaces as a lens through which to explore broader social and environmental issues.
The remaining shortlisted artists all come from Newcastle University’s fine art programme.
Charlotte Brecken, inspired by the North East coastline, works with ceramics, wood and found objects to explore themes of collecting, mindfulness and transition.
Last year she created a piece of art, featuring versions in miniature of their album artwork, to be presented to the musicians shortlisted for the Mercury Prize which was held for the first time in Newcastle.
Libby Dunford focuses on symbols and narratives that form shared points of connection, creating works through writing, collage and abstract drawing.
Examples of her work can be seen until February 11 in Signal Failures, an exhibition at Shieldfield Art Works, Clarence Street, Shieldfield, Newcastle.
Otis Grove White draws inspiration from the natural world, examining our disconnection from seasonal rhythms.
His work, influenced by European folk festival traditions, involves crafting costumes from natural materials.
Molly Sale works primarily with material experimentation, transforming second-hand and scrap fabrics into wearable textile art that abstracts and reshapes the human form.
The North East Emerging Artist Award, now in its fifth iteration, is a scheme run by the National Trust at Seaton Delaval Hall and independent curator Matthew Jarratt.
The artists shortlisted this year, they say, offer a vibrant snapshot of contemporary creativity in the region.
The shortlisted proposals and the three winning displays can be seen at Seaton Delaval Hall from May 13 until June 21 when the property will be open Wednesday to Sunday, 10am to 5pm during term time and seven days a week during Northumberland school holidays.
Last admission is 4pm and standard admission applies.