Invitations are open for all artists with a Yorkshire connection to submit artwork for The Mercer Open, a biannual open exhibition at the Mercer Art Gallery in Harrogate. The Open Exhibition will run from 17 September 2022 to 8 January 2023 at the Mercer Gallery, which is open from Tuesday to Sunday, 10am to 4pm.
It’s the first time that the Mercer Gallery has extended invitations to artists with connections that stretch beyond the Harrogate district. Any artist who was born in Yorkshire or who lives, works or studies in the county, currently or in the past is welcome to enter.
In another first buyers no longer need to wait until the end of the exhibition to collect their purchases but will be able to take their artworks home straight away. New artwork will be put on display throughout the exhibition resulting in a dynamic exhibition that evolves over time and offers the opportunity for more artwork from a wide range of artists to be included.
Harrogate’s Mercer Art Gallery occupies a stunning 19th century building in the heart of the North Yorkshire spa town. Originally the Promenade Rooms for fashionable spa visitors, the building then became a theatre and a Town Hall before its transformation into the Mercer Gallery in 1991.
The gallery hosts a wide range of ever-changing exhibitions; national touring shows of painting, photography, sculpture and crafts and exhibitions drawn from the Harrogate District Fine Art Collection and contemporary work.
Karen Southworth, Curator at the Mercer Gallery, said: “The Mercer Open is not only a wonderful celebration of the fantastic artistic talent associated with Yorkshire, but also offers an amazing opportunity for visitors to the Harrogate district and art-lovers to discover the Mercer Art Gallery and to buy something really special.
“We’re delighted to extend entry invitations more widely this year and we look forward to an incredible showcase of artwork in The Mercer Open, bringing new audiences to the Mercer and enabling more people to enjoy the feel good experience of art appreciation.”
Courtney Spencer, Guest Curator of The Mercer Open said: “I’m really excited to build on the incredible work of the gallery team who have been delivering a biannual open exhibition for the past 20 years. It’s been brilliant to broaden the callout to include artists connected to Yorkshire, to move the submissions process online and to reduce the submission fee to enable more artists to submit works.”
For artists interested in submitting entries, applications are to be made online through the CuratorSpace website before midnight on Sunday 31 July 2022.
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