Art | Susan Phillips Longlisted for 9th Aesthetica Art Prize

YORK ST. MARY’S, UK — Susan Phillips has been longlisted out of more than 3,000 entries from artists working in 67 countries for the ninth Aesthetica Art Prize. The longlist comprises 90 artists working in a range of media, whose selected pieces are published in the Aesthetica Art Prize Annual: Future Now 2016.

Hosted by Aesthetica Magazine, an international art and culture publication, the prize is an annual event for British and international artists. The award presents a platform for creatives to engage with a wider audience through the publication, and it also hosts an exhibition for 10 shortlisted artists at York St Mary’s, York, UK, (April 14 – May 29). Images of the longlisted artists were also shown on monitors in the gallery.

Cherie Federico, Director of the Aesthetica Art Prize said of the award:

“We are thrilled with this year’s selection, which offers a window into cutting-edge practice from around the world. The works explore how we inhabit the earth and engage with some of today’s most pressing topics, from ecological concerns to transitions in urbanisation and developments in technology.”

Susan Phillips (b. 1978) attained her BA in studio ceramics from the Falmouth College of Arts in 1999, according to her biography on Ceramics Now. She works in rural Herefordshire on the Welsh/English border. The images we have to show you today are from a series of small sculptures that explore the idea of bringing together two different and opposing elements to create a harmonious relationship. The artist describes her approach:

“The porcelain planes become clay walls with which to delineate space, and by cutting into these walls I am able to adjust compositional elements and explore particular themes. Current themes include an observation of the interplay between: independence/interdependence, fragment/whole, open/closed.”

The Aesthetica Art Prize also announced the Future Now Symposium – a new two-day event that focuses on talent development and tackles themes in today’s current artistic climate through lectures, workshops and panel discussions from within the arts ecosystem and broader social context.

Topics include themes such as Talent Development and Responsibility; Breaking New Ground: Photography in the Digital Age; Funding and Commissions; The Permanence of Print; Contemporary Painting: Traversing Conventional Boundaries, and Artists’ Film and the Moving Image.

To date, the Aesthetica Art Prize has supported a wealth of established and emerging artists, both of which have progressed their careers and furthered their engagement within the art world since their exposure through the award. The award creates a platform to support talent development in 2016 not only through the publication and exhibition, but also through learning and networking opportunities via the talks and the new symposium for artists and the public at large.

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