Illuminate attended the prize-giving evening for Nottingham Castle’s OPEN. Waiting outside the castle gates for 6pm to arrive and the doors to open, I had expectations of the evening. Who would win the most prestigious award of the evening? How would everyone react when they found out who we had awarded the prize to? Would we meet the artist who won our prize, or other artists involved in this year’s Open?
On entering the gates we were handed a drinks voucher for complimentary wine or orange juice to celebrate the evening. We headed upstairs to the galleries, browsing Andrew Bracey’s exhibition to see how the curation had developed and how his live paintings had progressed since we saw it mid-hang. We revisited the paintings we had judged for the Open, reminding ourselves of our favourites.
We headed to the cafe, where the evening was sponsored by Magpie brewery. We sat chatting, talking through our thoughts about the evening and the impending prize-giving. At half six an announcement informed us that the prize-giving was about to start, so we hurried upstairs and gathered around the large crowd that had formed around Tristram Aver.
He welcomed us all to the evening, explaining the main principles of the OPEN. We waited expectantly, feeling an excited buzz as we waited for the results to be announced. The second result came in. ‘The prize presented by Illuminate goes to Geoff Diego Litherland!’ It felt so important to have helped make a decision as part of this group and part of this exhibition, that would actually impact somebody else and their art practice. It felt great to award a prize which would make someone feel good about themselves, to have the means to help to appreciate somebodies work and talent through meriting their achievement. We awarded £250 and a chance for the artist to welcome illuminate into his practice and studio. I felt lucky to have been a part of such an exciting decision and influential position. We felt the applause for Geoff was well deserved.
Straight after all the results were announced Geoff came over to us, explaining how pleased and grateful he was for us picking him as our winner. We found out a bit about him and his practice, and got chatting about the prize we had awarded him. It was great to actually meet the artist and see what our decision had done. I can’t wait to work with Geoff in the future when we visit his studio!
We took time to explore the exhibition further, chatting through the winners and retracing their artworks. We took some photographs of the Open and our group and documented our time here. We had great fun exploring Simon Raven’s performance art. Simon and Jim Brouwer had won the biggest prize of the evening. Quite a few of illuminate’s members helped themselves to a grape or sausage or two from his foil-wrapped head!
It was fantastic for illuminate to have awarded a prize at this year’s open, and a brilliant learning curve. I can say that all my initial expectations were fulfilled. Our prize was greatly appreciated and highly regarded, we met and chat with the artist who won our prize and all the main winners were well-deserved. A brilliant evening and insightful experience.
Mary Strickson, Illuminate Member