New exhibition to celebrate Manchester’s armchair artists post-lockdown

Great Northern Warehouse has teamed up with Art Battle Manchester to reveal “Out of The Shed” – a contemporary exhibition made up of commissioned entries from Greater Manchester’s unknown artists, celebrating the regions’ wave of creativity born out of lockdown. 

There’s also a total of £4,000 up for grabs. 

Out Of The Shed is completely free to enter and the final exhibition, which will be displayed within Great Northern Warehouse, will showcase the work of eight local artists – those who turned to their inner creativity during lockdown and provide them with an opportunity to showcase their work.  

All eight winners will also receive £500 cash in addition to a support package to help to propel their budding career to the next level.

Following an explosion of creative pastimes during lockdown, Great Northern Warehouse and Art Battle Manchester want to help bring the creations of Manchester’s armchair artists, out of their sheds, kitchen tables and spare rooms and into the public eye.

Each of the eight artists will be allocated a 2m x 2m space within Great Northern Warehouse which can be filled with multiple pieces, including final artwork and a storyboard showcasing the thought process behind their piece of art for 12 months. 

Artists can submit their work to [email protected] for a chance to be considered for the Out of The Shed exhibition and are encouraged to use a range of genres of art, such as painting, mosaics, tapestry, illustrations, digital media and photography.

The artwork must be hangable, to be presented as part of the exhibition and the deadline for submission is 29th July 2022.

Submissions must include examples of work created in the last two years and a short statement of interest in response to the brief, detailing the story behind them returning or kick-starting their creative pastimes in no more than 250 words.

A stellar panel of celebrated artists has been appointed to judge the competition, all considered leaders in their field. T

he line-up includes Illustrator – Stan Chow, Street Artist – Qubek (Russ Meehan), Mosaic Artist – Tracey Cartledge and Painter – Stefanie Trow.

Art Battle Manchester, who have been providing a platform for local artists for the last nine years, will be the official delivery partner for Out of The Shed in collaboration with Great Northern Warehouse.

“Manchester is a city brimming with artistic talent, with a new wave of creativity emerging from lockdown,” said Mark Schofield, Great Northern.

“Out Of The Shed will celebrate those everyday people who don’t class themselves as ‘artists’ or ‘arty’, but those who discovered an artistic talent during lockdown, and provide a public platform to showcase their work.

“We look forward to receiving submissions and displaying some fantastic pieces of art, for people to observe and enjoy whilst spending time at Great Northern Warehouse.”

Sophie Macaulay, co-founder of Art Battle Manchester, said: “We’re thrilled to be collaborating on this project.

“Over the past nine years through Art Battle Manchester, our main ethos has been to provide a platform and opportunities for artists of all stages of their creative journey.

“Having finally picked up a paintbrush again myself during lockdown, I understand how important a creative output was for so many people during the pandemic.

“We’re excited to see everyone’s creations, but also to hear the stories of the creators.”

You can find out more about Great Northern Warehouse here.