Emeli Hartness | Young Cumbrian Artist of the Year 2017

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Emeli Hartness won the Young Cumbrian Artist of the Year 2017 after entering her installation and performance piece ‘OYO’. She has since continued to develop her practice in different settings- she tells us a little about what she has been up to since winning the award...

'Since winning the award last year I took on the challenge of creating a play for Manchester Fringe 2018. The play was titled Paisley which was an all female cast that focused on women within culture. The four female characters told their individual stories through different techniques; dancing, singing, acting and puppetry. The dance choreography used elements of Bharatanatyam dance which was created by the very talented and wonderful Priya Sundar. As well as creating the set, props, costumes and puppets for the play I also co-produced and performed which was very different from my Fine Art practice (well the concept was, not really the workload).

It was nice to create something different for a new audience. With this change of new research and creating for the theatre space it encouraged me to apply for an MA course at the Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama specialising in Puppetry. I was successful in my application with the help of Hoovis, my portfolio, I feel he showed off my style of artwork very well. I intend to use the course for learning more skills, processes and understanding of materials in order to help improve my art practice.

I'm planning to create a new show in Cardiff that will include my last artwork ‘OYO’, (which was submitted for the award last year) this piece will be titled ‘Feed The Machine’. I hope to exhibit this piece next year using the RWCMD's facilities to create the immersive performance. After winning Young Cumbrian Artist of the Year 2017 my confidence in my art practice grew, I was so happy that people responded positively to my artwork. Also after winning the award I was able to work with Eden Arts on the events team for Picnic Cinema. This was an amazing insight into how outdoor event are run and how the passion for art and culture can create such fun and unique events'.

Images: Paisley(2018) The Set, Scrappy(2018) Paper sculpture, by Emeli Hartness, Rose Wagner Revitt and Roey Vatury first project at the RWCMD

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