IS this artwork worth almost £½m?
It could well be for a Brighouse artist who is within touching distance of a huge commission.
The giant triangles featuring faces could mean Joanne Tatham and fellow Yorkshire artist Tom O’Sullivan collect £460,000.
The pair have been shortlisted for one of the UK’s most ambitious and wide ranging arts events.
The research fellows from Gray’s School of Art at Robert Gordon University, Aberdeen, are responsible for one of five shortlisted ideas in the running to secure the big grant from the Scottish Arts Council National Lottery Fund.
They’ve already secured a grant of £5,000 with their project.
And if successful, the duo’s idea of creating four sculptural objects of varying scale, which would travel across Scotland to take up temporary residence at a number of locations, would become a reality as part of the London 2012 Cultural Olympiad.
The pieces would be put in place in community halls and open spaces to get people talking about art.
Joanne said: “We are delighted about being shortlisted for this prestigious project.
“Researchers at Gray’s School of Art have a great track record of collaborating with external organisations and we are very excited about this opportunity to work with London 2012 Olympics.”
Other proposals hoping to secure the grant include a human-powered lighting event on Arthur’s Seat in Edinburgh, a forest football pitch and sculptures of contemporary Olympians
There are 11 other regional contests across the UK and Joanne has become the second Huddersfield area artist to reach the final stages of the contest.
Poet Simon Armitage is among top talents now in the race to win a £500,000 arts commission for the Yorkshire region.
He has been working with Ilkley Literature Festival on an idea which would see an epic poem carved into the rock on Ilkley Moor.
The project, called Any Distance Greater Than a Single Span, would also include spectacular performances on Ilkley Moor.
More than 2,000 artists submitted ideas for the programme including over 90 submissions for projects in Scotland.
In Scotland, the shortlist was selected by an expert panel of judges made up of artists and arts specialists.
The shortlisted artists will each receive a development grant of £5,000 to turn their initial proposals into comprehensive plans.
They will present these to the artist panels in late September, which will then decide the final commissions – due to be announced in October 2009.
The Scottish Arts Council has teamed up with the arts councils of England, Wales and Northern Ireland to deliver Artists Taking the Lead. The chosen project will be one of 12 responses to the 2012 theme across the UK.
