Arts fellow attracts attention

Just nine months after winning the UK’s largest student art prize, Holly Hendry has seen her work exhibited in national and international galleries and public spaces.

Holly, who graduated from London’s Slade School of Fine Art, was the first winner of the inaugural Woon Foundation Painting and Sculpture Art Prize. She received a £20,000 bursary to fund the cost of her one-year Fellowship and is mentored by BALTIC Professor Christine Borland at the BxNU Institute for Contemporary Art in Newcastle.

BxNU is based in BALTIC 39, an exciting new cultural hub for the city resulting from a collaboration between Northumbria University, Newcastle City Council, Arts Council England and BALTIC Centre for Contemporary Art.

Since winning the prestigious award, Holly has exhibited work in galleries including The Royal Standard in Liverpool and The Bank Gallery in Whitechapel, London. She was also included in The Catlin Guide 2014 – an annual publication that highlights the talents of just 40 graduating UK artists. Her current installation, ‘The March Project’, is on display in the United Arab Emirates. The sculpture was commissioned by the Sharjah Art Foundation and is influenced by traditional Arabic architectural techniques. It plays with the old and new forms of air conditioning, addressing air as a life system that is processed through buildings and bodies.

As her fellowship draws to a close, Holly credits the Woon Art Prize for providing her with a unique opportunity and platform to develop her practice.

“Winning the Woon Foundation Art Prize has made everything possible,” she said. “It’s provided me with the resources, time and studio space. I’m enjoying being in Newcastle and experiencing a new art scene that’s so far away from London but exciting in its own right.

“Being part of BALTIC 39 is a really eye-opening experience. It’s great to meet the curators from BALTIC and all of the people involved in making exhibitions happen behind the scenes.

“I’ve also been able to draw on the tutors, students and other artists based at BALTIC 39 and Northumbria University and use the University’s library facilities. They have been invaluable in informing my work.”

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For more information about The Woon Foundation Painting and Sculpture Art Prize, visit northumbria.ac.uk/woonartprize.