Henry Moore Foundation awards £60,000 in rapid-response to artists across the UK amid the Covid-19 pandemic
Release date: Friday, 31 July 2020
- By Emily Dodgson
- Henry Moore Studios & Gardens
- Head of Marketing & Communications
The Henry Moore Foundation has shown its on-going commitment to the future of sculpture with the announcement of its new Artist Award Scheme. As a response to the pressures brought about by the current Covid-19 pandemic, the Foundation has allocated more than £60,000 of funding and resources to directly assist 40 artists at a time when other sources of income might no longer be available.
Alberta Whittle, installation view of How flexible can we make the mouth at Dundee Contemporary Art Photo: Ruth Clark Alex Frost, Smoked Salmon and Soft Cream Cheese on BrownBread, No Mayo (Waitrose)/ Prawn Mayonnaise on Brown Bread (Tesco), 2017, ClearCast polyester resin, sandwiches and mirrored acrylic sheet Photo: Olli Mammick Anne Vibeke Mou, a story of its own telling, 2018-19, Waldglas combining potash extracted from trees with fossils from the Gilboa Fossil Forest in the Catskills, NY, USA Photo: John McKenzie Ashley Holmes, Double 6, collaborative performance with R.I.P. Germain at former Court Room of Leeds Town Hall Courtesy of Poor Image Projects & Index Festival. Photo: Jules Lister Becky Beasley, installation view of A Gentle Man, 80WSE Gallery, NYU, New York Courtesy the artist, Plan B Gallery & Francesca Minini Gallery Charlotte Dawson, Under-side, Under-stood, 2020, MDF, Jesmonite, textured wallpaper, spray paint, printed matter Image courtesy the artist David Kefford, Personal Artifact, 2019, mixed media / plaster casts, found objects, household paint, varnish Photo: David Kefford Dominique White, Fugitive of the State(less), 2019 Courtesy VEDA Firenze and the artist. Photo: Jacopo Menzani Flora Parrott in collaboration with writer Lindiwe Matshikiza, I'm In The Bath On All Fours Image courtesy the artist Hetain Patel, Plastic Dreams - Ironhide, 2020, plastic Transformer figure, acrylic paint Image courtesy the artist Jasleen Kaur, He walked like he owned himself, 2018, tracksuit with deconstructed Sikh Khanda on embroidered stripe Photo: Malcolm Cochrane Leo Fitzmaurice, Stiff, 2020, enamel on cast bronze Courtesy The Sunday Painter & Contemporary Sculpture Fulmer Liam Fallon, Handstand (English Rose), 2020, jesmonite, polyurethane foam, MDF, paint Image courtesy the artist Lilah Fowler, installation view of Code Clay, Data Dirt at Firstsite, Colchester 2019 Image courtesy the artist Nicola Ellis, 5 Panels in Ritherdon Mix Grey, mild steel sheet metal covered in 'Dead Powder' Photo: Jules Lister Rachal Bradley, Untitled (black), 2020, acrylic sheet, metal components, conservator's adhesive tape, metal filing cabinet, rubber seal, wood, magnets, adrenal stress diagnostic test, Borago officinalis, Eleutherococcus senticosus, Glycyrrhiza glabra, Passiflora incarnata, Withania somnifera, Rosa Damascena Image courtesy of Galerie Gregor Staiger and the artist
“Coming out of maternity leave into a pandemic has meant little headspace for creative thinking or strategising for the future. This award helps me carve out time and space to tend to my practice or funds to work collaboratively in a time of isolation.”
The artists from across the UK, including Anna Berry, Appau Jnr Boakye-Yiadom and Jasleen Kaur, were nominated from a panel of 20 prominent figures in the sector including Beth Bate, Director at Dundee Contemporary Arts; Jo Verrent, Senior Producer at Unlimited; and Zoe Whitley, Director at Chisenhale Gallery, London.
“Receiving this award from the Henry Moore Foundation’s Artist Award Scheme is something I appreciate greatly for several reasons. Not least is the financial help, desperately needed at this time. But also, being a self-taught outsider artist, to even be on the radar for something like this means a very great deal.”
This award will help to support artists in the continuing development of the valuable work they do, following a difficult period where many have lost work due to the cancellation and postponement of exhibitions and a halt on new commissions due to the Coronavirus pandemic. The fund is unrestricted, allowing artists the flexibility to use funds however they need to, whether that’s paying studio rent, buying materials or reimbursing the funds for work lost.
“This is an incredibly difficult moment for the arts and especially so for many artists who lost much of their income-earning work almost immediately. Sadly, we will see the impact of the pandemic on our industry for a long time to come. Henry Moore himself benefitted from an ex-serviceman’s grant after he fought in World War 1, which enabled him to study sculpture at Leeds College of Art. With this in mind, the Foundation wanted to offer timely support and give artists across the country some much-needed assistance.”
Moore’s appreciation of the support he received stayed with him throughout his life and was instrumental in his decision to establish his Foundation to give support back to the study and future development of the visual arts and sculpture in particular. One of the first of its kind, the Henry Moore Foundation was created by the artist and his family in 1977 to encourage public appreciation of the visual arts. Today it supports innovative sculpture projects around the world, devises an imaginative programme of exhibitions and research, and preserves the legacy of Moore himself: widely recognised as one of the great sculptors of the 20th century.
To date the Foundation has awarded grants of £35million to galleries, exhibitions and emerging artists worldwide.
About Henry Moore Foundation Grants
Henry Moore Grants awards £500,000 annually and in doing so seeks to continue Moore's legacy by supporting sculpture across historical, modern and contemporary registers and funding research that expands the appreciation of sculpture. Applications are assessed four times during the year by the Grants Committee.
The first grant was awarded following the inaugural Henry Moore Foundation committee meeting on 26 January, 1977, when it was agreed to give £25,000 to advance the British Museum’s Egyptian sculpture gallery project. Since then the programme has supported international excellence and ambition in the field of sculpture in many ways.
List of Artists
Aaron McPeake
Alberta Whittle
Alex Frost
Alexander Duncan
Anna Berry
Anne Tallentire
Anne Vibeke Mou
Appau Jnr Boakye-Yiadom
Ashley Holmes
Becky Beasley
Bob Spriggs
Charlotte Dawson
David Kefford
Dominique White
Emily Hesse
Flora Parrott
Hetain Patel
Jade Montserrat
James Clarkson
James Lake
Jasleen Kaur
Jill McKnight
Joanne Masding
Kathryn Ashill
Katie Schwab
Leo Fitzmaurice
Liam Fallon
Lilah Fowler
Lindsey Mendick
Louise Barrington
Madeleine Pledge
Nancy Allen
Nick Gordon
Nicola Ellis
Phoebe Collings-James
Rachal Bradley
Simeon Barclay
Stuart Whipps
and other artists who wish to remain anonymous