Nick Lord named as Sky Arts Portrait Artist of the Year
**EMBARGOED UNTIL 9.30PM, TUESDAY 10th DECEMBER**
Nick Lord has tonight been crowned the Sky Arts Portrait Artist of the Year. The 25 year-old from Cardiff saw off competition from more than 1,800 artists to secure the title in the highly competitive Sky Arts series, winning a £10,000 commission to paint a portrait of double-Booker and Costa Award-winning author Hilary Mantel for The British Library.
The tense final held at the National Portrait Gallery was the culmination of a 10 month search for the most talented portrait artist in the UK and Ireland. Nick won with a portfolio of work done throughout the series including his final piece, a portrait of Lance Corporal Johnson Beharry VC.
The series judges, Kathleen Soriano, Director of Exhibitions at the Royal Academy, Kate Bryan, Head of Contemporary at the Fine Art Society and portrait artist Tai-Shan Schierenberg, along with Sandy Nairne, Director, National Portrait Gallery, praised Nick’s portrait as “magnificent, bold and accomplished.”
Lord will now be commissioned to paint a portrait of double-Booker author Hilary Mantel for The British Library. The portrait of Mantel will be the only portrait of a living author on public display in the library and will be become part of its permanent art collection, due to be unveiled in early 2014. Lord will also receive a year’s supply of art materials courtesy of leading fine art supplier Cass Art.
The competition began in the summer with heats held in London, Cardiff, Glasgow and Dublin. Nick, along with the three other finalists from each heat - Luis Morris, Selena Mowat and Ewan McClure - were then set two further challenges, including painting model Sophie Dahl, before seeing their work displayed and judged at the National Portrait Gallery in the closely fought final.
Their work from the series will remain on display at the National Portrait Gallery for the public to see from the 13th to 19th December.
Nick was born and raised in Cardiff. He studied for a BA in Fine Art at Kingston University and graduated in July 2011 with a First Class Honours. He currently works at his fathers shop, painting model trains.
Nick Lord comments:'It feels amazing to have won although it still hasn’t really sunk in yet and I don’t think it will until I've finished the painting of Hilary. The whole show has been fantastic; one of those once-in-a-lifetime experiences which now gives me the opportunity to work on my portfolio without having to worry about the financial side of things. The competition is such a brilliant platform to begin my artistic career.'
Kathleen Soriano, Kate Bryan and Tai-Shan Schierenberg add: “Sky Arts Portrait Artist of the Year has been a revelation in uncovering so much hidden artistic talent across this country. Nick Lord has energised portraiture and we greatly look forward to his portrait of Hilary Mantel.”
Sandy Nairne, Director, National Portrait Gallery, says: “Many congratulations to Nick Lord and all the finalists of Sky Arts Portrait Artist of the Year. We are delighted to have hosted the final at the National Portrait Gallery where viewers can now come and see the portraits on display for a week.”
James Hunt, Director, Sky Arts, says: “From painting model trains to painting model Sophie Dahl and now author Hillary Mantel - what a story! Nick Lord is the well-deserved winner of the first Sky Arts Portrait Artist of The Year and this contest has shown us and our customers that the UK and Ireland has a wealth of creative talent just waiting to be discovered.”
Sky Arts Portrait Artist of the Year marks a further development for Sky Arts which champions innovative and original art series, and which underlines Sky’s promise to deliver high-quality, exclusive content to customers, supported by a commitment to increase investment in home-grown programming to £600 million by 2014. The series has been produced by Storyvault Films.
SKY ARTS PORTRAIT ARTIST OF THE YEAR will be available to watch through Sky’s On Demand service until 9th January 2014.
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NOTES TO EDITOR
About Sky Arts
Sky Arts offers an eclectic mix of the best music, arts, biographies, chat shows, film, drama and comedy. Sky is the only broadcaster in the UK and Ireland with channels dedicated solely to the arts, with 48 hours of the best arts content from around the world across Sky Arts 1 and Sky Arts 2 daily. Sky Arts now reaches more than 6 million viewers every month.
Recent highlights include Playhouse Presents… a series of one-off comedies and dramas starring renowned talent including Jon Hamm, Daniel Radcliffe, Emma Thompson, Sir Tom Jones, Brenda Blethyn, David Tennant and Alison Steadman. The channel was also responsible for resurrecting the much-loved South Bank Show and The South Bank Show Awards. Sky Arts also encourages new formats and methods for accessing the arts, working with the ENO and National Gallery to beam the world’s first live opera and first live opening night of an exhibition in 3D to cinemas across the UK and Ireland.
Sky Arts also seeks to connect with culture on the ground; creating and collaborating with the best of the arts in the UK and Ireland to bring new experiences to life. Sky Arts has collaborated with a number of arts organisations including the English National Ballet and has supported the Hay Festival as broadcast partner since 2006. The Sky Arts Ignition Series launched in in 2011 to invest in the arts landscape of the UK. The Series will seek to collaborate with six arts organisations over the next three years in the creation of brand new works; Sky Arts Ignition Series: Futures Fund will support five young artists with a bursary of £30,000 each, enabling Sky Arts to back the creation of new works of art as well as nurture emerging talent.
Follow us on twitter @skyarts. See sky.com/arts
About Sky
Sky is the UK and Ireland’s leading home entertainment and communications company. Around 40% of all homes have a direct relationship with Sky through its range of TV, broadband and home telephony services.
Sky is the UK’s biggest investor in television content, investing more than £2.3 billion a year in channels such as Sky 1, Sky Atlantic, Sky Living, Sky Arts, Sky Sports, Sky Movies and Sky News. Around two-thirds of Sky’s content spend is invested in the UK and Sky is the fastest-growing source of investment in original British programmes. More than 30 million people watch Sky content each week.
Alongside its commitment to offering customers a greater choice of high-quality content, Sky is a leading innovator. Customers enjoy total control and flexibility over their favourite TV through Sky+, watch TV on the move through Sky Go, and enjoy the best quality TV experience at home through High Definition and 3D.
Sky distributes its content broadly over several platforms, including satellite, cable, IPTV, mobile and WiFi. NOW TV, Sky’s second consumer brand, builds on the company’s leadership in internet TV. Sky is also the UK's fastest-growing home communications company and favourite ‘triple-play’ provider of TV, broadband and home phone.
Sky believes in making a wider contribution to the communities in which it operates by taking positive action on the environment, supporting grassroots sports and increasing access to, and participation in, the arts. Sky employs 23,000 people, has annual revenues of £6.8 billion and is estimated to support a £5.4 billion contribution to UK GDP. Sky is listed on the London Stock Exchange (BSY). www.sky.com/corporate
About Storyvault Films
Storyvault Films brings together the talents of a number of highly-experienced and award winning producers and directors with a track record of delivering high-quality programmes for all the terrestrial channels and the best of the digital channels. The teams credits include THE BOOK SHOW with Mariella Frostrup for SKY ARTS HD, PRINCE PHILIP AT 90 and INSIDE GUINNESS WORLD RECORDS for ITV1, 3MEN IN A BOAT, and THE ALASTAIR CAMPBELL DIARIES for BBC2, WILLIE’S WONKY CHOCOLATE FACTORY FOR CHANNEL 4, and BLACKPOOL LIGHTS (soon to be shown on) CHANNEL 5
