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Sheffield, England, has a large population of amateur, working and professional visual artists and artworks.
Artists linked with Sheffield from the 19th to 21st century include:
'The Man of Steel' if and when completed (initial planning permission was 2012 has now lapsed) will be a stainless steel landmark 38 metres tall overlooking Sheffield as gateway to the North. [10] Its creator is Steve Mehdi [11] who also designed the Heart of Steel presently sited at Meadowhall, raising funds for The British Heart Foundation, [12] but which it was originally intended would eventually be inserted inside the Man of Steel.
Sheffield is home to two universities, one of which, Sheffield Hallam University, has a Fine Arts department. Formerly based at Psalter Lane, the department relocated to Sheffield City Centre in 2008.
Fine Arts graduates from Sheffield Hallam University include:
Amongst galleries, exhibition spaces and studios in Sheffield include,
The Site Gallery, along with studios such as Yorkshire ArtSpace and the participatory arts space Access Space, are located in the Cultural Industries Quarter of Sheffield. This area is also home to the Showroom Cinema, Sheffield, an arthouse cinema which occasionally showcases art.
Weston Park Museum incorporates the Sheffield City Museum and Mappin Art Gallery which first opened in 1887.
Cupola Contemporary Art Gallery (established in 1991) is located in Hillsborough opposite the Leppings Lane tramstop. Described by the Sheffield Metropolitan as the most respected contemporary gallery in the north, [14] as well as sales and exhibitions of fine art and crafts, the gallery represents over 300 artists.
Sheffield Makers shop (as its names suggests 'home grown'), began as a Christmas pop up shop in 2015 and is now situated in a unit at the Winter Garden. Moonko is a shop in S1 supporting 'young budding artists' and local brands; similarly 'All Good Stuff' the gallery shop at Butcher Works sells a range of arts and crafts by local artists and Bird's Yard at 44 Chapel Walk indicated on their website in January 2023 that they opened 7 days a week stocking a collection of works by local artists.
Various initiatives/shows exist throughout the year to showcase the work of local Sheffield, Yorkshire and Derbyshire artists – amateur through to professional. Amongst these are "Open Up Sheffield" during May bank holidays, "Art in the Gardens" (held in the summer Sheffield Botanical Gardens and is largest outdoor art show in north of England, and the Great Sheffield Art Show, previously held on the first weekend in July at the Octagon Centre in Sheffield, and since has been held later in the year at the Millennium Gallery.
Sheffield Museums Trust manages Sheffield City Council's museum collections and The Millennium gallery (approximately 800,000 visitors per annum in latter part of last decade), Graves gallery, Weston Park Museum, Kelham Island Museum, Abbeydale Industrial Hamlet and Shepherd Wheel Workshop: Sheffield Museums Trust are also custodians of the Guild of St George's Ruskin collection and the Ken Hawley Collection, together the foregoing collections comprises over a million items of local, regional, national and international significance. The Public Catalogue Foundation, (''the Foundation'') a charity registered numbers 1096185 and SCO 486011, was set up in 2002 to record the entire collection of oil paintings in public ownership in the UK via catalogues sponsored by Christies. The volume relating to the City of Sheffield at 2009 included over 2,400 paintings. In 2011 the Foundation in partnership with the BBC launched a 'Your Paintings' website. This partnership ended in 2016 and in its place Art UK (artuk.org) the operating name of the Foundation announced its purpose ''to complete a digital record of the UK's collection of oils, tempora, acrylic paintings and sculptures and to make it accessible to the public.'' A further stated aim of Art UK, is to record ''painted murals and Street Art across the UK''.
The Economic Development and Skills Policy Committee ('ECDSPC') of Sheffield City Council, in September 2022, adopted the Sheffield Culture Collective ('the Collective') strategy as an interim measure, and 'endorsed the priorities' in the strategy document, it repeated that commitment in January 2023 (for strategy document see www.sheffield-culture-collective.co.uk). The 'Collective' was formed in 2019, in response to recommendations of the Core Cities Cultural Enquiry 2019. The priorities 'endorsed' by ECDSPC above are four in number, namely the Tinsley Art Project, (originally comprising erection of four 100 feet chimney sculptures designed by Alex Chinnock, the sculptures to be seen from the M1 motorway due for completion in summer/autumn2024), Park Hill Art Space (a national flagship project and 'anchor institution of Park Hill's £100 million Urban Splash and Partners for Peoples regeneration programme, featuring art gallery, work space for artists and creative businesses, learning and community space, and heritage flats, ''surrounded by a 6 acre sculpture park''); Harmony Works (a £12 million Gateway Levelling Up funded project to transform the grade 2 listed Victorian building Canada House (renamed Harmony) on Commercial Street Sheffield S1 into a music centre for young people now due to open in 2026)..and Graves Gallery (which vision of Sheffield City Council is for it to be hailed as 'the national gallery of the north') and Central Library. Sheffield City Council have recognised that the exterior of the 3 storey 'art deco' building erected in 1934, at 67–69 Surrey Street, Sheffield S1 1XZ, (housing both Graves gallery and Central Library )is in need of investment and was described as 'crumbling' by Sheffield Visual Arts Group at a meeting of the ECDSPC, on 18 January 2023.(''crumbling'' The Chair of The Economic Development and Skills Policy Committee (ECDSPC) of the Sheffield City Council replied that his Committee would be working 'with partners to progress the future redevelopment of Graves gallery and the Central Library [...] delay in the development of plans for the building was due to COVID-19 pressures, a change in the economic environment and budget pressures... the Accommodation Review is supporting 'a condition' review and an assessment of the necessary investment'(see ECDSP minutes for 18 January 2023 item 5). Alongside this, 'The Culture Collective, Museums Sheffield and Sheffield City Council are progressing the options work on the future vision for the building. Resources had been made available to undertake this 'visioning' and 'feasibility work' on the potential opportunity of the Graves gallery'(minuted as 5.3 of Minutes Wednesday 18 January 3.00 pm (item 5).
A 2022/3 planning application for the transformation of Castle Street, Sheffield includes new public art [...] Sheffield City Council as an added attraction expressed a desire to expose part of the castle and the River Sheaf.
The Pounds Park project is a new city centre play area at the heart of the city the programme of work and construction carried out by Henry Boot Limited which company also funded the play areas and public art content of the project. Pounds Park (named after a former chief fire officer) opened on 3 April 2023, ahead of schedule, on the site of the former fire station.
In February 2023 the Sheffield City Council adopted 'the Heritage Strategy for Sheffield 2021–2031', submitted to the Council by Joined Up Heritage Sheffield (charity registered no. 1180945 formed in 2018). The strategy developed by the community rather than a local authority records a wide and varied range of heritage assets and then sets out to harness and enhance these in a 10 year action plan.
Reporting on Arts Council funding the Sheffield Star newspaper on 13 November 2022 publicised that Sheffield had received ''only a fraction of the money given to northern cities by the Arts Council'' Details of Art Council grants across the country allocated for 2023–2026, showed that Sheffield receives only £6.23 per head of population (£3.4 million in total) compared to Manchester's £44.41, Leeds's £35.65 and Newcastle's £29.74. The Arts Council makes funding decisions for National Portfolio Organisations (NPOS). Existing Sheffield art organisations which were NPOS prior to November 2022, were not disinvested, but a number of Sheffield art organisations/ studios were unsuccessful in their applications for NPOS funding. At 1 January 2023 the list of Sheffield art related NPOS are AA2A (Arts Access to Colleges), Arts Catalyst, Parents in Performing Arts (a new entrant), Sheffield Museums Trust and Yorkshire Artspace. A member of Sheffield Visual Arts Panel (set up to implement the vision for visual arts set out in Making our Way' 2019–2024' which followed an award in 2016 to Sheffield Culture Consortium of £550,000 from Arts Council England's Ambition for Excellence scheme for Sheffield 'Making Ways' project, a 'trailblazing' programme and legacy of Sheffield's 'highly successful' '2016 Year of Making'). However, this decade, Tyler Mellins, a member of Sheffield Visual Arts Panel, in an interview with Sheffield Culture Guide about being part of the 'Freelands Art programme' stated that Sheffield is packed full of amazing artists but there is not enough support and our own art organisations are underfunded.
Sheffield Culture Consortium was set up in 2012. Its current aims and purposes are to help all cultures and communities to be visible, and to tackle inequality in Sheffield through art and culture. These ambitions are also shared by Sheffield Collective, an organisation mentioned above. The Consortium is a voluntary working Group with part time staff supported by Sheffield City Council, and it fully supports the recommendations of the Sheffield Racial Equality Report, published on 14 July 2022, which urges key organisations to work together to make and create Sheffield a city which actively fights racism. Art charities in Sheffield include Arts Catalyst, Ignite, Creative Sheffield, CADS, Audacious Art, Flourish, Art House, Site gallery, Yorkshire Art Space.
Wessex Archaeology charity no 287786 and SCO4236, in partnership with Sheffield Visual Arts Group, and a team of volunteers helped to create a free interactive digital map of Sheffield, featuring over 180 public art works. [15] [16]
Layla Rosalind Nashashibi is a Palestinian-English artist based in London. Nashashibi works mainly with 16 mm film but also makes paintings and prints. Her work often deals with everyday observations merged with mythological elements, considering the relationships and moments between community and extended family.
Meersbrook is a suburban district in the south-west of Sheffield, England bordered by Nether Edge to the west, Norton Lees to the south, Heeley to the north and the Meersbrook allotment site to the east. Until 1950 it was part of the Sheffield Ecclesall constituency and now forms part of the Sheffield Heeley constituency. The district falls within the Gleadless Valley ward of the city. The name comes from the stream, the Meers Brook, a tributary of the River Sheaf which means 'boundary brook' and in ancient times this, along with the River Sheaf formed the boundary between the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of Northumbria and Mercia. It remained as the boundary between Yorkshire and Derbyshire into the 20th century. Meersbrook itself was once several small communities which have given many roads their names; Rush Dale, Carfield & Cliffe Field and in 1857 was known as Mears Brook.
The Millennium Gallery is an art gallery and museum in the centre of Sheffield, England. Opened in April 2001 as part of Sheffield's Heart of the City project, it is located in the city centre close to the mainline station, the Central Library and Graves Art Gallery, Sheffield Hallam University, and Sheffield Theatres. Designed by architects Pringle Richards Sharratt, the building is primarily made from concrete and glass, with a series of galleries extending from a central avenue, which connects Arundel Gate with Sheffield Winter Garden. In 2011, the gallery was listed as the 15th most-visited free attraction in the country by Visit England. It is managed by Museums Sheffield.
The Guild of St George is a charitable Education Trust, based in England but with a worldwide membership, which tries to uphold the values and put into practice the ideas of its founder, John Ruskin (1819–1900).
Sheffield has a growing cultural reputation. 7.2% of Sheffield's working population are employed in the creative industries, well above the national average of 4%. The music scene has produced many music acts during the last 25 years. It is also home to the largest theatre complex outside London. The council has attempted to build upon these foundations with the creation of the Cultural Industries Quarter. Sheffield made the shortlist for the first city to be designated UK City of Culture, but in July 2010 it was announced that Derry had been selected.
Godfrey Blow is an artist based in Kalamunda, Western Australia. He is the founder of the Perth Stuckists.
The Art Gallery of South Australia (AGSA), established as the National Gallery of South Australia in 1881, is located in Adelaide. It is the most significant visual arts museum in the Australian state of South Australia. It has a collection of almost 45,000 works of art, making it the second largest state art collection in Australia. As part of North Terrace cultural precinct, the gallery is flanked by the South Australian Museum to the west and the University of Adelaide to the east.
Meersbrook Park is set on a steep hillside in Meersbrook, Sheffield, England, offering panoramic views over central Sheffield to the north. Within the park are two historic buildings: Bishops' House and Meersbrook Hall.
Dhruva Mistry is an Indian sculptor.
Philip Grausman is an American sculptor who continues to push the limits of the time-honored portrait in art.
Keiko Mukaide is a Japanese artist who lives and works Fife on the Scottish coast. She was an early winner of a Creative Scotland award and was shortlisted for the 1998 Jerwood Prize for glass.
Lynn Russell Chadwick, was an English sculptor and artist. Much of his work is semi-abstract sculpture in bronze or steel. His work is in the collections of MoMA in New York, the Tate in London and the Centre Georges Pompidou in Paris.
John Riddy is a British photographer who came to the fore after his solo exhibition at Camden Arts Centre in 2000. He lives and works in London and has exhibited internationally since 1998.
Roma Babuniak is an artist whose work is associated with bone china and unglazed biscuit porcelain. She lived and worked in Germany from 1981 to 2014, and is currently living and working in Western Australia. She has won many prizes and awards, in 1986, the 1st International Ceramics Contest Mino, Japan, and the 1999 Premio Diputacio da Valencia; International BiennalManises, Museu de ceramic de Manises, Spain among others.
Marguerite Horner is a British artist who won the 2018 British Women Artist Award. Her paintings aim to investigate, among other things, notions of transience, intimacy, loss and hope. She uses the external world as a trigger or metaphor for these experiences and through a period of gestation and distillation, makes a series of intuitive decisions that lead the work towards completion.
Robert Owen is an Australian artist and curator. He lives and works in Melbourne, Australia.
Janet Barnes, is a British curator and former museum director. She was the chief executive officer of York Museums Trust from its founding in 2002 to 2015.
Mandy Payne is a member of the Contemporary British Painting group and is an artist with a primary interest in portraying the regeneration of inner city environments and the transitory nature of urban communities. Her themes include the contrasts between twentieth century inner-city social housing and modern gentrification.
JMW Turner's celebrated View of Sheffield from Derbyshire Lane (1797)
the hub of the burgeoning art scene in the Steel City which now has the most artists' studios outside London
the most respected gallery for contemporary art in the whole of Northern England
