Mackenzie Thorpe (born 1956 in Middlesbrough, Yorkshire) is a British artist. In 2019 he celebrated 30 years of artistic practice with a world tour, From the Heart, which included the UK in July; [1] he was also appointed as the official artist to 2019 Tour de Yorkshire; [2] was appointed as the 2019 "Welcome to Yorkshire, Official Chelsea Flower show artist”; [3] and unveiled a new temporary public sculpture in his home town of Middlesbrough. [1] His bronze sculpture called 'Waiting for me Dad' was placed next to the Middlesbrough Transporter Bridge. He considers it a tribute to the men and women who have made Middlesbrough great. [4]
Born as the first of seven children, Thorpe initially worked in the local shipyards. However, in 1977, following encouragement of a friend he successfully applied to study art at Cleveland College of Art and Design, where he flourished under the tuition of Tom Wall, going on to study for a Fine Art BA at Byam Shaw College of Art in London from which he graduated in 1982. In 1989 he decided to become a full-time artist, [4] moving from London to Richmond, North Yorkshire, where he opened the Mackenzie Thorpe Arthaus gallery. [5] In 2000 he was awarded an honorary degree of Master of Arts from Teesside University, [6] followed by being was awarded an honorary professorship by Seisa University in Japan in 2019.[ citation needed ].
His works are associated with a principle of "Art from the heart" – combining tenderness with fervency through his abstract depictions of animals and children[ citation needed ]. His work is wide-ranging from the accessible 'square sheep' and duffle coat boys to more challenging work focusing on isolation and man's struggle. Much of his work depicts his childhood growing up in Middlesbrough. His auction record of £9,000, paid for his 91 cm square oil on canvas "The Family (Kiss)" was set at Tennant's auction house in Leyburn on 4 March 2009.[ citation needed ] He and his staff operate through a company, and in 2020 his original artworks were said to cost from £10,000. [4]
He and his wife, Susan, have been married since his twenties, and have children and grandchildren. [4]
Richmond is a market town and civil parish in North Yorkshire, England and the administrative centre of the district of Richmondshire. Historically in the North Riding of Yorkshire, it is 16 miles (26 km) from the county town of Northallerton and situated on the eastern edge of the Yorkshire Dales National Park, and is one of the park's tourist centres. The population of Richmond according to the 2011 United Kingdom census is 8,413.
Sir Antony Mark David Gormley,, is a British sculptor. His works include the Angel of the North, a public sculpture in Gateshead in the North of England, commissioned in 1994 and erected in February 1998; Another Place on Crosby Beach near Liverpool; and Event Horizon, a multi-part site installation which premiered in London in 2007, around Madison Square in New York City, in 2010, in São Paulo, Brazil, in 2012, and in Hong Kong in 2015–16.
Marc Quinn is a British contemporary visual artist whose work includes sculpture, installation and painting. Quinn explores 'what it is to be human in the world today' through subjects including the body, genetics, identity, environment and the media. His work has used materials that vary widely, from blood, bread and flowers, to marble and stainless steel. Quinn has been the subject of solo exhibitions at Sir John Soane's Museum, Tate, National Portrait Gallery, Fondation Beyeler, Fondazione Prada and South London Gallery. The artist was a notable member of the Young British Artists movement.
Middlesbrough is a large post-industrial town in North Yorkshire, England. The local council, a unitary authority, is Middlesbrough Borough Council. The 2011 Census recorded the borough's total resident population as 138,400 and the wider urban settlement's as 174,700, making it the largest settlement within the ceremonial county of North Yorkshire. Middlesbrough is part of the larger built-up area of Teesside, which had an overall population of 376,333 at the 2011 Census.
Teesside University is a public university with its main campus in Middlesbrough, North Yorkshire in North East England. It has 18,576 students, according to the 2015/16 HESA student record.
Middlesbrough Institute of Modern Art, or mima, is a contemporary art gallery based in the centre of Middlesbrough, England. The gallery was formally launched on Sunday 27 January 2007; since 2014 it has been run by Teesside University.
Kehinde Wiley is an American portrait painter based in New York City, who is known for his highly naturalistic paintings of Black people. He was commissioned in 2017 to paint a portrait of former President Barack Obama for the Smithsonian National Portrait Gallery, which has portraits of all the U.S. presidents. The Columbus Museum of Art, which hosted an exhibition of his work in 2007, describes his work as follows: "Wiley has gained recent acclaim for his heroic portraits which address the image and status of young African-American men in contemporary culture."
Yusuf Arakkal was a Malayali painter.
The Tees Valley Giants was intended as a £15 million series of five art installations by sculptor Anish Kapoor and structural designer Cecil Balmond. The artwork was planned to be created in the towns of Darlington, Hartlepool, Middlesbrough, Redcar and Stockton on Tees in the Tees Valley area of England. The project was launched in July 2008 by Tees Valley Regeneration. If completed, the project would become the world's biggest public art project.
Charles Fazzino is an American pop artist, known for his silkscreen serigraphs in a 3D pop art style. His artwork incorporates influence from urban landscapes, sporting events, and modern celebrities. As described in the book about Fazzino titled The Master of 3-D Pop Art, "An innovative and imaginative storyteller, Charles Fazzino serves up a bevy of details in his unique three-dimensional creations. His collectors marvel as much at his ability to capture the entire essence of his subject matter in one statement, as they do at his use of vibrant colors, his whimsical sense of humor, and his hand-assembled multi-layered artistic style. Although, the snappy titled often gives a clue to the content of each painting, it can take years of careful observation to discern all of the details in a single Fazzino image. One of Fazzino's greatest joys is to observe visitors at exhibition of his work. 'I love to watch the smiles form as people begin to recognize elements of my paintings,' comments Fazzino. 'They point at the images as if inserting themselves into the stories. I watch that and I'm reminded of why i paint. It's all about celebrating the joy and fun we have as human beings on this planet."
Jeffrey L. Koons is an American artist recognized for his work dealing with popular culture and his sculptures depicting everyday objects, including balloon animals – produced in stainless steel with mirror-finish surfaces. He lives and works in both New York City and his hometown of York, Pennsylvania. His works have sold for substantial sums, including at least two record auction prices for a work by a living artist, including $91.1 million with fees in May 2019, for his Rabbit, purchased by Robert E. Mnuchin according to a New York Times article.
Tom Wall was a British landscape painter and educator.
Welcome to Yorkshire (WTY) is the official tourism agency for the traditional county of Yorkshire, the UK's largest county, promoting Yorkshire tourism both nationally and internationally. It was formerly known as the Yorkshire Tourist Board until 2009, but underwent a rebranding: a new Welcome to Yorkshire brand, a new website, the launching of various new marketing campaigns and a move to the present site in Leeds, West Yorkshire. The stated aim of the organisation is: 'to grow the county’s visitor economy'. The Chief Executive from 2008 until his resignation in March 2019 was Sir Gary Verity. The current Chief Executive, James Mason, was appointed in 2019 having previously worked as chief operating officer of Bradford City Football Club and a journalist for the BBC.
The Middlesbrough and Teesside Philanthropic Foundation is a philanthropic and charitable organization that was established in March 2011 in Middlesbrough, England as a patriotic and activist group which aims to raise money from businesses and affluent individuals to make Teesside a better place in which to live, work and do business. Andy Preston set up the foundation with the help of Tanya Garland and since launch Preston has recruited the financial backing of more than 40 businesses and individuals. Businesses involved as patrons of the Foundation include Middlesbrough Football Club, Steve Gibson's Bulkhaul, Cleveland Cable Company, Barclays Middlesbrough and AV Dawson.
The Tour de Yorkshire is a road cycling race in the historic county of Yorkshire, England which started in May 2015. It is promoted by the Amaury Sport Organisation (ASO) and is rated as a 2.HC event as part of the UCI Europe Tour. From 2015 to 2017 it was a three-day race but in 2018 it expanded to four days, starting on Thursday 3 May and finishing on Sunday 6 May. The race will become part of the new UCI ProSeries in 2020.
Julian Lawrence is a Canadian cartoonist, educator and comics scholar. A longtime member of Vancouver's DIY independent art scene, Lawrence is also an arts educator and researcher, with a specialization in using hand drawn comics as a tool to improve literacy, develop storytelling techniques and form identity. He currently resides in Middlesbrough, England, where he is a Senior Lecturer in the Comics and Graphic Novels B.A. Honours program at Teesside University.
David Watson is an artist and former shipyard worker born in 1944 at Albion Street, South Bank near Middlesbrough, UK. He attended Middlesbrough College where he studied art along with fellow South Bank artists Len Tabner and David Mulholland. At the age of nineteen earning a living became a priority and Watson went to work at Smiths Dock shipyard on the River Tees as a "red leader" painting the hulls of ships. Watson continued with his art for decades although remained largely unknown until the Kirkleatham Museum in Redcar submitted images of his work to the BBC's "Your Painting" website. In 2012 they were noticed by Mark Parham who now acts as Watson's curator. In 2014 the National Football Museum in Manchester acquired Watson's "Matchday at Ayresome Park".
Jacob Young is a British Conservative Party politician who is elected as the Member of Parliament (MP) for Redcar in the 2019 general election. He was the first Conservative MP to represent the constituency.
David Robinson is a Canadian artist specializing in figurative sculpture. He is best known for dynamic compositions that situate his figures in abstract formal environments.