Cover image: Seventh Wave by Neil Bousfield

Originally scheduled to exhibit at The Biscuit Factory in 2020, we're delighted to now welcome the esteemed New Light Prize Exhibition to the gallery this June.

Established in 2010, the biennial competition and subsequent exhibition focuses on the exceptional talent of northern-born, -trained, or -based artists; from those who are well known names among the art-loving public, to those who are taking early steps in their careers and emerging into the art world.

We'll be talking more about the exhibition and some of the exhibitors over the coming weeks - many of whom you may recognise - but we thought we'd get started with an introduction first!

The exhibition officially opens on 4 June and will be exhibited at The Biscuit Factory until 29 August when it will move on to Tullie House, Carlisle and then to Bankside Gallery, London - home of the Royal Watercolour Society and Royal Society of Painter Printmakers.

129 individual works are featured from around 100 artists (some artists have multiple pieces in the exhibition), comprising painting, drawing, print and sculpture.

Image: Seen by Linnet Rubaya (winner of the Saul Hay Emerging Artists Prize)

Image: Across Borge Bay by Ian Brooks (winner of the Zillah Bell Printmaker's Prize

Five prize winners have been selected from this year's collections:

Joanna Whittle - Valeria Sykes Award

Victor Harris - Patron's Choice Award

Linnet Rubaya - Saul Hay Emerging Artists Prize

Ian Brooks - Zillah Bell Printmaker's Prize

Christian Alexander Bailey - New LIght Purchase Prize

Visitors to the exhibition at The Biscuit Factory can also vote for the winner of the TIG Visitor's Choice Award!

All artwork is for sale, and the New Light Prize Exhibition is a great collection from which to source your next piece of art.

In the spirit of supporting and showcasing all of the artists however, we ask that purchased work remain part of the prize exhibition until the conclusion of the show at The Biscuit Factory.

Any prize-winning work must remain in the exhibition for the duration of the tour so that fellow art-lovers may enjoy these pieces before they make their way to their new home.

Image: Tree Sparrow by Christian Alexander Bailey (winner of the New Light Purchase Prize)

Image: Sorrowing Cloth by Joanna Whittle (winner of the Valeria Sykes Award)

New Light also involves the Art for All initiative - an education programme which includes talks, workshops and school projects, and the New Light Collection which aims to make the best in Northern visual arts available to more people by loaning pieces from the collection, free of charge, to public bodies and charities.