A year at Fountains Abbey, Yorkshire

A Year at Fountains Abbey is the result of a major collaboration between the artist Emerson Mayes and the National Trust, in a project capturing 12 months spent working at Fountains Abbey and Studley Royal.

Born in Harrogate, Emerson Mayes spent much of his youth exploring the magnificent parkland of Studley and Fountains Abbey. In recent years he has been increasingly drawn to re-discover the landscape and abundant wildlife; providing an increasing inspiration for his own art, and historically for many others including JMW Turner and John Piper. In November last year the artist began working full time on site recording the wildlife and changing landscape, and 108 Fine Art is the first venue to exhibit 60 landscape and wildlife paintings, prints and drawings – an impressive artistic and personal record of this beautiful and historic world heritage site.

To celebrate the completion of this major project the artist has created a limited edition boxed set of 12 etchings, four of which will be available at a pre-publication price of £950 (rrp £1650). The first boxed set will be donated to the National Trust. ‘A Year At Fountains Abbey’ will be one of the first major solo exhibitions to be held at 108 Fine Art this year and one of the first exhibitions to be held in their prestigious new galleries at Cold Bath House, Harrogate. It will be the first solo exhibition of the artists work since his highly popular sell out exhibition in Cork Street, London in 2008.

The New Lights Art Award



Emerson Mayes has been selected to mentor the winner of a new £10,000 arts prize. Chief executive of the New Lights Art Award, Annette Petchey, adds: ‘We are keen to encourage new graduates who are either based, or have studied in the North, to enter. New Lights aims to recognize and promote aspiring young painters and the exhibition of shortlisted entries will provide a superb platform to showcase young talent.’ Entrants were judged by Kate Brindley, Director of Middlesbrough Institute of Modern Art (mima) and a National Advisor for the Paul Hamlyn Foundation Art Funding Programme; Paul Hobson, Director of the Contemporary Arts Society and William Tillyer, the international artist who comes from the North East.

The recently announced winner of the 2011 New Lights Art Award is Darlington-based artist Nat Quinn.