Artists from across the North have until the end of this month to submit works for a major exhibition in Leeds this summer.

The New Light Summer Exhibition of the North will take place in July and August. It is open to all artists with a Northern connection. The submissions window closes on 30 April 2025.

Artists accepted will see their work exhibited at Sunny Bank Mills, Leeds’s biggest arts and cultural hub, which is based in a former textile mill in Farsley, West Leeds. Last year’s New Light Art Prize Exhibition, which was seen at five venues across the North, attracted over 66,000 visitors. The public response to the exhibition was fantastic, of the 120 selected artworks on show, 95 sold during the exhibition.

The Summer Exhibition of the North is generously sponsored by McInroy & Wood, long term sponsor of the New Light Charity.

Rebekah Tadd, CEO of New Light, says: “It is very exciting to see the entries coming in for our first Summer Exhibition of the North. We are seeing entries from both artists familiar to New Light and new artists – with artworks from paintings, printmaking, drawings, ceramics, sculpture, and textiles. It promises to be a very diverse exhibition. There is just one month left to go and then we hand over the challenge of selection to our fantastic panel of judges.

“Each judge has a very different background, core specialism and an individual approach to the judging process. They will curate their own distinctive selection of artworks, making the exhibition curatorially interesting, attracting a range of interpretation and creative engagement and sparking exciting public debate.

Judge George Vasey, a freelance writer and curator based in Newcastle, says: “As a judge, I want to be surprised and inspired. I’m after art that makes my heart sing. I love art that confuses me and leaves me curious to find out more. I want to see art that lodges itself in my brain and refuses to vacate it. I adore art that is singular. I like art that grabs my hand, steals my heart, and helps me see the world in a different way.”

Fellow judge Anne Desmet holds a BA and MA from the Ruskin School of Art, Oxford University, and a Postgraduate Diploma in Printmaking from London’s Central School of Art and Design. She says: “I will be looking for works that combine excellent technique with ambition, passion and originality - works that really draw you in and linger, positively, in your mind for a long time afterwards.”

There is a key focus on emerging artists from across the North to help to introduce them to a new audience. Gallery directors and curators from across the North and London will visit the exhibition to seek new and emerging artists.

Each of the Summer Exhibition judges will award a bursary of £500 to their chosen overall winning artist.

As Bradford celebrates its City of Culture 2025 status and plays host to the Turner Prize, it seems natural to extend the focus on the North’s artistic talent with this summer exhibition which will also include sculpture. Sunny Bank Mills is only four miles from Bradford and the area creates a wonderful creative destination for visitors.

To enter a work, artists are asked to visit: https://newlight-art.org.uk/exhibitions/