The North East Emerging Artist Award
The North East Emerging Artist Award is an annual award at Seaton Delaval Hall in Northumberland for final year students or early career artists to provide opportunities for mentoring and development of site specific work in an historic context.
About the North East Emerging Artist Award
The North East Emerging Artist Award was established in 2021 and developed by independent curator, Matthew Jarratt and Seaton Delaval Hall’s General Manager, Emma Thomas. It is open to artists from all artforms including music, sound, theatre, film, fashion, literature and design as well as fine art and is for artists in or from the North East who are in the final year of their undergraduate degree, studying for a masters’ degree, who have graduated in the last three years or equivalent. The award’s aim is to showcase site-specific contemporary art in a historic context and to encourage emerging artists to develop proposals at the hall.
Find out more about the North East Emerging Artist in this short film. (Running time approximately nine minutes)
Meet the artists: shortlisted 2025
Meet the artists who will display their proposals in 2025, with the finalists realising their work in 2026. You can see the exhibition of these proposals, and vote for your favourite, from Wednesday 14 May - Sunday 22 June 2025.
Azeez Aromasodun
Middlesbrough's Azeez is a student on Teesside University's Masters of Fine Art. His work is influenced by Yoruba culture and explores identity and spirituality.
A history of artistic patronage
Throughout its history Seaton Delaval Hall and its inhabitants have been synonymous with artistic support, from commissioning painter Arthur Pond to produce views of the Hall, the backing of erotic novelist, John Clelland, and the patronage of William Bell who produced family portraits and tutored Rhoda Delaval through to the 21st Lord Hastings’ support of The Royal Ballet. The North East Emerging Artist Award continues this rich tradition.
Meet the winners: Shortlisted 2024, winners' exhibition 2025
Meet this year's winners, whose work will be exhibited Saturday 6 September - Sunday 19 October.
Jordan Edge (Kiik Amor): The Lyre of Elysium
Non-binary/trans artist Jordan works in the field of experimental design and sonic arts and will present their work The Lyre of Elysium in 2025. They manipulate metals, latex, and silicone to create sculptures and sound installations that function as abstract forms of communication.
Meet the winners: Shortlisted 2023, winners' exhibition 2024
Find out more about year two's winners and discover more about their works which were exhibited in the summer of 2024.
Rachel Blackwell: Flight of the Pipistrelles
Sculptor Rachel’s work featured cast pewter bats suspended by a steel rig, representing the bats that have made the hall their home since the fire of 1822. You can see Rachel's work in the Entrance Hall.
Meet the winners: Shortlisted 2022, winners' exhibition 2023
Meet the inaugural winners of the North East Emerging Artist Award and find out about their winning pieces.
Chantal Herbert and Dami Fawehinmi: New Borders
Newcastle-based audio producer Chantal and photographer Dami's work New Borders amplified the voices of the Global Majority living in the North East. The project was a direct response to the 1770 painting 'John Delaval (1756-1775) as a Boy and an Unidentified Attendant'. The painting depicts a young John Delaval with an unknown Black page boy, on display in the West Wing. There is no evidence of the background or history of this page, and New Borders reimagined the artwork with a contemporary context by giving the usually unheard voice an identity using photography and audio in an exhibition in the Stables.
