The Westmorland Landscape Prize is a national call to artists who are inspired by the landscape of the UK. Conceived and developed by Westmorland, the Prize aims to document, celebrate and interrogate our relationship with the landscape. The selection panel will be looking for works which reach beyond the aesthetic, stimulating thinking and debate about the way in which we exist alongside, as part of, or sometimes in spite of our landscape.

John Stokes, Arts Manager of Westmorland says: “We are a family business, whose original motorway service area grew out of the Dunning family farm in Tebay, Cumbria, when the M6 was built through our land. Everything we do today reflects those beginnings and we want our visitors to feel that when they pass through that they have arrived somewhere, not just anywhere and catch a glimpse of the place and landscape they are in. We are looking forward to launching The Westmorland Prize this year and feel passionately about capturing the beauty of our landscape which has been so important to our businesses success.”

Open to artists working in any media, applicants are invited to submit up to four works by 5pm on 17 June 2019. Applications must be made online and applicants must be both based in the UK and over the age of 18. The exhibition will be selected by a panel comprised of artists, curators, gallerists and writers, to be announced in due course. Following the announcement of the shortlisted artists on 28 June 2019, the exhibition will be displayed at the Rheged Centre, near Penrith in Cumbria, from 14 September – 10 November 2019. The shortlisted artists will be eligible to receive a number of prizes: these include a First Prize of £10,000, which will be awarded to one artist at the exhibition private view.

The Westmorland Landscape Prize is open to all artists resident in the UK over the age of 18.

The Westmorland Landscape Prize will be open to all media including but not limited to: painting, photography, sculpture, video, installation and applied arts.

The selection criteria will favour work that looks not only at how the landscape appears, but how it is used, how it is conserved, how it changes or how it is lived in. In addition to this, the selection panel will be tasked with choosing only work of exceptional quality, intelligence and skill.

Artists are invited to submit up to 4 images VIA this dedicated digital platform, landscape.artopps.co.uk. If artists are unable to enter online please contact info@parkerharris.co.uk for further details.

Deadline for entries: 17 June 2019, 5pm

Artists are required to submit the following:

• The completed online entry form
• Images of up to 4 recent works, in digital format (jpg, max. 1MB file size)
• A non-refundable application fee of £15 per work or £12 for current students.

Following the selection process, all artists will be notified by 28 June 2019.  Artists who have not heard by this date should contact Parker Harris, organisers of The Westmorland Landscape Prize at info@parkerharris.co.uk, call 01372 462190 or check the website for further details.

From the open submission applications the panel will select approximately 80 to 100 works for exhibition.

The artists selected for the final exhibition will be contacted by Parker Harris with full delivery details for their work.

The exhibition will selected by eminent individuals from the art world including artists, curators, writers and gallerists who all have a broad knowledge and awareness of contemporary artists working in the UK today.  Further details will be available shortly.

The exhibition will be hosted by the Westmorland’s Rheged Centre, near Penrith in Cumbria.  In the spacious Gallery on the top floor, they host a changing programme of exhibitions every year which have a connection with our Cumbria home. Some exhibitions break the bounds of the Gallery and take over the centre, so you may find art in unexpected places. Each exhibition is curated with a leading cultural organisation or a creative community. This strong relationship with artists means we can show creativity at its most diverse, as well as reflecting life in the landscape.

The exhibition will open on 14 September to 10 November 2019.

For further details of opening times and events, please visit www.rheged.com/arts/exhibition/