AN exciting young artist has been revealed as the winner of the Gillian Dickinson North East Young Sculptor Award 2020.

Laurie Powell, 23, from Alnwick, collects materials from the local landscape to create installations and artwork – one of which will now be commissioned for Cheeseburn Sculpture and displayed to the public in 2021.

Speaking of his win, Laurie said, “I’m delighted with this opportunity to create work alongside the team at Cheeseburn.

"It will give me the chance to continue exploring the artistic potential of rural Northumberland, a region that has much to contribute to the contemporary debates taking place in art and culture.”

For the commission, worth £6,500, Laurie will dig clay from eight places in Northumberland including Cheeseburn and open a ceramic studio in the Potting Shed at Cheeseburn.

In this temporary studio, Laurie will produce a suite of ceramic objects which show off the different clays and geology of the region.

Each year, Cheeseburn in partnership with the Gillian Dickinson Trust, mentor early-career artists, sculptors and designers to create proposals which are then entered into the Gillian Dickinson North East Young Sculptor Award.

Joanna Riddell, founder of Cheeseburn Sculpture said, “I am intrigued and excited for his proposal to hand dig clay from our region. My congratulations to him, and all our other finalists who produced some wonderful work.

"It is a great privilege to deliver the Young North East Sculptor of the Year Award."