SCAF Emerging Artists 2023 Exhibition Catalogue

2023 AWARD 

EXHIBITION CATALOGUE 

Exploring the 

Subject of Light 

Emerging Artist 2023 Award

Scott Creative Arts Foundation

2023 AWARD 

EXHIBITION CATALOGUE 

Exploring the 

Subject of Light

Introduction 

The SCAF Emerging Artist Award was 

created to encourage and support up 

and coming artists who are living in the 

Yorkshire region. 

The intent of the award is to bring 

recognition and awareness to outstanding 

visual artists in the region who are at the 

early stages of their career and who have not 

yet established a reputation as an artist 

amongst art curators, buyers, critics and the 

general public. 

The creation of the award was one of the 

most emphatic wishes of the Foundations 

benefactors, Michael and Eileen Scott, and 

we are delighted to exhibit the submissions 

from our 2023 finalists. 


Light 

For this year's award the subject for the 

submitted pieces and our current exhibition is 

As we emerge from the Covid pandemic, 

surrounded by the rhetoric of threatened 

climate crisis, food shortages, rising prices and 

ever increasing social pressures, it is hard to 

feel lightness of spirit or connect with joy and 

creativity in our lives . Exploring the theme of 

light and finding your own way of interpreting 

and expressing 'light' will offer a healthy 

counterbalance to the heaviness and darkness 

often experienced in these times. The visual 

arts have a long history of using light both as 

a subject and a tool to create emotion and 

drama, or simply to lead the eye to a specific 

aspect of composition. 

Congratulations from all at SCAF to our 

talented finalists. 

The 2023 Emerging Artists Finalists 

Cameron Lings 

David Mcquillan 

Jacqui Barrowcliffe 

Jess Kidd 

Joanna Byrne 

Olga Prinku 

Rachel Morrell 

Ros Walker 

Steffi Callaghan 

Sue Mann 


Judging Panel 

Dr Sue Armstrong 

Artistic Director & Trustee of SCAF 

Sue Armstrong is the Founder of the Scott Creative Arts 

Foundation and the current Artistic Director. Sue was a close 

friend of Michael and Eileen Scott and is dedicated to realising 

their wishes through the work of the Foundation. Providing 

support and encouragement to emerging artists was a major 

priority for the Scott’s and to be holding the fourth SCAF 

emerging artist award is a testament to her commitment to 

SCAF. Sue, like the Scotts is a passionate believer in the value 

of the synergistic relationship between arts and science. 

Jane Young 

Curator of SCAF 

Jane has had the privilege to be a part of SCAF as the Gallery 

Curator since 2016, having met Michael Scott on a couple of 

occasions he gave her the inspiration and energy to work with 

the SCAF team to help create a Foundation that she hopes 

both he and Eileen would be proud of. Jane has a longterm 

passion for arts, wellbeing and through this connection 

continues to find ways to encourage and promote art and 

artists in the creative process. 

Cynthia Valianti Corbett 

Director/ Curator of Cynthia Corbett Gallery & Young Masters Art Prize 

Cynthia Valianti Corbett holds a BA (Magna Cum Laude) in 

Political Science from UMASS Amherst and a MALD from the 

Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at Tufts University. 

She was the recipient of the 2020 Tufts University Alumni 

Award with a Career Service Citation in recognition of her 

achievements and contribution to the international art world. 

She trained as an art historian at Christie’s Education before 

establishing her gallery in 2004. Cynthia launched the Young 

Masters Art Prize in 2009, a unique not-for-profit initiative which 

celebrates artistic skill and innovation with awareness of the art 

from the past. 


Jill Tattersall 

Mixed Media Artist 

Three years ago Jill and her studio, The Wolf at the Door, 

moved from Brighton to York. She hasn’t stopped making 

art since childhood, but originally earned her living as an 

academic specialising in medieval French literature with a 

particular interest in old maps and travel accounts. Later she 

took courses in art, design and ceramics at her local college; 

her first solo exhibition soon followed. 

Jane Claire Wilson 

Winner of the Scott Creative Arts Foundation Emerging Artist Award 2022 

Jane creates textile sculptures and 2D artwork to share stories 

about places and people. Her work is in response to walking 

in new places, talking with local community members and 

research into the social and political context of the place. 

Jane recently graduated from Leeds Arts University with an MA 

in Creative Practice researching How creating a sense of place 

in a creative practice engages audiences and makers in social, 

political and global discussions. 

Jane worked as an Early Years Teacher and Advisor; always 

bringing creativity to the classroom. When Jane decided to 

develop her own creative practice, she attended an Access to 

Art and Design Course at York College. This positive experience 

led to a change of direction into a new career in the Arts. 

Since graduating Jane has exhibited in local galleries and pop 

up shops. Jane is a member of York Textile Artists and North 

Yorkshire Open Studios. In 2022 Jane won the SCAF Emerging 

Artist Award. Jane works as a community based artist; delivering 

workshops throughout North Yorkshire. Jane is currently 

researching the theme of belonging to a place; a sense of the 

familiar and unfamiliar. She is spending time exploring the 

collections of Michael and Eileen Scott at the SCAF studios 

as inspiration for new work. 


CAMERON LINGS 

The Revival of Light 

A data-driven sculpture finds its form 

directly from statistical information. Here, 

the UK's Recycling Rates of Light Bulbs and 

LED's become the source of information 

that draws the body of the art piece. The 

suspended and illuminated sculpture not 

only acts as a record of our environmental 

efforts between 2014-2021, but introduces 

'light' as material, and that our association 

with it can be a responsible and ongoing 

process - not a temporary need. 

LED light, oak, thread 

and reclaimed plastic 

50cm x 40cm x 40cm 

www.cameronlingsart.co.uk 


In a period of recovery, this is the first time 

in three years I have returned to drawing 

trees and forests. 

DAVID MCQUILLAN 

How the Light Gets In 

Ink on paper 

100cm x 50cm 

A symbolic light has long been a part of 

my drawings of trees: alongside a sense 

of being trapped and lost: representing 

beauty, the search the hope and purpose 

one needs to recover. 

There is darkness and light within us all; 

accepting both is the key to wellbeing – 

I have focused on the light in these 

drawings, more than the darkness and 

more than in any of my previous work. 

“there’s a crack, a crack in everything – 

that’s how the light gets in.” [L. Cohen] 

Emerging Artist 2023 Award 

www.davidmcquillan.com

JACQUI BARROWCLIFFE 

Light on the darkest days 

Installation; cyanotype on 

paper, brass plaque, bench 

This project uses the fundamental 

elements of photography to reflect on 

light as an element that can be perceived 

and recorded, but also as something more 

spiritual. Inspired by memorial benches 

looking out to sea, using the photographic 

process cyanotype I sit and “register" the 

light over winter, the darkest time of year. 

It is neither a scientific nor documentary 

record, but rather an emotional response 

to a specific place and ritual. The 

contemplation of a moment of light. 

A reminder, a memory, a hope. A life, a 

loved one. Finding there is light even on 

the darkest days. 

www.jacquibarrowcliffe.com 


Searching for the Light no.4, depicts a 

mundane scene taken from the postindustrial 

town of Keighley - A skip sitting 

inside the large doorway of an old factory. 

JESS KIDD 

Searching for the Light no.4 

Watercolour, oil and cold wax 

medium 

90cm x 80cm 

Searching for light in dark times, however 

small, has been a lifeline for me during 

tough times. The light changes quickly 

across Keighley, creating ephemeral 

moments of joy. I wanted to fill this scene 

with joy, by scattering it with dappled light. 

I had fun, exploring mark making 

techniques, and built-up layers using a 

mixture of mediums. I hope the joy I felt 

whilst making this piece translates to 

the viewer. 


www.jesskiddart.co.uk

JOANNA BYRNE 

Untitled (SE139159) 

Unique analogue film 

collage housed in custom 

lightbox 

60cm x 60 cm 

Analogue film collage made in 

collaboration with the Yorkshire landscape 

and sunlight, using locally foraged plants 

from Northcliffe Park, Shipley: a green lung 

in the otherwise air-polluted area where 

I live. It was created using two sustainable 

camera-less filmmaking techniques: the 

cyanotype - adapted for use with recycled 

celluloid; and phytography, an eco-film 

process that uses the natural chemical 

compounds in plants to print onto film. 

Both create unique, painterly photographic 

images which oscillate between figuration 

and abstraction. The film collage is also 

viewable as a unique piece of artist’s 

moving image, made up of 1,149 individual 

frames. This digital animation is included as 

part of the piece (scan QR code to preview 

the film). 

www.joannaruthbyrne.com 


OLGA PRINKU 

The light in your eye 

Textile/Embroidery 

80cm x 80cm x 80cm 

A representation of a human eye using 

dried branches of silver birch (Betula 

pendula) and dried flowers of mangles 

everlasting (Rhodanthe manglesii) and 

riceflower (Ozothamnus diosmifolius), 

woven into tulle fabric. Like sunlight 

glinting through a forest, the gold leaf 

backing to the pupil highlights the 

metaphorical “light in one’s eyes” that is 

said to be a window to the soul. The use 

of natural materials embodies light as 

being, through photosythesis, the root of 

all life. The combination of inward- and 

outward-growing branch-work speaks 

to how information enters our minds and 

we “shed light” on the world through our 

understanding. 


www.prinku.com

The silk screen triptych, Contemplation, 

has come together after visits to the abbey 

ruins of North Yorkshire. It is a combination 

of their various architectural details. I chose 

the golden hour of early evening light to 

influence colour. 

RACHEL MORRELL 

Contemplation 

Textile 

80cm x 60cm 

The silk is dyed in varied yellow gold 

shades and then over printed using batik 

wax resist. Textured fabrics are collaged 

over the batik. Finally the pieces are both 

machine and hand embroidered. The three 

panels are hinged together so it can be free 

standing. 

The ruins in greys, creams and peach 

contrast with the yellow gold light of 

evening on the translucent silk. 

www.rachelmorrell.co.uk 


ROS WALKER 

Radiance 

Ceramic, Glass and wire 

40cm x 70cm (approx.) 

‘Radiance’ is a mixed media sculpture which 

aims to show the shimmering golden light 

streaming through the delicate tracery of birch 

trees in the autumn. The piece is constructed 

from ceramic porcelain paper clay, copper 

wire and glass both cut and fused mounted on 

a natural oak wooden base. Several different 

techniques and processes have been used 

and combined together to achieve the finished 

piece. The internal light shines through the 

cracks and textures in the central ceramic 

piece illuminating the fused glass sections and 

the coloured glass leaves above. The fragility 

of the construction serves to emphasise the 

ethereal nature of the delicate birch trees 

and the fleeting time available to enjoy this 

beautiful autumn light show. The uplifting 

emotional reaction to this kaleidoscope of light 

and colour is somehow enhanced by 

the transience of the moment. 


www.roswalker.com

STEFFI CALLAGHAN 

A certain slant of light 

Acrylic and acrylic collage 

on paper and board 

99cm x 38cm 

This painting has been inspired by 

the deep sea and the mythology that 

surrounds it. Many creatures of the deep 

ocean have evolved complex codes of 

bioluminescence as alarms, distractions, 

weapons and semiotic systems and they 

offer us a new perspective on the meaning 

of light. This composition started with 

choosing a strip of seabed to work from 

using the latest ocean mapping datasets 

and then thinking about the creatures that 

‘light’ it with their bioluminescence. Both 

have merged to create a portrait of the 

deep sea. The format of the painting mirrors 

the earliest sea bed maps. 

www.stefficallaghan.com 


This body of work is inspired by the impact 

of exterior light on interior spaces and the 

blurring of boundaries between our exterior 

and interior lives. The series title comes 

from Bachelard’s text on the value of home 

to fortify and nurture. 

SUE MANN 

Sheltered Dreams 

Charcoal Drawings 

Diptych 32cm x 25 cm each 

The process begins with gestural marks 

made in response to patterns of light. 

These inform the abstract structure of 

the drawing, as charcoal is worked into 

translucent paper in layers. 

Presenting the work in rhythms of light 

prompts further conversations between 

the two double sided drawings. Aspects are 

revealed while others recede, becoming 

obscured. 


www.suejmann.com

2024 AWARD 

/ THE SUBJECT IS 

The Oxford dictionary definition of perception reads: 

• The ability to see, hear, or become aware of something through the senses 

• The way in which something is regarded, understood, or interpreted 

Art is the story of perception. Perception in art is deeply complex including the subjective 

response of the viewer, the intention of the artist and external influences such as social 

pressure that seeks to persuade us to interpret something in a certain way. 

Perception in art is also deeply intwined with psychology. Our brains are hard wired to 

see structure, logic and patterns to help us to make sense of the world we live in. Survival 

often requires rapid interpretation of our surroundings and to that end our brains have 

evolved to continually make shortcuts to speed up the process of visual perception. These 

shortcuts are often exploited in art and design. An example of where art, psychology and 

science come together to explore perception is to be found in the 7 Gestalt principles 

of perception: 

• Figure-ground • Similarity • Proximity • Common region 

• Continuity • Closure • Focal point 

How you interpret and represent this subject is entirely up to you, the artist. 

Our introduction is merely a little offering to stimulate your senses. 

DETAILS OF THIS UPCOMING AWARD ARE COMING SOON… 

www.scafemergingartist.co.uk 


2023 

Cameron Lings 

David Mcquillan 

Jacqui Barrowcliffe 

Jess Kidd 

Joanna Byrne 

Olga Prinku 

Rachel Morrell 

Ros Walker 

Steffi Callaghan 

Sue Mann

SCAF Emerging Artists 2023 Exhibition Catalogue

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