Meet the Cultivate@Courtyard Artists 2024

The Courtyard is pleased to announce the four emerging artists selected to work on the Cultivate@Courtyard 2024 visual arts project. This year’s theme is Rejuvenate! Cultivate@Courtyard is our annual Visual Arts project for young emerging artists aged 16-25 in Herefordshire.

This year, five Cultivate Artists will be mentored by professional artist Dermot Clarke. They will work towards producing an exhibition at The Courtyard in the Summer of 2024. The artist who has best met the brief will be given a £1000 grant on the day of the exhibition. Here’s a little about each of them, and a look at some of their work…

Hannah Jones

“I’m a Hereford-based illustrator whose work is influenced by pop culture and vibrant colour palettes.

My project for cultivate 2024 is based around the funny things that kids get wrong. Whether its the headless horseman turning into the lidless saucepan, or whether its the early bird being an almighty creature. Hannah hopes to capture the humorous innocence of childhood in her illustrations”.

Bran Davies 

“I’m currently in my second year of the Artist Blacksmithing degree at HCA, primarily focusing on sculptural work, but I love all types of forging projects. Taking ideas and translating them into a material like steel is thoroughly enjoyable, using both traditional techniques and modern equipment. In my work I’m interested by geometric forms and different ways of connecting components together, tending to prefer designs made up of multiple pieces.

I often start with quick and simple sketches, pulling out the elements I like and developing them to a point where I can begin making maquettes out of paper and card. When happy with the design, I move to testing and forging in steel.

Cultivate offers an amazing opportunity to start showing my work to the wider community; sharing a gallery space alongside other artists working in a mixture of different mediums. The project will allow me to further my skillset and designs, looking at creating abstracted plants in response to the theme ‘rejuvenate’. Being able to work with a mentor to develop my practice will be invaluable in preparing to display my work in the wonderful gallery space at the Courtyard. I’m really looking forward to seeing where the project will lead, and the opportunities for development along the way.”
Instagram: @corvus_blacksmith

Alice White 

“I am a 17 year old mixed media artist. I really enjoy textiles as being able to interact with my work and feel the textures is very important to me.
My work is always bright and colourful with lots of simple block shapes. I like my art to be naïve, playful and reminiscent of childhood but to a sophisticated level. I enjoy using the sewing machine, hand stitching, embroidery, crochet, the knit machine, screen printing and heat pressing to experiment.

I applied for cultivate to publicise my work and challenge myself to use a far bigger scale than I’m used to. It’s a fantastic opportunity and very exciting, especially as I’m supplied with any equipment I wish for, which means I can explore a range of new processes and techniques, I am very grateful for this.

The Courtyards large exhibition space enables viewers to really soak in what’s in front of them. This is a great opportunity for me as my art is intended to make you happy and give you a splash of colour that everyone needs from time to time.”

Lola Steven 

“I am a 17 year old artist based in Malvern. I am currently in Hereford College of Arts in my first year of a Level 3 diploma in art and design. Most of my art has been illustration in a realistic style using mediums such as acrylic or pencil, however in the past year I have experimented in different techniques and mediums which I am using in this project. I decided to apply to Cultivate as it is a unique opportunity to showcase my artwork. I am excited at the chance to expand my ideas using a blend of mediums that I have previously experimented with and combine that with my appreciation of retro sci-fi films and their imagery. The resulting artwork will showcase my ability to merge realism with cartoon, rejuvenating classic, tired artwork into eye-catching pieces with a twist. By being part of the exhibition I have already gained confidence and been motivated to create artwork within a time frame and further develop my unique art style and passion. I hope to push myself further and develop a unique style that I can build on as I learn more in my course at HCA.”

Instagram account: lrs_hca

Michelle Solanyk

“I am a post grad in product design currently working within interiors. My passion has always been form and material exploration which was further supported in my studies with human centred design. I enjoy working with simple materials such as ceramics, metal, wood and paper. Its really all about letting the materials speak for themselves in the arrangements being created. I feel very privileged to be part of the cultivate project, it’s such a great concept for young people to show their skills. The support I have already gained is push me in the right direction to finding my own unique style that I can use within my art and my chosen field of work. Overall its really illuminating to be surrounded by such creative minds.”

Cultivate will be in The Courtyard’s Gallery from Saturday 15 June – Saturday 27 July 2024.