Emma Bennett grew up in Redcar, Cleveland and studied Fine Art at Teesside University. She lives and works in Middlesbrough. Her art practice centres around colour and architecture and her work ranges from small intimate paintings to large scale site-specific wall paintings. Many of Emma’s artworks reference a nostalgic attachment to places and structures that are often overlooked or neglected. Using relationships of vibrant colours and lively patterns, she demands us to look again at the built environment. Her work declares the architectural beauty and social importance of these places and buildings.
Born in Guisborough, North Yorkshire, Emma graduated from MIMA School of Art and Design in 2019 with a MA in Fine Art. Her recent public art commission Middlesbrough Moquette can be seen at Middlesbrough Train Station as part of the Most Creative Station Project.
Selected exhibitions and prizes include Legacy, Platform A Gallery; Down Town, (solo) The Masham; Sonia Boyce: In the Castle of My Skin, MIMA; Above Ground (solo), Gallagher and Turner; ING Discerning Eye 2020; Traces of Reality, PS Mirabel; Major Conversations: The Industrial Narrative, The Turnpike; Manchester Contemporary and Altered Space, (solo) Platform A Gallery. Emma won a Runner-Up Prize in the KPP Prize for Art, Architecture and Design in 2018.
BIOGRAPHY |
EDUCATION 2019 MA in Fine Art (Distinction), MIMA School of Art & Design, Teesside University 2009 BA (Hons) in Fine Art, Teesside University 1994 BTEC HND in Design, Berkshire College of Art & Design 1992 BTEC Diploma in Art & Design, Cleveland College of Art & Design AWARDS 2025 Shortlisted for Tees Valley Artist of the Year 2023/24 Art Network North East Bursary Award 2023 a-n Artists Bursary Award 2020 Tees Valley Response Collecting Scheme – 2 paintings acquired for MIMA'S Middlesbrough Collection 2019 Creative Factory Production Grant Award (Creative Factory is Middlesbrough Council's Great Places Tees Valley Project) 2015 MIMA Artist’s Bursary 2014 MIMA Visual Arts Bursary 2014 Platform A Gallery Mentoring Program (mentored by Lothar Goetz) SOLO EXHIBITIONS 2022 DOWN TOWN, The Masham, Middlesbrough 2021 Above Ground, Gallagher and Turner, Newcastle 2018 High Rise, The Calver Gallery, South Square Centre 2016/17 Altered Space, Platform A Gallery 2015 Emma Bennett, The Tunnel Gallery, Middlesbrough SELECTED GROUP EXHIBITION 2025 The Secret Lives of Bottle of Notes, MIMA 2024 Legacy, Platform A Gallery 2024 Working Lives, MIMA 2024 MUNICIPAL, 50 MV, Liverpool 2022/24 The Story of the Middlesbrough Collection, MIMA 2023 From the Urban to the Rural, Middlesbrough Art Week 2023 NOW THAT'S WHAT I CALL ART 3, The Auxiliary 2022 40 Years of South Square, South Square Centre 2022 A Generous Space 2, The New Gallery Walsall 2021/22 Ten Years, Platform A Gallery 2021 Sonia Boyce: In the Castle of My Skin (Led and co-curated by Sonia Boyce), Middlesbrough Institute of Modern Art (MIMA) 2021 BRUTAL, Saul Hay Gallery, Manchester 2020 DANCE FIRST THINK LATER, General Practice, Lincoln 2020 Traces of Reality, PS Mirabel, Manchester 2019 LEGACY - 50 years of painting in the Tees Valley, The Auxiliary 2019 MAJOR CONVERSATIONS: The Industrial Narrative, The Turnpike, Leigh 2019 MATERIALS, Platform A Gallery, Middlesbrough Art Weekender 2019 MA Fine Art Degree Show, MIMA School of Art 2019 Marked Transitions, The Auxiliary 2018 ARTISTS LIVE HERE /ARTISTS WORK HERE, Middlesbrough Town Hall Flagpoles 2018 Manchester Contemporary showing with Platform A Gallery 2018 Commonplace, Crown Street Gallery, Darlington 2018 Then and Now, The Bowery Gallery, Leeds 2017 Magical Geometry, Chapel Gallery, Lancashire 2015 SELFHOODS, The Constantine Gallery, Middlesbrough 2015 Traverse, Python Gallery, Middlesbrough 2015 Beyond Repetition, The Bowery Gallery, Leeds 2015 GROUNDED, Platform A Gallery 2009 Fine Art Degree Show, Teesside University PRIZES & OPEN SUBMISSION 2025 New Light Summer Exhibition, (selected by George Vasey), Sunny Bank Mills 2025 Auto Amor Project, Dunton Green 2024 Beep Painting Prize (Longlist), Swansea 2023/24 New Light Art Prize Tour , The Williamson Art Gallery & Museum, Bankside Gallery, Rheged, The Biscuit Factory & The Mercer Art Gallery 2024 Summer Open Exhibition, Gallagher & Turner, Newcastle 2023 Open Artspace 2023, Old Parcels Office Artspace, Scarborough 2021 Baltic Open, The Baltic, Gateshead 2020 ING Discerning Eye Exhibition (selected by Mervyn Metcalf) 2020/21 Curator's Choice: Exhibition of Northern Art at Scarborough Art Gallery, Scarborough Art Gallery 2020 MORE T'NORTH, The Harris, Preston 2019 Gallagher and Turner Open Exhibition, Newcastle 2019 Paint - PS Mirabel Painting Prize, PS Mirabel, Manchester 2018 The KPP Prize for Art, Architecture + Design: Forms Assembled in the Light, Leeds (Prize winner- Runner up) 2018 Twice as Nice, PS Mirabel, Manchester 2017 Dialogus, Vane, Newcastle 2017 Small World, PS Mirabel, Manchester (Highly Commended) 2016 Spectrum, PS Mirabel, Manchester 2016 West Lancashire Open Exhibition, Chapel Gallery, Lancashire 2016 Long listed for Contemporary British Painting Prize 2015 Wells Art Contemporary 2015, Wells Museum, Wells, Somerset (Selected by Richard Wentworth, Mariele Neudecker & Donald Smith) 2014 From Here and There: Drawings from the UK, Elysium, Swansea 2014 Wells Art Contemporary 2014, Wells Museum, Wells, Somerset (Selected by Richard Wentworth, Anita Taylor & Donald Smith) 2014 From Here and There: Drawings from Swansea to Colorado, Clara Hatton Gallery, Colorado State University, 2010 Salon Art Prize, Matt Roberts Project Space, Vyner St, London (Selected by Kate MacGarry, Peter Bonnell & Richard Birkett) COMMISSIONS 2024 Site specific work - Public, Middlesbrough Moquette, Middlesbrough Train Station. Commissioned by Middlesbrough Council 2022 Site specific work - Public, South Bank Station, Oil on metal bridge, 150 x 154cm, The Secret Gallery and Black Path Project. Commissioned by The Saabat Gallery, supported by Groundswork NE and funded by River Tees Rediscovered 2022 Site specific work – Gallery, The Masham Commission, Vinyl emulsion on wall, 4 x 3m, The Masham, Middlesbrough. Commissioned by Navigator North 2021 Site specific work - Gallery, Pink Walkway, Vinyl emulsion on wall, 9 x 4.75m, Middlesbrough Institute of Modern Art (MIMA) 2021 Design of 2 Doodle Sheets for MIMA's Atrium, commissioned by MIMA 2021/22 Site specific work - Public, Middlesbrough Public Art Commissions, Middlesbrough. Car Park Stairway located on the Cleveland Centre, Digital print on aluminium, 3 x 4m and Broadcasting House Reimagined located on the Brentnall Business Centre, Digital print on aluminium, 2 x 2.5m. Commissioned by Middlesbrough Council & Navigator North 2019 Site Specific Work - Gallery, Yellow Parallels, Vinyl emulsion on wall, 11 x 3.7m, The Auxiliary 2016 Site Specific Work - Gallery, Register Office (Still Standing), Acrylic on wall, Dimensions variable, Platform A Gallery 2014 Site Specific Work- Public, Speaker, Acrylic and vinyl on wall, Dimensions variable, Brentnall Business Centre, 65 Gilkes Street, Middlesbrough RESIDENCIES 2024 Artist in Residence, Full Circle Program at VARC in Northumberland 2023 Artist in Residence with The Auxiliary Group at VARC in Northumberland varc.org.uk/artists/the-auxiliary-group/ 2016-17 Artist in Residence (AA2A project) at Teesside University 2014-15 Artist in Residence (AA2A project) at Teesside University REVIEWS 2021 Brutal text by Richard Morris, Manchester's Finest BRUTAL at Saul Hay Gallery. Pretty scary. (manchestersfinest.com) 2021 Precincts and High-rises: Brutal, text by Nancy Collantine https://www.northernsoul.me.uk/?s=brutal 2015 Selfhoods, Narc Magazine 2015 Corridor 8 Journal, text by Annie O’Donnell http://www.corridor8.co.uk/online/review-grounded-platform-a-middlesbrough/ PUBLICATIONS 2024 Middlesbrough Moquette EB-MBro-Moquette-Book.pdf (navigatornorth.co.uk) 2022 Mimazina #30, Middlesbrough Collection, text by Rosemary Stubbs, MIMA & Foundation Press MIMAZINA-30-Tues-27.pdf 2020 Hearing from Artists http://mima.art/hearing-from-artists/ 2020 Mimazina #14, MIMA & Foundation Press 2018 Then and Now, 2008 - 2018, The Bowery Gallery 2017 Lungs 2, Lungs Project 2017 Middlesbrough Art Weekender 2014 Drawings from Here and There, Elysium Gallery |