https://www.royalacademy.org.uk/artist/name/liane-laing-ra
It is so exciting to be able to announce that Liane Laing, our second Festival Artist in Residence has been elected a Royal Academician. She was with us during the pandemic and curated a brilliant exhibition the following year. She has gone on to work with the Festival ever since and has become a frequent visitor to Wirksworth. After her residency she exhibited at the Royal Academy Summer Exhibition each year, and in September unveiled a sculpture at the National Stone Centre with support from Longcliffe and the Institute of Quarrying.
At any one time there are no more than 100 Royal Academicians. Of these 100, there must always be at least 14 Sculptors, 12 Architects and 8 Printmakers; with the balance made up of Painters. They are all practicing professional artists or architects who work in the UK and share a deep commitment to art and architecture and the belief in the valuable contribution that the arts make to the world.
The Wirksworth Arts Festival Artist in Residence programme is funded by The Ampersand Foundation, and the Festival, and offers artists a 3 month residency in the town and the opportunity to curate a major exhibition of work the following year.
Here at the Festival we are so pleased for Liane at this news – it’s a testament to her hard work and her excellent artistic skills and ingenuity. We also know that the time she spent with the Festival played a large part in the development of her work since 2020, especially her discovery of the quarries, footpaths and old lead mines.
When Liane rang to tell us the news she said.
‘My time at the Festival was so important in the development of my work, so thank you so much!’
