Calling all budding sculptors!

MK Gallery’s current exhibition, Trickster Figures: Sculpture and the Body is an exciting and inspiring collection of modern British sculpture that will hopefully encourage young, local artists to take part in the Gallery’s annual award, this years’ being MK Young Sculptor.

MK Young Sculptor is an opportunity for all young people living or studying in Milton Keynes to develop their sculpting skills, take part in an exhibition this June in MK Gallery’s Project Space, and have their work judged by a panel of curators and artists. Submissions are welcomed from children and young people aged 4-19 (SEND up to 25 years old).

Categories for Young Sculptor

• Figurative: what can you see in the world around you? Capture it in its true form and celebrate why it has inspired you. Figurative Art has strong references to the real world and particularly to the human figure.
• Abstract: evoke a feeling or try to express something that you cannot with words alone. Abstract art is art that does not attempt to represent an accurate visual reality but instead use shapes, colours, forms and gestural marks to achieve its effect.
• Wearable: an extension of the body, a sculpture that moves with the wearer and changes as it passes through space.
• Foraged and Found: objects that you think deserve a second chance to be adored, in a new light and in a new form. Bring together organic and manmade materials to create a new piece of art.

There are four fabulous family workshops to take part in to help develop skills.

• Abstract Sculpture Workshop with Andrew McDermott, Saturday 25 February
• Foraged and Found Sculpture Workshop with Sarah Hunt, Saturday 25 March 2023
• Figurative Sculpture Workshop with Teresa Paiva, Saturday 22 April 2023
• Wearable Sculpture Workshop with Lee Farmer, Saturday 6 May 2023

All shortlisted entries will feature in the MK Young Sculptor Project Space Exhibition, 9 June – 7 July and all entrants will be invited to the exhibition’s opening on Friday 9 June.

Visitors to the Young Sculptor exhibition will have the opportunity to vote for their favourite sculpture. The vote winner will be awarded the Visitor Choice Prize.

Other prizes will be awarded to both individuals and schools. Our professional judges will choose winners in age groups and award one young person the overall title MK Young Sculptor at an event for shortlisted entries on Thursday 13 July 2023 in the Gallery’s Sky Room.

To find out more visit mkgallery.org/event/young-sculptor