Earlier in the year I was contacted by the BBC’s Inside Out South programme and asked to take part in a short film about the National Open Art Competition 2014. The programme takes a look behind the scenes of what has become the UK’s biggest open art competition and follows 3 winners from 2013 – myself and two other artists, Greig Gilbert and Sarah Shaw – as we talk about our work and the impact of winning an award at the National Open Art Competition.
Working with the BBC was a great experience and as they wanted to film me on location I – rather cheekily – asked if we could get permission to film at the Royal Hospital Haslar in Gosport, which is a location that I have wanted to shoot at for a number of years. To my everlasting surprise, the BBC made it happen and when on location I was gobsmacked further still when presenter John Cuthill produced a key. Entering through the front doors of a location in a perfectly civilised manner is not something I am used to!
I genuinely never thought I would have ever had the opportunity to film inside this Hospital so I am unbelievably grateful to the programme for not only giving me the opportunity to talk about my work and the National Open Art Competition but for also making one little exploration pipe dream come true!
I was delighted to hear today that 3/4’s of the works that I submitted to this years National Open Art Competition have been shortlisted to round 2 of the judging process with an image that I took at the Royal Hospital Haslar included in the shortlist selection.
Keep posted for the NOA Competition 2014 results!