The shortlist is announced…

It’s out – the 2009 shortlist for the Best of Manchester Awards has just been announced. And the nominees are:

ART

Contents May Vary the artists collective have been nominated. Formed in 2004, this group of MMU Fine Art graduates has, for the past five years, staged a number of innovative group exhibitions and contributed to events as diverse as Artranspennine08, the Northern Art Prize and Huddersfield Contemporary Music Festival. Contents May Vary were also shortlisted for HONK, a touring exhibition that featured animation, drawing and performance – but where the ‘gallery’ was in fact the back of a white van.

Rachel Goodyear has been shortlisted for a portfolio of beautiful, yet unsettling, pencil and watercolour drawings. Goodyear has recently exhibited at Cornerhouse in Manchester and as part of Liverpool Biennial at Tate Liverpool in 2008; her work, as you might expect, shows great technical skill. But it is her interest in creating discomforting, ambiguous narratives, often presented as a ‘cluster’ of drawings unique to each gallery or display space, which drew particular praise from the judges.

Owl Project is another art collective, this time comprised of Simon Blackmore, Antony Hall and Steve Symons. Drawing on influences such as woodwork, hobby-style electronics and open source software, Owl Project has produced a range of semi-sculptural, semi-comical musical instruments that have been exhibited across the UK and Europe and premiered at events such as the Sonic Arts Network EXPO, Lovebytes and Futuresonic. Owl Project has been shortlisted for its portable ‘rustic’ instruments, the iLog, the m-Log and the Log1k.

The judges also awarded special commendations to Nick Jordan, who, with fellow artist and collaborator, Jacob Cartwright, was an artist research fellow at Manchester Museum, and Maurice Carlin, an artist who also founded the Islington Mill Art Academy and co-founded the Sounds from the Other City festival.

MUSIC

Jayne Compton has been shortlisted for a diverse portfolio that includes long-running experimental club night, Club Brenda, ‘a genuinely uncompromising underground art happening’, according to Compton that blends live music, art and performance. Compton has also been shortlisted for her Switchflicker Records label (which launched the Ting Tings with That’s Not My Name) and an upcoming Arts Council book, Strange Trees.

Natalie Curtis was shortlisted for a photography portfolio that includes portraits of bands such as Doves, the Paris Riots and Silversun Pickups. Her quiet documentary style has lead to a series of startlingly warm and intimate shots – and was singled out by the judges for its freshness and direct approach.

Max Moran has been shortlisted for a portfolio that includes the video-based music blog, ThisTownSounds.com. Running since 2007, the blog has premiered White Lies’ first ever filmed interview, as well as early performances from the likes of Florence & The Machine. Moran has also been recognised for his sell-out club night, Hot Club, its laid back sister session, Hat Club and, more recently, Moran’s burgeoning record label, Hit Club.

The music judges also awarded special commendations to Paddy Steer, an ‘unsung hero’ according to one of our panel, for his contribution to the Manchester music scene over the past 25 years; and to classical composer Joe Duddell who has curated (and conducts) the Elbow and Hallé Orchestra performances that form the centrepiece of this year’s Manchester International Festival.

FASHION

Paul Griffiths has been nominated for his shop and clothing label, Babycakes. Despite being only two years old, Babycakes is already a smash hit: the label’s store opening in Manchester was met with a 400-strong queue, while its limited edition t-shirt designs regularly sell out within hours of their launch. Babycakes plans to open London and Los Angeles outlets in early 2010.

Holly Russell is an alumnus of Manchester School of Art whose shimmering, stunning graduate collection features hundreds of hand-sewn scarab beetle wings. Russell has also collaborated with a metal worker to incorporate aluminium into her designs and an astronomer to create embellished digital prints. Hugely ambitious but with a realistic approach to the fashion industry, Russell hopes to take up an MA in Fashion Womenswear at the renowned Royal College of Art.

Katie Webb is another Manchester School of Art alumni. Her understated, architectural collection is a stark contrast to Russell’s, featuring neutral colours and luxe fabrics such as leather, cashmere and silk. The judges highlighted Webb’s minimalist designs and technical skills, as well as her environmental awareness and subsequent drive to source fabrics from the UK and Europe.

The fashion judges also awarded a special commendation to Jen Scott-Russell, the milliner who runs the successful Northern Quarter-based shop, H’atelier.

The winners will be announced live at an awards ceremony at Urbis on 23 July. The BOMA exhibition runs 24 July-20 September, also at Urbis.

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Tick tock, goes the clock

The Best of Manchester Awards close for entry at Midnight this Friday (1 May).

Don’t forget, don’t miss out, do get online and do get your entry in.

All the information you’ll need is here. Good luck…

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Your two week warning

The clock is ticking: you have 12 days to get your entry in for this year’s Best of Manchester Awards. Competition, as you’d expect, is fierce, with some sterling stuff already submitted.

But, then, with an award of £2,000, an exhibition at Urbis and a professional development package that’ll kick-start your career, the competition was never going to be easy.

Don’t let that put you off. To stand a chance of taking your career to the next level, whether you’re a designer, musician, artist or more, enter now.

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For a while now, all roads have led to Manchester

Jeremy Deller, Turner Prize winning artist, one of those commissioned for this year’s Manchester International Festival, and also, as it happens, a Best of Manchester judge, had this to say a few weeks ago:

‘For me for some time now, all roads have been leading to Manchester. I have been so inspired by the industrial and musical heritage of this town.’

Deller, who is creating a procession down Deansgate as part of MIF, went on to say that his new work was ‘a love letter’ to Manchester.

But none love this dirty old town as much as the people who live and work here, eh? So, now’s the time to show Deller (and all the other BOMA judges) what Manchester is, creatively-speaking, made of.

This is your 4-week warning to get your entries in to the Best of Manchester Awards. Entries close on 1 May. You don’t have long.

Enter now.

An image of 'Procession' by Jeremy Deller (copyright Tim Sinclair)

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Feel the love: BOMA drums up more support

Today might be Friday the 13th but here at BOMA Towers we’re feeling rather lucky: we’ve just had confirmation of two very good things.

First up, we’re delighted to welcome another new judge. Clare Ceprinsky, Image Director at Matthew Williamson, has agreed to join the fashion panel. Clare takes the total number of judges to 25, joining the likes of Wayne Hemingway, Jeremy Deller, Peter Saville, Tim Marlow and Miranda Sawyer.

What exactly is an ‘image director’? Well, Clare originally joined the fashion house to oversee the design of the flagship Matthew Williamson store on Bruton Street, London. She now manages all aspects of the overall brand, the visual look of Williamson stores and the building and concept development for all ‘shops in shops’ and standalone boutiques (including the launch of a flagship New York store last month). She also gets involved in the retail side of the business, looking after the merchandising and window display of the label’s flagship outlet in London, and worked very closely with Williamson to curate the exhibition Matthew Williamson- 10 Years in Design, which the eagle-eyed among you will remember showed at Urbis last year.

And, for those of you that know your kitten heels from your shoe boots, the links between Matthew Williamson and Manchester are incredibly strong: Matthew was born and brought up in the city and is something of an inspiration to an emerging generation of Mancunian fashion talent.

Above: image from the Matthew Williamson show at Urbis in 2008

So that’s one bit of good news. The other is that Aesthetica Magazine has just come on board as a media partner. This glossy arts title covers the full spectrum of the arts and culture (literature, visual art, music, film, theatre and more), and has a bit of a thing for delving into the arts scene outside London – which we, of course, heartily approve of.

But the best bit is that the magazine believes ‘that the arts are interdisciplinary, with many artists blurring the lines between genres and crossing boundaries in their work.’ That works for us – in fact, we’d go so far as to say that Aesthetica and The Best of Manchester Awards fit together rather well.

Our sincere thanks to both Clare and all at Aesthetica: today is a good day at BOMA Towers.

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The anticipation is almost too much to bear

We like to think we’ve been busy here at BOMA Towers, but our efforts are nothing in comparison to what the Manchester International Festival lot have been up to. Not only have they managed to raise a staggering £3.1 million in sponsorship (has no one told them there’s a recession on?), they’ve also lined up what promises to be a best-yet series of performances, events, gigs, debates, installations and, er, bingo for this year’s festival.

Details of some events have already gone on sale – and give a taster of what we can expect. They include Rufus Wainwright’s debut opera, Prima Donna, and, over at Manchester Art Gallery, a strange fusion of jaw-dropping architecture and the music of Bach. What are we going on about? International architectural practice, Zaha Hadid, is in the process of creating a visually and acoustically perfect pod. This pod will sit inside the main exhibition space at the Art Gallery and would, in itself, be worthy of a visit. During the festival, however, three internationally acclaimed musicians will perform Bach’s solo instrumental works from inside it. It’s this ability to leap across boundaries, in this case architecture and classical music, in Wainright’s case, opera and contemporary music, that makes MIF so, well, Mancunian.

Tickets for the opera and chamber music events are selling out fast. And, if they don’t tickle your fancy, the full MIF programme will be unveiled later this month. Rumour has it that one of our BOMA judges, the Turner Prize winning artist, Jeremy Deller, is working with MIF this year. We’re keeping everything crossed that the rumour turns out to be true – Deller is one of the most exciting artists working in Britain today.

Image shows what we might expect from the Zaha Hadid installation at Manchester Art Gallery…

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Hemingway speaks

A few weeks back, we asked fashion judge Wayne Hemingway why awards such as the Best of Manchester matter.

‘The good thing about awards is that they force you to articulate what you stand for,’ said one-half of the design duo behind international fashion brand, Red or Dead.

‘They push you to be better and show you that you can get to the top.’

‘If you’re lucky enough to be earning a living from working in the creative industries,’ he went on, ‘if you’re earning a living by being able to use your brain in a creative way, then you should make the most of that. If you’re not driven to work hard and push yourself, then you shouldn’t be working in this industry.’

Hemingway is one of the hardest working men in design. After he sold Red or Dead in the late 90s, in a multi-million pound deal, did he put his feet up and go in for a bit of early retirement? Did he heck. With his wife and business partner, Gerardine, he went on to set up HemingwayDesign, a design practice that has produced everything from bathroom tiles to wallpaper, and garden furniture to a social housing schemes.

That’s one impressive work ethic. So, for anyone thinking about entering their work into the fashion category, think on. Do you have the drive, motivation and gumption to impress Mr. Hemingway? Course you do…

Wayne and Gerardine Hemingway

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