Artist of the Year

Artist of the Year is a television competition shown on the Sky Arts channel (formerly known as Artsworld and Sky Arts 1) which aims to find the best portrait and landscape artist every year.^[1]

Artist of the Year
Also known as	Portrait Artist of the Year Landscape Artist of the Year
Presented by	Joan Bakewell Frank Skinner Stephen Mangan
Judges	Kate Bryan Kathleen Soriano Tai-Shan Schierenberg
Country of origin	United Kingdom
Original language	English
No. of series	15
No. of episodes	141
Production
Production locations	Various (auditions) National Portrait Gallery (finals)
Running time	60 minutes (inc. adverts)
Production company	Storyvault Films
Original release
Network	Sky Arts
Release	5 November 2013 (2013-11-05) – present (present)

Overview

Through several rounds of regional competitions in different parts of the UK professional and amateur artists are challenged to produce a landscape; whilst the portrait competition takes place in London where the contestants produce a picture of one of three famous sitters. The winning artist of each round, selected by three judges, advances to the semi-final and then to the final. The landscape competition is filmed on location; whilst the portrait competition is held at Battersea Arts Centre.^[2] The winner of both series receives a £10,000 commission to paint either a famous landmark or a famous personality and the picture becomes part of a national collection.

The show is produced by London and Glasgow-based independent production company Storyvault Films. It is presented by Joan Bakewell and Stephen Mangan. Series 1 to 5 were presented by Frank Skinner. The judges are the British art historian, curator and arts broadcaster Kate Bryan, head of contemporary art at the Fine Art Society, Kathleen Soriano, director of exhibitions at the Royal Academy, and portrait/landscape painter Tai-Shan Schierenberg.^{[citation needed]}

Joan Bakewell presented her final series of the show on Portrait Artist 2023 (Series 18 of the competition), in which she also appeared as a sitter in one of the episodes.^[3]

Series

Series	Start date	End date	Episodes	Title	Winner	Commission
1	5 Nov 2013	10 Dec 2013	6	Portrait	Nick Lord[4]	Hilary Mantel
2	4 Nov 2014	23 Dec 2014	8	Portrait	Christian Hook[5]	Alan Cumming[5]
3	6 Oct 2015	1 Dec 2015	9	Landscape	Nerine McIntyre[6]	Flatford Mill[6]
4	11 Oct 2016	6 Dec 2016	9	Landscape	Richard Allen[7]	Petworth Park[7]
5	24 Jan 2017	21 Mar 2017	9	Portrait	Gareth Reid[8]	Graham Norton[8]
6	18 Oct 2017	10 Dec 2017	9	Landscape	Tom Voyce[9]	Firefly, Noël Coward's Jamaican residence[9]
7	16 Jan 2018	27 Mar 2018	11	Portrait	Samira Addo[10]	Kim Cattrall[10]
8	16 Oct 2018	11 Dec 2018	9	Landscape	Jen Gash[11]	Commission for the Imperial War Museum[11]
9	12 Feb 2019	23 Apr 2019	11	Portrait	Duncan Shoosmith[12]	Tom Jones[12]
10	15 Oct 2019	10 Dec 2019	9	Landscape	Fujiko Rose	Venice
11	21 Jan 2020	24 Mar 2020	11	Portrait	Christabel Blackburn[13]	Nile Rogers[13]
12	14 Oct 2020	16 Dec 2020	11	Portrait	Curtis Holder[14]	Carlos Acosta[14]
13	13 Jan 2021	10 Mar 2021	9	Landscape	Ophelia Redpath[15]	Snowdonia National Park[15]
14	13 Oct 2021	15 Dec 2021	12	Portrait	Calum Stevenson[16]	Nicola Benedetti[17]
15	12 Jan 2022	9 Mar 2022	10	Landscape	Elisha Enfield[18]	Rochdale Canal
16	5 Oct 2022	14 Dec 2022	12	Portrait	Morag Caister	Lenny Henry
17	11 Jan 2023	8 Mar 2023	10	Landscape	Finn Campbell-Notman	Celebrating the Van de Veldes
18	4 Oct 2023	6 Dec 2023	10	Portrait	Wendy Barratt	Jane Goodall[19]
19	10 Jan 2024	28 Feb 2024	9	Landscape	Monica Popham	Science Museum

International adaptations

Landscape Artist of the Year Canada, a Canadian version of the show, premiered in 2020 on Makeful.^[20]

References

1. Jones, Ellen E. (6 November 2013). "TV Review: Portrait Artist of the Year, Sky Arts 1". The Independent. Retrieved 21 June 2017.
2. "Battersea Arts Centre invite you to the filming of Sky Arts' Portrait Artist of the Year". Wandsworth Times. Retrieved 11 January 2022.
3. Williams, Zoe; @zoesqwilliams (19 October 2023). "Joan Bakewell on love, fun and ambition at 90: 'I've been pleased not to be married these last 20 years'". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 11 January 2024.
4. "Nick Lord on winning Sky Arts Portrait Artist of the Year". Artists & Illustrators. April 2014. Retrieved 16 August 2020.
5. Ellis-Petersen, Hannah (31 December 2014). "Alan Cumming portrait unveiled at Scottish gallery". The Guardian. Retrieved 16 August 2020.
6. Peebles, Cheryl (28 November 2015). "Fife pupils stunned to learn of art teacher's brush with stardom". The Courier. Retrieved 16 August 2020.
7. "Sky Arts Landscape Artist of the Year Competition winner at Petworth". Chichester Observer. 28 March 2017. Retrieved 16 August 2020.
8. Dunne, Aidan (15 March 2017). "That's SO Graham Norton: Belfast man wins Sky Portrait Artist of the Year". The Irish Times. Retrieved 16 August 2020.
9. "Aberystwyth University alumnus wins Landscape Artist of the Year". Aberystwyth University. 7 December 2017. Retrieved 16 August 2020.
10. McLoughlin, Jamie (21 March 2018). "Winner's work from Sky Arts Portrait Artist of the Year on display in Liverpool". Liverpool Echo. Retrieved 16 August 2020.
11. "Jen Gash named Landscape Artist of the Year". Gazette. 4 December 2018. Retrieved 16 August 2020.
12. Moore, Joanne (17 April 2019). "Artist wins £50,000 but singer loses out". The Wiltshire Gazette and Herald. Retrieved 16 August 2020.
13. "Portrait Artist Of The Year winner revealed". Evening Express. Press Association. 24 March 2020. Retrieved 16 August 2020.
14. "Master Strokes: Portrait Artist of the Year Winner Curtis Holder". Aceville Publications Ltd. Retrieved 24 January 2021.
15. "Reaching final of TV show has made me better artist". Henley Standard. 13 March 2021. Retrieved 2 October 2021.
16. "Bonnybridge painter crowned Portrait Artist of the Year". BBC News. 16 December 2021. Retrieved 17 December 2021.
17. "Portrait Artist of the Year season 8 on Sky Arts in October". 19 August 2021.
18. "SkyArts Landscape Artist of the Year stunned by her win". 16 March 2022. Retrieved 2 May 2022.
19. Orme, Sarah (23 November 2023). "Catch up with the latest episodes of Sky Portrait Artist of the Year 2023". Gathered.how. Retrieved 6 December 2023.
20. Gee, Dana (14 February 2020). "Top British landscape TV hit gets a fresh coat of Canadian paint". Vancouver Sun. Retrieved 2 October 2021.

External links

• Portrait Artist of the Year at IMDb
• Landscape Artist of the Year at IMDb
• Official website
• Artist of the Year at UKGameshows.com