Seeing the Unseen, Hearing the Unspoken | The 6th John Ruskin Prize
Selected from over 4000 entries, the final shortlist of 78 pieces from 68 artists, makers and innovators have been given a platform for the unseen to be seen and the unspoken to be heard. The shortlist of The 6th John Ruskin Prize, which called for artists to explore the theme, ‘Seeing the Unseen, Hearing the Unspoken’ attracted a record number of submissions from fine artists, makers and craftspeople from across the globe.
For the first time, submissions were open to a digital audience to facilitate international entries. There are also two new prizes - The International Prize and The 2024 Kate Mason Prize for Innovation. The shortlisted artists were:
GRAHAM SHORT, CLAUDIA BARREIRA, NICK GRELLIER, KEITH ASHCROFT, FIONA HODGES, ELMIRA ZOHREHNEJAD, PASCAL MIEHE, BLYTHE PLENDERLEITH, BELINDA ELLIS, SALLY MUIR, LORSEN CAMPS, JARED BARBICK, WILLIAM BACON, HELEN RESTORICK, LINDA HUBBARD, JULIE GRAVES, MATT LEE, ABBY COCOVINI, ISOBEL SCARSBROOK, THOMAS CAMERON, MUHAMMAD HOSSAIN, OLANA LIGHT, ANNA LARIN, SCOTT KELLY, FRANCESCA ALAIMO, MAX BAINBRIDGE, ALYSON J BARTON, KATY SHEPHERD, J.G.FOX, PATRICIA TOWNSEND, SIMONE GUIDERI, RHYS THORPE, TRUDIE SHUTLER, LUCY STOPFORD, RUTH SWAIN, SALLY HEWETT, WYATT CARSON, KIRSTY BOGLE, MAAYAN SOPHIA WEISSTUB, ALAN FORTESCUE, JULIA POLONSKI, DAVID ASTON, HELEN RESTORICK, ZOJA KALINOVSKIS, OLGA KATAEVA- ROCHFORD, EITHNE HEALY, FRANCES GYNN, EMILY LUCAS, BLAIR CAHILL, LYDIA ADAMS, DONNA FLEMING, DUNCAN CAMERON, JULIE BARNES, EDDY GREENWOOD, SALLY BALDWIN, ANTONI KUŹNIARZ, CAROLINE BURRAWAY, KERRY COLLISON, DORCAS CASEY, KATE MCDONNELL, FIONA HODGES, PINKIE MACLURE, ZAC WEINBERG, FRANCESCA CENTIONI, CHRIS ALTON, HANFEI DYSON, DANIEL HOSEGO, CURTIS HOLDER, SARAH GILLESPIE AND ELIAS MENDEL.
The members of The 6th John Ruskin Prize selection panel were: Narinder Sagoo MBE, Cornelia Parker CBE RA, Bob and Roberta Smith RA, Gary Hill, Dr Rachel Dickinson, Julian Stair OBE and Jane Barnes.
The John Ruskin Prize is a multi-disciplinary art prize in the UK. With the values of the radical C19th polymath John Ruskin at its core, the Ruskin Prize has a growing reputation for supporting and promoting artists, designers and makers whose work defies easy categorisation.
The Prize was inaugurated in 2012 by The Guild of St. George and visual literacy charity, The Big Draw. Organised and delivered by The Big Draw, the prize aims to reflect a central thread of John Ruskin’s thought; as a writer and artist - and as an impassioned critic, not only of art but of society and life - he believed that art has the power to reveal and celebrate universal truths, and that a good artist and maker in any medium should always be guided by that search.
Expanding over the years
Over the years, the prize has grown to embrace John Ruskin’s polymathic sensibilities. In 2017, with the theme: Hand & Eye: Master of All Trades the remit of the prize expanded to welcome entries from artists, designers and makers focusing on the strengths of interdisciplinary practice. In 2024, the prize expandeds further to welcome entries from photographers and artists in all disciplines from around the world.
Previous prizes
2019
In 2019, the UK-wide call for entries opened on Ruskin’s birthday, calling artists to respond to the theme: ‘Agent of Change’. A record number of artists, makers and designers responded. The panel considered over 3000 artworks from 1260 artists. 41 artists were shortlisted for the Prize Exhibition hosted at The Holden Gallery, Manchester from 11 July - 24 August 2019.
2017
The 4th Prize, The John Ruskin Prize 2017, Hand & Eye: Master of All Trades, celebrated the artist as polymath. The critically acclaimed shortlist exhibition was held at The Millennium Gallery, Sheffield from June - October 2017 and showcased an eclectic range of work of the 26 prize finalists, selected from over 1000 entries. 3 winners were awarded a total of £5000 in prizes and the exhibition attracted more than 44,000 visitors.
since 2012
Since The John Ruskin Prize launched in 2012, alongside our partners The Big Draw has organised 5 national prizes, considered entries from over 4000 artists and makers, awarded £20,000 in prizes to 11 winning artists, promoted and displayed the work of 143 shortlisted artists and designers at high profile national museums and galleries attracting a total audience of over 120,000 visitors to John Ruskin Prize shortlist exhibitions and events. The prize continues to grow in reach, reputation and support for artists whose work defies easy categorisation.
aBOUT JOHN RUSKIN
John Ruskin (1819-1900) was a writer, artist, social critic and philanthropist, someone influential enough to attract praise from figures as varied as Tolstoy, George Eliot, Proust and Gandhi. He championed many of the tenets of the welfare state, and inspired the founders of the National Health Service, the formation of Public Libraries, the National Trust and many other cornerstones of civil society. His influence reached abroad in such areas as women’s education, the minimum wage, child labour, and environmental protection and has served both as a restraining influence on unbridled capitalism and a moral conscience for the nations of the world.
He wrote and spoke on a dizzying variety of subjects: art and architecture, nature and craftsmanship, literature and religion, political economy and social justice. He also worked tirelessly for a better society; the depth and range of his thinking, his fierce critique of industrial society and its impact on both people and their environment, and his passionate advocacy of a sustainable relationship between people, craft and nature, remain as pertinent today as they were in his own lifetime.
In 1871 he founded the Guild of St George to right some of the social wrongs of the day and make England a happier and more beautiful place in which to live and work. Today, the Guild is an educational charity with members (Companions) around the world who share Ruskin’s values, interests and concerns.
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