2019 Mark Tanner Sculpture Award winner, Anna Reading, exhibited a new work with us in December 2019. 

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This new work, Flock, continues the artist’s exploration into the absurd relationship between the organic and the synthetic. Drawing inspiration from the barren coastal landscapes of the UK, she combines layers of surplus commodity materials, including shredded foam, gravel, oyster shells, bitumen, chip forks and cardboard, to create highly tactile and fragmented environments. Reading’s sculptural structures appear as relics from an unknown future. Her materials cling to the sculptures as if they’ve grown there without being cleaned away, in an attempt to consider what can grow uncontrollably out of moments of destruction and chaos. Her sculptures are both familiar and puzzling at once, existing between life form and architecture, ancient and futuristic and decay and regeneration. These paradoxes allow space to explore the illogical, the emotional and the sensory.

The MTSA is one of the most significant awards for emerging UK artists working in the field of sculpture. Offering £8,000 towards the making of new work, it rewards outstanding and innovative practice, with a particular interest in work that demonstrates a commitment to the process, or sensitivity to material. 

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Anna was selected from 260 applicants from across the UK by a panel comprising Clare Lilley, Director of Programme, Yorkshire Sculpture Park, Cathie Pilkington RA, Frances Richardson MTSA winner 2017-18, and Rebecca Scott, artist and Mark Tanner Trust.