Tianna McIntosh awarded the Head of School Prize for 2023
The winner of this year’s Head of School Prize is BA Fine Art graduate and abstract artist Tianna McIntosh.
This is the second year of the award initiated by the Head of School, Professor Joanne Crawford, whereby winning artists see their work on permanent display within the School of Fine Art, History of Art and Cultural Studies in addition to receiving a prize of £500.
Tianna’s winning artwork was selected from this year’s cohort of 49 graduating artists who showcased their work at this year’s BA Fine Art Degree Show Can you let us in?.
Tianna McIntosh’s winning artwork, the world as it is (or as it Should Be), 2023, Oil stick and acrylic paint on found wooden door. Can you let us in? BA Fine Art Degree Show, June 2023. Installation photo by Jules Lister.
Tianna McIntosh is an abstract artist who primarily works in painting the expanded form, with a practice firmly rooted in the process of automatic drawing. Inspired by Surrealist sentiment she completely veers away from figuration and subject matter. She is influenced solely by instinct and affect, beginning each piece with no premeditation.
Tianna has exhibited in and around Leeds over the duration of her degree, having shown work in East Street Arts, Distrikt and Hyde Park Book Club, among other locations. Earlier this year, Tianna was nominated to represent the University of Leeds for the Freelands Painting Prize 2023 for the ‘highly individual and intuitive graphic visual language that she is successfully developing through the materiality of paint’.
Tianna McIntosh installing some of her paintings, in preparation for the Can you let us in? BA Fine Art Degree Show, June 2023. From top left (anti-clockwise): Pollyanna, Pollyanna, 2022; You spend your days horizontal, pining. I spend my days trying to rest, 2022; Liz, why do I feel as if I’m being taken for a fool?, 2023. Oil stick, acrylic paint and emulsion paint on canvas. Photo courtesy of the artist.
the world as it is (or as it Should Be), 2023 — created using oil stick and acrylic paint on a found wooden door — was one of a series of paintings by Tianna which were exhibited at this year’s degree show.
Professor Joanne Crawford explained why she chose this artwork by Tianna for the Head of School prize:
“It was wonderful to see the emotional impact Tianna’s work had on the visitors of the degree show. Her work is painterly in ways that demonstrate her both her creative ability and also her intellectual journey.
“Tianna references a whole range of complex artistic references and then demonstrates with the world as it is (or as it Should Be) how she has deftly made these her own.
“Personally, I loved all of Tianna’s work and it was difficult to choose just the one piece. I am sure she will go from strength to strength in her career and I wish her all the very best. It will be a pleasure to have her work on permanent display in the school.”
Tianna McIntosh, the world as it is (or as it Should Be), 2023, Oil stick and acrylic paint on found wooden door. Can you let us in? BA Fine Art Degree Show, June 2023. Installation photo by Jules Lister.
Tianna McIntosh said:
“I feel incredibly grateful for being selected for the Head of School Prize. I think it’s a really uplifting note to end my degree on, and feels incredibly rewarding given all the work I put into my degree show pieces.
“The winning piece is titled the world as it is (or as it Should Be), and is a revisitation of an idea I’d toyed around with in second year that was crucial to the development of my practice.
“By working on a found wooden door I was able to challenge the fundamentals of painting by creating a piece that was double-sided and could be considered to the sculptural realm just as much as it does the painterly. Working on a three dimensional object also allowed me to paint in a really interesting and dynamic way, working oil stick into the grooves and contours of the surface as well as scratching and carving into the wood with a palette knife.
“I find it very touching that it will be on display and part of the School of Fine Art, History of Art and Cultural Studies’ collection. This feels like a great way to commemorate my time at university which has definitely been the post impactful period of my life thus far — definitely in terms of my practice but also the lovely people I have crossed paths with.”
Detail from Tianna McIntosh’s the world as it is (or as it Should Be), 2023. Oil stick and acrylic paint on found wooden door. Can you let us in? BA Fine Art Degree Show, June 2023. Installation photo by Jules Lister.
Find out more about Tianna McIntosh.
Feature image
Tianna McIntosh, the world as it is (or as it Should Be), 2023 (detail). Oil stick and acrylic paint on found wooden door. Can you let us in? BA Fine Art Degree Show, June 2023. Installation photo by Jules Lister.
