Works by fine art graduate Skye Davies acquired for Leeds Art Gallery Picture Library
BA Fine Art with Contemporary Cultural Theory graduate Skye Davies was recently named as the winner of this year’s Benedict Read Prize.
The Benedict Read Acquisition Prize is awarded annually to a student in the final year of a University of Leeds programme of study which leads to the award of the degree of BA(Hons) in Fine Art/Fine Art `with’.
The annual prize is given for a work on paper, in any medium, acquired for the Leeds Art Gallery Picture Library – an art lending scheme open to residents and businesses of Yorkshire.
This year’s Prize was awarded to Skye Davies for two of her works – She’s in a World of Her Own, You See, 2023 and Ecclesborne Lavender, 2024.
Skye Davies on graduation day at the University of Leeds, 2024. Photo courtesy of Skye Davies.
Skye graduated with a BA Fine Art with Contemporary Cultural Theory degree in July. Her winning artworks were selected by Kirsty Young (Assistant Curator – Fine Art at Leeds Museums and Galleries) and Nigel Walsh (Curator of Modern and Contemporary Art at Leeds Art Gallery).
Skye Davies, She’s in a world of her own, you see, 2023 (oil paint, graphite, and silver leaf on MDF board) and Ecclesborne Lavender, 2024 (Screen-printed wallpaper). Image courtesy of Skye Davies.
Kirsty Young said:
“Skye’s work stood out, both for the technical skill but also due to the layers of meaning embedded within the work.
“The works will enter the Leeds Picture Library, a scheme which is open to residents and businesses within Yorkshire. The subject matter and the exploration of her multicultural heritage, through memories and symbolism also opens up the possibilities for Skye’s work to be included in a variety of exhibitions and displays.
Skye Davies, ‘The Hallway’ series, 2024. Featuring: Ecclesborne Lavender, 2024; Pass the Racing Post Ron, 2024; Haydie Boy!, 2024; She’s in a world of her own, you see, 2023. Photo by Andy Lord.
“The Benedict Read Prize is in its eleventh year. Skye is joining a prestigious selection of eleven previous winning fine art graduates from the University of Leeds whose works are already part of the picture library collection. These include Barbara Larkin, Eleanor Szdlowska, Ellie MacGarry and Anya Pasternack.”
Skye Davies, ‘The Hallway’ series, 2024. Featuring: Friar’s Eggnog, 2024; Watch Althea with her pretty lipstick!, 2024; What’s that you doing there Carleen?, 2024; Perch di flowers just deso, 2023. Photo by Andy Lord.
Skye’s art practice recreates the multigenerational domestic spaces she grew up around as recollected through memory, working primarily in oil painting and screen-printing hand-drawn wallpapers. Skye was shortlisted for the Derwent Art Prize in 2022 and her most recent work was showcased at the Sardines BA Fine Art Degree Show in June of this year.
Skye Davies, Brown Sugar, 2020. Image courtesy the artist.
Skye said:
“I am honoured and proud to accept the Benedict Read Acquisition Prize for my works She’s in a World of Her Own, You See (2023) and Ecclesborne Lavender (2024).
“The gallery's acquisition of both of these pieces highlights the interconnected nature of my work, the stories within them and my creative process.
“My final year display, The Hallway series, represents the culmination of my three years of artistic development. My time at Leeds has been essential in uncovering and refining the core of my artistic vision and practice.
Installation view of Skye Davies’ The Hallway series at the Sardines BA Fine Art Degree Show, University of Leeds, June 2024. Photo by Andy Lord.
“My work recreates the multigenerational domestic spaces of my upbringing as remembered through memory. It draws on the multicultural visual registers of my Welsh and Caribbean heritage, expressed through the colours, objects, and patterns that filled my family’s homes.
“Working mainly in oil painting and screen-printed, hand-drawn wallpapers, I am captivated by the details of what is seen and what is remembered. The patterns in my wallpapers range from the Blue Willow China plates my dad used to sell at his North London market stall to the intricate embroidery on the doll skirts from the Caribbean that sit in my grandmother's living room.
“My work serves as a love letter to my family and their domestic spaces, moving between truth and memory and balancing on the edge of my imagination.
Skye Davies with She’s in a world of her own, you see, 2023 (Oil paint, graphite, and silver leaf on MDF board) and Ecclesborne Lavender, 2024 (Screen-printed wallpaper). Image © The Artist.
“I extend my heartfelt thanks to curators Kirsty Young and Nigel Walsh, and Head of Collections and Programmes Yvonne Hardman for their interest in my works and for awarding me this prize. Meeting with Kirsty Young and artist-in-residence Curtis Holder was a phenomenal end to my time in Leeds. I am deeply honoured and inspired to further my practice and continue with my art career. A piece of my family history, seen through my eyes, now resides in Leeds—a city I am proud to call my second home.”
“Following my undergraduate degree, I am now studying to become an interior designer alongside being a practising artist, which aligns with my recent focus on interiors and stories in my artistic practice. I’m also in the midst of creating a new collection of paintings and work, and hope to exhibit them in 2025.”
Skye Davies, ‘The Hallway’ series, 2024. Featuring: Ecclesborne Lavender, 2024; Pass the Racing Post Ron, 2024; Haydie Boy!, 2024; She’s in a world of her own, you see, 2023. Photo courtesy of Skye Davies.
Nick Thurston, Associate Professor in the School of Fine Art, History of Art and Cultural Studies, said:
“The Leeds Art Gallery Picture Library is an amazing, democratic scheme that allows citizens to have direct access to works of art and display them at home.
“Our collaboration with Leeds Art Gallery on this prize has renewed the connection between the gallery and our student body, and made a huge difference to the confidence of the awarded artists. They get a unique, early opportunity to understand how a collecting institution would treat them and their work, and carry the achievement forwards on their CV.”
The Hallway series (2024) by Skye Davies. Sardines BA Fine Art Degree Show, University of Leeds, June 2024. Photo by Andy Lord.
Feature image
Skye Davies with She’s in a world of her own, you see, 2023 (Oil paint, graphite, and silver leaf on MDF board) and Ecclesborne Lavender, 2024 (Screen-printed wallpaper). Image © The Artist.
