Sky Arts will search the UK and Ireland for a talented artist to be named Sky Arts Landscape Artist of the Year 2015. The series, produced by Storyvault Films, is an evolution of Portrait Artist of the Year, with the new Landscape competition being filmed in association with the National Trust.

Popular presenting duo Joan Bakewell and Frank Skinner will return to host Sky Arts Landscape Artist of the Year 2015. Teaming up with the National Trust to film in a number of the charity’s famous properties and locations, the presenters and expert judges Tai Shan Schierenberg, Kathleen Soriano and Kate Bryan will embark on a search across the UK and Ireland for a new star of landscape painting. 

Applications are now open and those who are successful will be initially invited to attend painting heats at stunning National Trust locations in Buckinghamshire, Cornwall and Cheshire. Further artistic challenges will take place across the UK and Ireland, with the winner being awarded a £10,000 commission which will be added to the Trust’s permanent art collection. 

Joan Bakewell, presenter comments: “Sky Arts Landscape Artist of the year is a really exciting venture.  We all had such a fantastic time making Portrait Artist of the Year that I knew I wanted to be part of this thrilling development of the idea:  At once I thought of all the varied and much-loved English landscapes and how they had inspired Turner, Constable and Gainsborough.  I jumped at the chance to present the series again:  it’s such a pleasure to meet gifted artists and watch how their work grows. Once again we’ll be on the lookout for outstanding talent: and I’m sure we’ll find it."

Daniel Dodd, National Trust Director of Communications and Content, comments: “We’re delighted to be involved in Landscape Artist of the Year. People have a deep emotional connection with our beautiful countryside. The richness and the diversity of landscapes have inspired the extraordinary tradition of British landscape painting. We’re looking forward to seeing how today’s artists will respond to these stunning locations and the exciting new works they produce.”

Philip Edgar-Jones, Director, Sky Arts comments: “I can’t wait to turn the portrait canvas on its side and see a whole host of talented artists’ works of art come to life in this new Sky Arts series. As Portrait Artist of the Year showed, the UK and Ireland is brimming with artistic talent and I’m delighted that for this version of the show The National Trust are inviting us into their locations to show-off the best of the British and Irish countryside for our budding artists to capture on canvas.”

The competition will be filmed over the spring and summer 2015 and broadcast on Sky Arts later in the year. Sky Arts Landscape Artist of the Year will aim to discover and nurture talent of all capabilities who want to showcase their skills, whether amateur, professional or hobbyist. Anyone aged 16 and over is invited to apply. 

Shortlisted artists will be invited to attend one of the series heats. Participants will be challenged to produce a timed landscape painting and at the end of each heat the judges will choose one artist to go through to the next round of the competition. 

The heats will take place in:

• Waddesdon Manor, Buckinghamshire -Saturday 25th &  Sunday 26th April 2015
• Trelissick, Cornwall - Sunday 3rd & Monday 4th May 2015
• Lyme Park, Cheshire - Wednesday 27th and Thursday 28th May 2015

Entry information can be found at http://www.sky.com/tv/show/landscape

For further information, please contact:

Dominic Collett
Publicist, Sky Arts
dominic.collett@bskyb.com    
020 7032 4892

Follow us on twitter @skyarts
For images, please go to Imagenet or email Stills@bskyb.com

Notes to Editors

About Sky Arts Landscape Artist of the Year
Length: 8 x 60mins & 1 x 90mins. The series will be produced for Sky Arts by StoryVault Films. The Executive Producer for the series will be Danielle Graham, StoryVault Films. It was commissioned by Chris Brogden, Commissioning, Entertainment, Sky.

About Sky
Sky is Europe’s leading entertainment company with 20 million customers across five countries: Italy, Germany, Austria, the UK and Ireland. We offer the best and broadest range of content, deliver market-leading customer service and use innovative new technology to give customers a better TV experience, whenever and wherever they choose.
 Sky has annual revenues of over £11 billion and is Europe’s leading investor in television content with a combined programming budget of over £4.6 billion. The company employs 31,000 people and is listed on the London Stock Exchange (SKY).  For more information visit www.sky.com/corporate 

About Storyvault Films
Storyvault Films brings together the talents of a number of highly-experienced and award winning producers and directors with a track record of delivering high-quality programmes for all the terrestrial channels and the best of the digital channels.  PORTRAIT ARTIST OF THE YEAR’ THE ART OF THE PORTRAIT and OBJECTS OF DESIRE for SKY ARTS, IMAGINE: COLM TOIBIN, IMAGINE: HITLER, THE TIGER AND ME for BBC1, and THALIDOMIDE: THE 50 YEAR FIGHT FOR BBC2

About the National Trust
The National Trust looks after more than 250,000 hectares of countryside, 742 miles of coastline and hundreds of special places across England, Wales and Northern Ireland. For more information and ideas for great value family days out go to: www.nationaltrust.org.uk