Yvonne Noworyta is an emerging British painter working in the North West of England, she has completed an MA Painting and this year her MFA in Painting at Manchester School of Art, MMU.

Noworyta has exhibited with the group MYE Painting Collective in 2023,  Inch Arts, Altrincham, Mura Ma Gallery Stockport and FG Gallery in Goostry, Cheshire, September, 2023.

Jayne is a visual artist/educator and has worked in FE/HE and freelance since 1997.

Her practice and teaching have always informed each other and the breadth of skills she has developed throughout this time are broad and continually growing.

Jayne completed her In Service P.G.C.E in 2001 with Huddersfield University and after completing an aa2a residency in print at UCLan in 2009, she went on to complete a Fine Art, Studio Practice MA there and this led to teaching with the University from 2011 until 2021.

Jayne is now focused on painting and drawing in her practice and recently completed the Turps Correspondence Course with mentor Emma Biggs. A substantial body of work lead to a solo show at Hanover Projects, Preston in February 2023, it was a significant breakthrough in her practice and with support from Maeve Rendle, (Fine Art Lecturer, Uclan), Paulette Brien (Curator at Blackpool Grundy Art Gallery) and Artist/Mentor Emma Biggs and the ‘in-conversations’ during the exhibition, it drew a breadth of support from the university and beyond.

Her practice has enjoyed time at Abingdon Studios in Blackpool, Market House Studios in Fleetwood and most recently as a member of The Birley Studios, Preston. This has included enjoying a director role for a short period.

Diana Terry works in drawing, painting and sculpture to explore how art can embody thought and emotions. With a background in teaching alongside her professional art practice, she has exhibited extensively including at Merzbarn, Scotland, Kolaj Fest, New Orleans, and The Mall Gallery, London, as well as being selected for the New Light Prize Exhibition which has toured five galleries in 2024.

Diana Terry obtained a first degree in Three Dimensional Design, at Manchester Metropolitan University. and two masters degrees at University of Liverpool, School of Architecture and University of Manchester, Arts and Humanities.

She has recently joined The Sculpture Lounge, a community of artists, on the edge of the Peak District  National Park.

Nan Collantine lives in Manchester and is a recent recipient of the Castlefield Gallery Award and finalist in the 2022 Beep Painting Prize.  After completing an art foundation in 1990, Nan worked in advertising and communications for 25 years. From 2020-22 Nan completed two years mentorship with the Turps Banana Correspondence Course 2020-22.  She is a former student of an alternative art school, the Islingon Mill Art Academy and has established several artist-led initiatives, including Dez Rez Projects and Mura Ma Art Space.

In September 2024 Nan exhibited with Comme Ça Gallery in a two-person show with Sophie Nixon following their residency Chasing the Light and Tracing the Tides of Ynys Môn.  In October she was invited to be part of The Pearls and the Oyster group show of northern female painters at Birley Studios in Preston and will be showing with Terrace Gallery in Huddersfield in December.

Nan works from her studio at Goyt Mill  in Marple, Greater Manchester. 

Naqsh Raj (b.1984) is an artist, educator and a mother. Until December 2023, Raj was teaching at the Art & Design department at Nottingham Trent International College, UK.

She has a Masters Degree in Visual Arts from the National College of Arts, Lahore. She served in Pakistan as an Art educator for ten years at Comsats University, Islamabad. Raj has won numerous awards for her painting, including the 2024 ‘Nigaah Award’, presented at Mohatta Palace, Karachi.

In 2023, she was shortlisted for the prestigious John Moores Painting Prize and received the main prize in ‘Open 23’ at Tarpey Gallery, UK. Her work is exhibited and collected internationally.

Matilda Wainwright is a contemporary painter based in Oceans Apart Studios, Salford. Having studied painting at City Lit and City and Guilds School of Art in London she recently graduated with an MFA in Painting from MSOA where she hopes to continue painting and research with a practice-based Painting PhD exploring the relationship between meaning, the language of painting and Deep Time.  

Matilda has exhibited in group shows in London and the Northwest most recently in Humm dinger at the FG Gallery Cheshire, Shuffle in Liverpool, at OA Gallery in Salford and the Holden Gallery at MSOA.  Her work is held in private collections in New Zealand, Dubai, London, and the North- West.

In 2023 she established the artist led FG Gallery in Cheshire, creating a platform for emerging and mid-career painters in the Northwest to widen networks and establish connections with each other and with grass roots collectors and communities outside of the city.  

Born in Liverpool in 1953, Jane Fairhurst studied for a Diploma in Art and Design at Liverpool Art College in the early 1970’s. She continued as a practicing artist whilst raising her family and working as an artist educator, exhibitor and curator. She gained my MFA with distinction from Liverpool John Moores Art and Design Academy in 2010.

Living and working in Wigan Borough since 1974, in 1999 Jane established Cross Street Arts, a studio group and later a charity supporting artists and where she has her studio. Jane is chair of the group’s Trustees.

Jane received 3D prize at Turnpike Gallery, Leigh 2005 and twice received first prize in Lancashire Art Prize 2005 and 2007. In 2017 she was shortlisted for National Open Art Prize, was a selected artist for Greater Manchester Art Prize 2016 and 2019 and selected for Beep International Painting Prize 2018 and 2022.

Jane was selected for the first Castlefield Gallery/GMCA funded bOlder Artist Development programme for older artists in 2019 and has since exhibited both individually and as part of Ten Obstructions artists’ group.

In a career spanning over forty years, and working across a range of media, Jane has exhibited solo and in mixed exhibitions across the UK and work with art galleries and museums to develop multi-media exhibitions.

Jane is also an alumni of Turps Education, London.

Kate Jacob is a painter and trained in textiles at Manchester Metropolitan University, she’s also completed the Turps Correspondence Course, and Fine Art Mentoring at Morley College, London.

In 2024 she had a solo show here at Mura Ma and showed with the gallery at the Manchester Contemporary Art Fair in 2023. She has been invited to show in group exhibitions across the UK, including the Terrace Gallery, Studio 1:1 and Fitzrovia Gallery, London. Her work’s been featured by The Guardian, The Yorkshire Post, and Radio Sheffield. Awards include Arts Council Research and Development funds and she’s long listed for the 2024 Beep Painting Prize.

Alison Edmonds is a contemporary Artist originally from Manchester who is now based in Bates Mill Artspace, Huddersfield. Alison studied Fine Art at Psalter Lane, Sheffield during which time she exhibited in the Whitworth Art Gallery, ICA and the Royal Academy.

Alison has recently exhibited her work in group exhibitions including the Royal Academy Summer Show 2023, The Terrace and Coincidence Gallery in London, Mura ma Contemporary Art Gallery in Stockport, The Fronteer and Cupola Contemporary Art Galleries in Sheffield, Leeds Summer Group Show, Ilkeston Contemporary and ASP at Huddersfield Art Gallery.

Alison Edmonds has had solo exhibitions at Huddersfield Art Gallery- ‘Works on Paper’ and ‘Armoury’ at Bates Mill which included a collaboration with the Huddersfield Contemporary Music Festival.

Vic Wright (b.1976) is a sculptor from the North West of England.

After completing a BA Hons Fine Art at Lincolnshire and Humberside University, Wright  has exhibited widely in London and the UK with Cubbitt’s for LCW 2023 in London Paul Smith for the La Design Festival in 2021 and London Design Festival in 2021, and her work features in national and international private collections.

Exhibitions Group shows 2024

Fiona Moate studied fine art at the Hull College of Higher Education in 1982 and completed her MA at Manchester Polytechnic in 1983.  She worked out of artist studios including MASA and Sigma and later at her home in Stockport.

Moate taught on a number of art foundation courses in the North West and was visiting artist at MMU, Salford University, Manchester University Architecture School, Staffordshire University & Hull College of Art. She an art & design lecturer at the Manchester Adult Education Service until her retirement in 2015.

 Moate exhibited widely in the North West and London throughout the 1980s and ‘90s.  She was represented by the Ainscough Gallery in Merseyside and had a number of of solo exhibitions with the gallery. The last exhibition of her work in 2018 was ‘Landmarks’ with with peers including Sarah Feinmann, Steven Heaton, the late Kate Davies, Paulette Bansal, David Armes.

Moate’s paintings can be found in private and public collections in the UK, USA, Ireland, Germany, including Rutherford Collection, Oldham Art Gallery, Manchester University and Lancashire County Council.

Read the beautiful text in memory of Fiona by her friend Chris Lethbridge in MagNorth.

Helen Thomas is a contemporary British painter based in Wakefield, England. She graduated from Falmouth School of Art (BA Fine Art) and completed a year of postgraduate study with Turps Art School.

Helen works with drawing and painting, on site and in the studio, to consider humanity’s relationships with plants.

Helen’s Arts Council England Funded project ‘Dandelions and Double Yellows’ culminated in a solo exhibition at Wakefield Cathedral as part of the Festival of The Earth in 2021.

Recent group exhibitions include Planting Ideas, St Barbe Museum and Art Gallery, Hampshire, 2024; Precious Little, Mura Ma, Stockport, 2023; Rogue Women 2, Manchester 2023, Babble, Ilkeston Contemporary, Derbyshire, 2023; Entwined: Plants in Contemporary Painting, Huddersfield Art Gallery, 2022 and 20-21 Visual Arts, Scunthorpe 2023; Conversations with Nature, The Art House, Wakefield, 2022 and Jerwood Drawing Prize 2016.

Veronica Cay is a highly respected Australian artist working in painting, drawing and sculpture and has work in National & International public and private collections, has had numerous solo exhibitions and been a selected finalist in many national juried art prizes and awards in Australia. Cay currently lives on Gubbi Gubbi land on the beautiful Sunshine Coast of Australia with her partner and two of their adult children. 

Cay is represented by two Australian galleries and Mura Ma is the first UK gallery to host her work.  Cay is featured in the Precious Little exhibition with a show of works on paper titled Paper Thin Skin.

Emma Richardson is a painter who graduated from Wimbledon School of Art, London with a BA Honours in Fine Art in 2004. She has exhibited in solo and group shows in London, Southampton, Hong Kong and Barcelona. She received DYCP funding from Arts Council England in 2021 and in 2022 completed three years on the Turps Correspondence Course.

Her paintings are held in private collections in Canada, America, Italy, Spain and the UK. Alongside painting Richardson is also a musician, and previously wrote and performed worldwide with Band of Skulls for over ten years. Her paintings appear on a selection of their album and single releases. She lives and works in London, UK.

Louise West is a Dublin based artist who graduated with a BA in Painting in 1996 from the National College of Art and Design in Dublin.

Having previously studied animation and completed courses in the Turps Banana mentorship programme, West has exhibited in both Ireland and the UK in site specific and group shows.

Significant shows include Crawford Art Gallery curated by Iwona Blazwick; Sited curated by Mark Garry; The Royal Acdemy Belfast, Draíocht Art Gallery curated by Caroline Mc Carthy; Kilkenny Castle Gallery; The Mermaid Arts Centre;  Artform Dunmore East and Fitzrovia Gallery London. 

She was selected as reserve artist on the 2014 Sky Arts Portrait Competition and has been shortlisted for the “Artform Artist of Merit award” in 2021. 

Commisions include, “Playthings” at Draíocht Gallery” and reviews in The Irish Times and The Cork Examiner, she was selected for interview as a part of  “Lesson from Still Life” open submission for the New York based “Artrepeneur” Art Journal “Sketch” in 2023.

After completing an art foundation in 1993, Joey Collins achieved a first class honours degree in Visual Arts at University of Salford, in 1997.

He went on to work in many different creative industries including graphic design, interior design, textiles and he even made chocolate.

In 2014 Joey moved into his studio at Hot Bed Press printmaking workshop in Salford and has maintained a full time studio practice to become a highly accomplished silk screenprinter.

Joey has exhibited in group shows across the city including Salford Museum and Art Gallery’s exhibition, Print Unlimited in 2018. He also has work in private collections internationally and in a permanent collection of Salford Museum and Art Gallery.