By Mike Berriman
Ten hopeful artists are competing to win £4,000 in an event merging art with beer tonight at The Tetley art gallery in Leeds.
The 2015 Tetley’s Collection is a unique opportunity for artists to produce pieces inspired by the iconic former site of the 200-year-old brewery.
As well as receiving the cash prize, the winning artist will see their work rolled-out throughout the top 100 Tetley’s stockists in the UK.
The contenders – hailing from all over the country- were encouraged to create pieces using inspiration from the large archive of material left behind after the brewery moved out of the impressive building on Hunslet Road in 2011.
Artist Alex Farrar, from Leeds but now living in Amsterdam, has created a design using the 1,000-year-old technique of marbling, but rather than using the traditional bath of water with oil-based paints, the artist has used Tetley’s ale.
Pippa Hale, co-founder and development director at the Tetley, said: “The Tetley was created through partnership with Carlsberg UK, turning the former brewery headquarters into a centre for contemporary art, and this project takes our relationship another step further.”
Hondartza Fraga, 32, is another of the ten hopeful artists. Her piece is titled ‘Tetley’s Own Country’.
She said: “I created a small miniature town or Tetley’s country than combines the past and the present. I was interested in the relationship between Tetley’s and the local region.”
Other artists have drawn inspiration from the role women played at Tetley’s during World War I and the industrial history of the brewing brand.
The exhibition will run until May 10 and entry is free.