Acclaimed contemporary artist Kate Bright has been chosen to complete Wivenhoe House hotel’s landscape commission, celebrating 200 years since John Constable painted Wivenhoe Park.

Acclaimed contemporary artist Kate Bright has been chosen to complete Wivenhoe House hotel’s landscape commission, celebrating 200 years since John Constable painted Wivenhoe Park.

Nearly 40 professional artists from the UK and Europe applied for the post, which will see Kate, who grew up in Suffolk, responding to the original masterpiece with a contemporary landscape painting, to be completed for the anniversary in September.

Kate said: “I am delighted to be involved in the celebrations that mark the 200th anniversary of the painting.  I grew up in Suffolk and, as a landscape painter, I am only too aware of his importance both as a ground breaking Romantic painter but also as a local hero.”

Kate, who now lives in London, lectures in painting at The Slade School of Fine Art and specialises in landscape and the ideas of illusion and the desire for contact with the great outdoors.  Her work has been included in the British Art Show, a major survey of contemporary art held every five years, and she has exhibited in solo shows in the UK and abroad. Kate is represented by Locks Gallery, Philadelphia, USA.

She will be attending Wivenhoe House’s Constable Challenge day on Sunday 12 June when amateur artists are invited to set up around the grounds of Wivenhoe House and create their own masterpieces for an autumn exhibition at the hotel when Kate’s painting will be unveiled.

The judging panel made up of Oliver Brown, General manager of the hotel, artist David Trenow and University of Essex Arts and Gallery Director, Jess Twyman, spent many hours going through the proposals and they were full of praise for the range and standard of the entries. Oliver said: “We knew we were looking for an artist who could create a fitting tribute to the original painting and we are confident that Kate’s work will be a suitable legacy.”

Issued on behalf of: –

Wivenhoe House hotel
University of Essex
Colchester

Contact:
Heather Leathley 07791 724736
Alex Barnett 01206 863666

Red Bush, by kind permission of Kate Bright