About the Artist

Mandy Payne lives and works in Sheffield, U.K.  Originally, she trained as a dentist and worked in the Community and Hospital Dental services for 25 years. She had a career change in 2012 to work as a full-time artist, shortly before graduating from the University of Nottingham in 2013 with a BA Fine Art. Since then, she has exhibited her work both nationally and internationally.

Artist Statement

I am a painter / printmaker, my work is inspired by urban landscape, gentrification with a particular interest in social housing and Brutalist architecture. For the past 9 years, intermittently, I have been exploring Park Hill in Sheffield, the Grade II* listed council estate and one of Britain’s largest examples of Brutalist architecture. The site is currently being regenerated and is in a state of flux- which makes it an interesting place to observe.  Part of the estate has been converted into shiny, luxury flats whilst half remains boarded up and derelict. I am particularly drawn to the un-refurbished parts where the memories and layers of the past are almost tangible. Between 2017 and 2019, public access to Park Hill became very limited so during this period I started exploring other sites in London, Salford, Huddersfield and the Northeast, usually, similar estates to Park Hill that were undergoing demolition or gentrification.

For my paintings I wanted to work with materials that had a direct physical connection to the sites I was depicting, namely concrete and spray paint, constructing little concrete canvases to work on as a substrate. I have continued to explore the same subject in print, focussing on stone lithography, frequently collaging the lithographs made on to squares of cast concrete as a metaphor for the estate.
The intention of my work was to document what was there before it was lost by creating observational paintings that spoke of the displacement of the established communities and the temporality of the urban landscape.

Between 2015-2017 she completed a two-year Fellowship in stone lithography at Leicester Print Workshop for which she received Arts Council Funding and an Elizabeth Greenshields Foundation Award. Her solo exhibition at Huddersfield Art Gallery in 2019 was also supported by Arts Council Funding.

Her work is held in public and private collections both in the UK and abroad.

Education

2011 – 2013   BA (Hons) Fine Art (First Class), Nottingham University

2007 – 2010   HND Fine Art, Sheffield College

1992- 1995   MDentSci University of Leeds (Paediatric Dentistry)

1982 – 1986   BDS University of Manchester (Dentistry)

Employment

2012 – Present time – Full time self-employed artist

Awards and Achievements

Elizabeth Greenshields Foundation Grant, 2015

Arts Council Funding, 2015

2 Year Fellowship in Stone Lithography, Leicester Print Workshop

Valeria Sykes Award (Main Prize) New Light Arts Prize, 2015

Prize Winner John Moores Painting Prize, 2014

Runner Up John Ruskin Prize, 2014 (Painting acquired for Ruskin collection, Millennium Gallery Sheffield)

Judges Prize, Harley Open Exhibition, (2013), Harley Gallery, Welbeck Estate, S80, 3LW

Emerging Artist Award, (2012), South Yorkshire Open, Cooper Gallery, Barnsley

Solo Exhibitions

2022 – Out Of The Ordinary. Saul Hay Gallery, Manchester 30/11/22 – 30/10/22
2022 – Ffin y Parc Gallery, 1st – 25th May
2021 – Loitering With Intent, Manchester Modernist Society (alongside poetry by Helen Angell) – 2nd September -30th October, 2021
2019 – ‘Out of Time’ – Huddersfield Art Gallery 5/10/19 – 04/01/20
2018 – ‘Out Of Place’ – Lakeside Arts Centre, University of Nottingham
2016 – ‘Betwixt and Between’ – Cupola Gallery , Sheffield
2014 – ‘Between Places and Spaces’ – Tarpey Gallery, Castle Donnington

Selected Group Shows 

John Moore’s Painting Prize, 2020, 2016 and 2014, (Prize winner)

New Light Art Prize, 2015 (Winner), 2016 and 2020

Wells Art Contemporary, 2021 Wells Cathedral

Figurative Art Now, 2021, Mall Galleries, London

The Castlegate Prize, 2020; Castlegate House, Cockermouth

Royal Academy Summer Exhibition, London: 2019, 2018, 2017, 2016, 2015 and 2014;

Lynn Painter Stainers Prize, 2019, Mall Galleries, London

‘Made In Britain’ – National Museum of Gdansk, 2019,

‘Contemporary Masters From Britain’, 2018, Yantai, Jiangsu, Tianjin and Nanjing, China (touring);

John Moores Painting Prize,China Jiangsu Art Museum, Nanjing, China ), 2015

Contemporary British Painting Prize, (London and Huddersfield), 2016,

National Open Art Competition, (London), 2014 and 2015

Ruskin Prize, 2014, Sheffield and London

The Threadneedle Prize, (London), 2013.

Public Collections

Ruskin Collection, Millennium Gallery, Sheffield
Priseman –Seabrook Collection
Newlight Art Collection
Elizabeth Greenshields Foundation Collection