The client meeting rooms in the new Walker Morris office have been brought to life with the installation of 13 winning original works of art.
As part of the firm’s investment in the arts, Walker Morris launched a competition, in partnership with Leeds Arts University, to commission 13 pieces of original artwork for its new office on Wellington Street.
Students from across the Leeds Arts University’s disciplines were challenged to design a piece of art with a ‘distinctive’ theme to reflect the firm’s reputation as a distinctive commercial law firm.
The artwork completely fills one of the walls in each of the client meeting rooms in the firm’s new building at 33 Wellington Street, Leeds, which it moved into this summer.
In a surprise coincidence, Leeds Arts University student, Tamzin Jebson, whose artwork is installed across two walls in the Walker Morris boardroom, was previously a winner in the firm’s annual Childrens’ Charity Calendar Competition.
Winning Leeds Arts University student Jebson won the 2009 calendar competition when she was just seven-years-old. She is now studying for a foundation diploma in art and design at Leeds Arts University and has secured a place at Goldsmiths University in London.
Now in its 25th year, the Walker Morris Childrens’ Charity Calendar Competition attracts more than 2,000 entries each year from primary schools throughout the region and supporting Martin House Children’s Hospice.
Walker Morris chairman David Smedley commented: “We are delighted with the winning paintings from these extraordinarily talented Leeds Arts University students. They look fantastic now they are full scale and installed. They are a real focal point in the client meeting rooms and certainly resonate with our mission to be a distinctive commercial law firm.”
“We are also thrilled that one of the winners is a former calendar competition winner. It is an amazing coincidence and staggering to think that Tamzin was a winner all those years ago when she was just seven-years-old. I am truly honoured to be presenting Tamzin with a second prize ten years later!”
Tamzin added: “It’s wonderful to be able to see two of my paintings fully installed in the client meeting rooms. I’d like to thank Walker Morris for the opportunity. I can clearly remember accepting my prize from David Smedley and Ashley Jackson at the award ceremony for the calendar competition in 2009. It was a memorable morning for me as a seven-year-old winner. I can’t believe I’m here accepting a further prize from Walker Morris for my art work 11 years later!”
Walker Morris has a long heritage of investing and celebrating the arts, often collaborating with artists, art schools and artistic young children in competitions to enable art to be more accessible to the broader community.
The firm’s arts projects range from its grassroots annual Childrens’ Charity Calendar Competition, to sponsorship of national art exhibitions such as bringing the Turner exhibition to Yorkshire, and supporting the inaugural exhibition at London’s Saatchi Gallery, Damian Hirst’s exhibition, ‘Artist Rooms’, at Leeds Art Gallery and Ashley Jackson’s ‘Framing the Landscape’ collection at the Mall Gallery in London.
Pictured: Caroline Black and David Smedley in front of Tamzin Jebson’s winning artwork in the Walker Morris boardroom and her winning picture in the Walker Morris calendar competition
