This application is to support the development of a new body of work exploring how parts of the Tees Valley, particularly Darlington and Redcar have transitioned from landscapes of labour to spaces of leisure. Rather than focusing solely on industry or infrastructure, the project will investigate how industrial systems, particularly rail and steel gave rise to new rhythms of leisure, and its impact on local communities and identities.
The bursary would support a period of research and development across Darlington and Redcar, including site visits, workshops with communities connected to manufacturing , leisure and maritime heritage, including engagement with local archives. I’ll also use the time to experiment with sound, moving image and sculptural processes, building on methodologies developed in recent projects with CNC Robotics, Spiroflow, and Hitachi Rail Ltd.
Darlington’s role in enabling leisure travel, through its early railway connections to the coast forms the basis of this project. My focus is on what happened when working families families arrived in places like Redcar, particularly during August race week (the equivalent of Lancashire’s Wakes Week). I’m interested in how this movement catalysed the development of seaside amusements, including sites like Redcar’s 1920s Amusement Park and its now-lost wooden ‘Giant Racer’ rollercoaster and log flume ride ‘River Caves’.
The resulting installation will weave together moving image, field recordings, archival fragments and sculptural forms to explore the shift from the mechanical rhythms of labour to the sonic and visual textures of funfairs, arcades and thrill rides. This marks a step-change in my practice, deepening my engagement with community-led research and expanding the scale of my immersive installations.
The Dover Prize would offer the space to take creative risks, and to develop a project that foregrounds Darlington’s overlooked role in shaping early leisure culture, something that holds both regional significance and wider cultural resonance.
This project aims to highlight Darlington not just as a town of industrial innovation, but as a key, often overlooked, catalyst in the emergence of early British leisure culture. By tracing how the Stockton & Darlington Railway enabled working families to access the coast, the work will explore how this mobility transformed sites like Redcar into hubs of entertainment and leisure, connecting Darlington’s past to broader themes of industrialisation and pleasure.
Through collaborations with local communities, museums and archives, the project will create space for intergenerational storytelling, reflecting on how industrial infrastructure shaped lives beyond the factory. I’m especially interested in how memories of travel, funfairs, and seasonal migration are embedded in the region’s cultural imagination, and how art can reframe these narratives.
The work will centre on community involvement, fostering active participation and dialogue. By embedding storytelling at its core, the project aims to raise the visibility of the arts in Darlington and invite new audiences into the conversation. In doing so, I hope to contribute to a cultural ecology that sees Darlington not only through the lens of its industrial past, but as a site of reinvention, creativity and shared exploration.
Working across the boundaries of print, moving image, sound and sculpture, my practice explores the stretch of time between the industrial and post-industrial; in particular the beginning of automation and how this is altering our relationships with technology. Using site visits as a catalyst to research, write and produce works I am fascinated by the human-machine relationship of both ‘conductor’ and ‘orchestra’ and how these performative roles manifest themselves within both our natural and fabricated environments. Since graduating with an MA in Fine Art from the Royal College of Art, I have exhibited nationally and internationally at institutions including the Taoxichuan Museum of Art (China), OGA (Rome), Parc de la Villette (Paris), and the Hockney Gallery (London). In 2019, I received the first digital commission for Art In Manufacturing (National Festival of Making, supported by Deco Publique, Super Slow Way and Arts Council England). In 2020, I undertook a seven-month residency at Coachworks (co-commissioned by Turner Works and Ashford Borough Council), collaborating with Hitachi Rail Ltd to produce The Orchestrated Unconscious. This led to further Arts Council funding to work with CNC Robotics, culminating in Within the Wake (2022), showcased at the National Festival of Making and featured in Aesthetica’s Future Now anthology. Most recently, I created OF CONFLUENCE (2024), an immersive installation commissioned as part of the Turner Prize wraparound programme (Blackshed Gallery, The Talent Accelerator at De La Warr Pavilion, Eastbourne Alive and Rother District Council). Shaped in collaboration with local communities, the work used sound, sculpture and moving image to explore the ecology of the River Rother in Rye. In 2025, my work will return to National Festival of Making, coinciding with the launch of an essay by Elizabeth Fullerton (art critic and writer for the New York Times and Guardian). I have also been longlisted for the 2025 Aesthetica Art Prize, with my work being shown on a digital format in York Art Gallery in September.
BA (hons) Illustration with Animation, University of Gloucestershire (2005 – 2008)
PGCE (Post-Compulsory Education) University of Brighton (2008 – 2009)
MA Fine Art, Royal College of Art (2014 – 2017)
2023 / OF CONFLUENCE, Commissioned by Blackshed Gallery in partnership with the Talent Accelerator at the De La Warr Pavillion & Eastbourne Alive (Turner Prize wrap-around programme)
2022 / Golsoncott Printmaking Award
2022 / Within the Wake | Art in Manufacturing Commission & Residency | Commissioned by The National Festival of Making | Arts Council England
2021 / Developing Your Creative Practice Grant | Arts Council England
2020 / The Orchestrated Unconscious, Coachworks | Co-commissioned by Ashford Borough Council, Turner Works & Hitachi Rail Europe
2019 / Developing Your Creative Practice Grant | Arts Council England
2019 / The Optical Mechanical | Art in Manufacturing Commission & Residency | Deco Publique, Creative Lancashire, Arts Council England
2017 / University for the Creative Arts Professional Development Award
Yes, I am actively involved in creating my own professional opportunities. Much of my practice is shaped through building long-term partnerships, often with communities with low engagement in the arts. My initial commission with Art in Manufacturing in 2019 led to extended work with manufacturers such as Spiroflow, Hitachi Rail and CNC Robotics, where I initiated and developed new site-specific works over several years. These collaborations resulted in major installations including The Optical Mechanical, The Orchestrated Unconscious and Within the Wake, supported through Arts Council funding and partnerships with organisations such as the National Festival of Making, Turner Works, Coachworks and Ashford Borough Council.
Alongside my studio practice, I contribute to artist-led learning environments through teaching, mentoring, and knowledge-sharing in higher education.
2024 / OF CONFLUENCE, Commissioned by Blackshed Gallery in partnership with the Talent Accelerator at the De La Warr Pavillion & Eastbourne Alive (Official Turner Prize wrap-around programme)
2022 / Within the Wake | Art in Manufacturing Commission & Residency | The National Festival of Making,Arts Council England
2020 / The Orchestrated Unconscious, Coachworks | Co-commissioned by Ashford Borough Council, Turner Works & Hitachi Rail Europe
2019 / The Optical Mechanical | Art in Manufacturing Commission & Residency | Deco Publique, Creative Lancashire, Arts Council England
No, my work has not yet been purchased by a public collection.
2025 / Essay commissioned by the National Festival of Making, written by Elizabeth Fullerton (Art Critic & Writer) including interview with Claire Mander (CoLab Arts) Forthcoming >>> July 5th
2025 / Publication, Conversations in Creativity, Creative Lancashire
2023 / Narc Magazine, https://narcmagazine.com/feature-middlesbrough-art-week/
2023 / Publication, Aesthetica Magazine, Future Now Anthology
2022 / Film, Art in Manufacturing https://youtu.be/9R5x4cA-Ed4
2022 / Publication, Art in Manufacturing, National Festival of Making https://festivalofmaking.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2022/06/19043-NFM22-AiM-Booklet-24pp-A6_v8.pdf
2021 / Interview with Liz Corkery, Print Club Ltd https://jointheprintclub.com/journal/2021/9/20/an-interview-with-liz-wilson
2020 / Magazine, Inside Kent Magazine https://joom.ag/B8uC/p8
2019 / Film, Art in Manufacturing https://youtu.be/LhFtzH9QEkc
Yes, I have been represented by The Second Act Gallery since January 2024 which coincided with a solo exhibition, showcasing ‘The Rhythm Machine’ and sculptural works from ‘Within the Wake’. These were on show at 29 Sunbury Workshops, Shoreditch.
“The Second Act Gallery is a young contemporary gallery with roots in the North of England and East London.
We deliver a programme with an emphasis on the inclusion of artists for the North; and also those from working class backgrounds to support the growth of a diverse eco-system of British artists.
We choose to work with artists who make contemporary art with challenging concepts, narratives and research; creating a roster of individuals who we believe, should all have the opportunity to write their own Second Act”
2024 / OF CONFLUENCE, Commission | Blackshed Gallery in partnership with the Talent Accelerator at the De La Warr Pavillion & Eastbourne Alive (Turner Prize wrap-around programme)
Residency taking place at Rye Harbour Nature reserve (East Sussex) shaped in collaboration with local communities using sound, sculpture and moving image to respond to the ecology of the River Rother in Rye.
2022 / Within the Wake | Art in Manufacturing Commission & Residency | Commissioned by The National Festival of Making | Arts Council England
Residency with manufacturer CNC Robotics, Aintree Liverpool
2020 / The Orchestrated Unconscious, Coachworks | Co-commissioned by Ashford Borough Council, Turner Works & Ashford Borough Council
Residency with railway company Hitachi Rail Ltd, Ashford, Kent
2019 / The Optical Mechanical | Art in Manufacturing Commission & Residency | Deco Publique, Creative Lancashire, Arts Council England
Residency with manufacturer Spiroflow, Clitheroe, Lancashire
Email: lizwilsonstudio@gmail.com
Address: Unit 12, Old Timber Yard, Eridge, East Sussex, TN3 9LB, GB
Local Authority: East Sussex
