The Big Painting Challenge on BBC ONE, Sunday, February 22nd, 2015.
The Big Painting Challenge; Alison Harper is the Art Consultant for the series and is the founder and Artistic Director of the Essential School of Painting.
Una Stubbs and Richard Bacon, the presenters of the New BBC Primetime Art Show The Big Painting Challenge
The Big Painting Challenge is an exciting new primetime BBC 1 series premiering on the 22nd of February. Una Stubbs, Richard Bacon and artists Daphne Todd OBE and Lachlan Goudie are leading a nationwide search for Britain’s best amateur painter.
Alison Harper is the Art Consultant on the series and thoroughly enjoyed the whole filming process, from consulting on the challenges to travelling from one unique location to the other.
We highly recommend that you tune in and watch this series and to keep things even more interesting feel free to email us or join us on Facebook and Twitter with your views and opinions as the artists progress from week to week.
We have long understood the value of drawing and painting as a creative pursuit for all, regardless of experience or level of training. We hope this programme will encourage more and more people to take up painting and drawing; discovering for themselves the joy and benefits they bring. In fact why don’t you try some of the challenges yourselves when the series begins with the same time limits and let us know how you get on!
“The BBC makes fantastic programmes about the context and history of art; what’s particularly exciting about this new series is that it will show what a rich and rewarding experience the making of art can be – and hopefully it might even inspire people to pick up a brush themselves.” Mark Bell, Head, BBC Arts Commissioning
Alison Harper: Art Consultant for the BBC’s primetime art show The Big Painting Challenge and The Founder and Artistic Director of The Essential School of Painting
Sherlock actress and amateur artist Una Stubbs joined forces with BBC Radio 5 live presenter and keen art collector Richard Bacon to lead this nationwide search for Britain’s best amateur artist and from almost 6,000 entries, ten passionate finalists were selected.
For the six-part series Una and Richard are joined by established artists Daphne Todd OBE and Lachlan Goudie, who judge the competitors’ artwork weekly. The competitors face new challenges each week that test their talents to the limit in different artistic mediums from oils, acrylics and watercolours, to pencils, charcoal and chalks. The judges will ultimately decide who of 10 amateur artists will be crowned the winner.
Each programme in the series will come from a different location across the country, reflecting the rich diversity and stunning landscapes of Britain. From Northumberland to Liverpool, London to the coast, every week the artists will face very different painting and drawing challenges, covering every type of figurative art, from landscapes and still life to portraiture and life drawing.
BBC and Tate
Tate Britain
As part of the recently announced partnership between the BBC and the Tate, following transmission of the series on BBC One a display of works chosen by the BBC from the finalists and the overall winner will be hosted by the prestigious Tate Britain on London’s Millbank. Following transmission, work by the 10 finalists will be selected by the BBC for a display, hosted at Tate Britain!
