The SCAF Emerging Artist Award has been created to acknowledge up and coming artists of all ages who are living in the Yorkshire region. The intent of the award is to bring recognition and awareness to outstanding visual artists in the region who are at the early stages of their career or who have not yet established a reputation as an artist amongst art curators, buyers and critics.
/ This years subject:
Art is inseparable from Heritage. Each act of creation is shaped by what has come before it: by the stories, materials and traditions that form our identities and cultures. Heritage is often deeply rooted in people, place or ritual. It shapes how we express ourselves and can determine how we connect our past with our present and, in turn, what we carry into the future.
/ The Finalists
/ Exhibition DETAILS
Danum Gallery
Library and Museum
Waterdale
Doncaster
DN1 3BZ
Until 20th September 2026
/ Exhibition Catalogue
/ Judging Panel
Dr Sue Armstrong
MA VetMB VetMFHom CertIAVH MRCVS RsHom
Artistic Director & Trustee of SCAF
Sue Armstrong is the Founder of the Scott Creative Arts Foundation and the current Artistic Director. Sue was a close friend of Michael and Eileen Scott and is dedicated to realising their wishes through the work of the Foundation. Providing support and encouragement to emerging artists was a major priority for the Scott’s and to be holding the seventh SCAF emerging artist award is a testament to her commitment to SCAF. Sue, like the Scotts is a passionate believer in the value of the synergistic relationship between arts and science.
Shirley Hudson
Artist: Painter and Sculptor
Originally from Oxfordshire and now based in Yorkshire, Shirley Hudson is a fine artist whose work is deeply inspired by the landscape. Alongside creating her own artwork, she is actively involved in community-based art projects. Shirley received traditional training in sculpture and printmaking, gaining extensive hands-on experience with a variety of materials and techniques. Her passion for teaching has led her to work in Adult Education, and she currently facilitates art sessions at Henshaws. Her community work includes A Place at the Table, a portrait series of individuals experiencing homelessness in Harrogate; participation in the Portraits for NHS Heroes initiative; and paintings created in support of the Cancer and Pisces Trust. Shirley's artwork has been exhibited across the region and is held in private collections.
Mouse
Artist: Sculptor
Mouse is a Bradford-based, self-taught sculptor whose work explores infinity, consciousness, and abstract form. Working primarily in wood, his practice combines material sensitivity with philosophical inquiry. Since being named runner-up for the 2024 Emerging Artist Award with SCAF, Mouse has exhibited with Scarborough Museums, Ferens Art Gallery, and other notable venues. Committed to sustainability, he pursues large-scale works that deepen his dialogue with nature while pushing the possibilities of form.
Lou Hazelwood
Winner of the SCAF Emerging Artist Award 2025
Lou Hazelwood is a Hull based artist, exhibiting regionally, nationally and internationally; she has a diverse practice, which sees her investigate how our experiences, personal and cultural, and technologies, historical and contemporary, influence our experience of memory and forgetfulness. Her work takes many forms and responses from sound pieces, text, film, installation, performance and image based. Over the last decade she has been exploring damaged film stock and photographic emulsion, working with a variety of processes to see how film responds. She manipulates the stability of the emulsion and what it ultimately records. Lou worked with household chemicals, considering the domestic family image and recently with woodlands chemicals, embedding permanence in responses to ecological change referencing temporary images produced via the historical process of ‘anthotypes’.
/ Thank you
With special thanks to DGLAM, Studio YCS and Fred Aldous for their generous support.
