GBA 2025 Winners Exhibition at The Art House, Wakefield
The Art House continued the growing partnership with the Royal Society of Sculptors in 2026 welcoming the Gilbert Bayes Award 2025 Winners Exhibition to Wakefield. Wakefield holds a celebrated reputation as a city of sculpture, making it the perfect home for this exciting showcase of emerging talent. This year’s exhibition featured an inspiring collection of works by the 2025 Gilbert Bayes Award winners, offering a glimpse into some of the most exciting sculptural practices today.
The Gilbert Bayes Award, presented annually by the Royal Society of Sculptors, is designed to support early-career artists during the often challenging transition from study to professional practice. Open to sculptors of all backgrounds, ages, and training levels, the award encourages experimentation and creative risk-taking. Generously supported by the Gilbert Bayes Charitable Trust, this initiative plays a vital role in nurturing new talent in contemporary sculpture.
Curated by Freeny Yianni founder of CLOSE Gallery, the exhibition featured an impressive group of artists: Amanda Cornish, Beverley Duckworth, Bo-Yi Wu, Emmanuel Awuni, Lucy Mulholland, Madeleine Ruggi, Regan Boyce, Salvatore Pione, Stephen Burke, and Yidan Kim.
Freeny’s chosen theme,Terraforming Futures: Sculpture, sustainability, and the shifting balance of nature, explored how sculptors engage with urgent ecological questions , from material reuse and up cycling to speculative visions of post-climate-change landscapes. The idea of terraforming reflects both the destructive reshaping of Earth through human activity and the possibility of artists re-imagining new, more balanced worlds.
