Art in Sheffield


Sheffield, England, has a large population of amateur, working and professional visual artists and artworks.

Notable artists

Artists linked with Sheffield from the 19th to 21st century include:
  • John Ruskin polymath, Victorian art critic, educator, social thinker and according to art critic Kenneth Clark the best 'watercolourist' of the second half of the 19th century. In 1871, Ruskin founded the charity the Guild of St George, and with his own money purchased and established what became known as the St Georges Museum. The Museum opened in Walkley, a suburb of Sheffield, in 1875, housing the Guild's collection until 1890 when it was moved to Meersbrook Hall in Sheffield. In 2000, the Guild collection was sited at what is now known as the Ruskin Gallery at the Millennium Galleries, Surrey Street, Sheffield.
  • J. M. W. Turner, JMWT painted in 1797 the watercolour 'View of Sheffield from Derbyshire Lane', which is commemorated by a plinth in the centre of Meersbrook Park about a 100 metres from Meersbrook Hall
  • Henry Swann, an engraver and first curator of St Georges Museum in Walkley.
  • Benjamin Creswick, knife maker and sculptor
  • John Wharlton Bunney who between 1878 and 1882 painted 'Façade of San Marco, Venice', now situated at the Ruskin Gallery at Millennium Galleries.
  • Genevieve Pilley calligrapher and illuminator, devoted 50 years to John Ruskin at Meersbrook Museum, including as acting curator 1931–1946 of the Guild of St George collection
  • Stanley Royle RBA, RCA lived for most of his life in and around Sheffield and was commissioned to paint four major views of Sheffield
  • Phillipa Abrahams, artist, made a 'reconstruction' which is on display at Sheffield's Ruskin Gallery of 'Madonna and Child' painted in 1470 by Andrea del Verrochio, which was sold by the Guild in 1974 to the National Gallery of Scotland
  • Edward Stanley Billin the last President of Sheffield Society of Artists
  • George H. Constantine became Technical Director of the City Art Galleries in Sheffield
  • Frank Constantine O.B.E.
  • Frank Saltfleet was encouraged by John Ruskin to become a professional artist, he was elected President of the Sheffield Society of Artists in 1894–5, Vice President 1913–1922 and acting President 1923–33, exhibited with his wife Jean Saltfleet at the Cutler's Hall in 191
  • Jean Saltfleet, wife of Frank Saltfleet, was the first Principal of the Sheffield College of Art
  • Kenneth Steel
  • Margaret Shaw
  • T. W. Ward
  • William Samuel Taylor, taught at Sheffield College of Arts and Crafts which in 1969 became part of Sheffield Polytechnic. He was Dean of the Faculty of Art 1972–75 taught at Sheffield College of Art/Sheffield Polytechnic from 1948 to 1980
  • Pablo Ruiz Picasso visited Sheffield in 1950 for the World Peace Congress, leaving behind 3 dove of peace drawings one of which is now in Sheffield Museums collection
  • Lucianne Lassalle, sculptor who exhibits at Cupola gallery and is the niece of Sylvette David, Picasso's model for series 'Girl with a pony tail' and sculpture in 1970
  • George Fullard A.R.A
  • Jack Smith, in 1956 with 3 other 'kitchen sink' painters represented Britain at Venice Biennale, was first prize winner of the first John Moores Liverpool exhibition in 1957 for the painting 'Creation and Crucifixion'
  • John Hoyland R.A., Endre Roeder, Gordon Snee, Paul Schatzberger
  • Rosalind Nashashibi
  • Peter Doig
  • Manish Harijan
  • Leslie Cornthwaite
  • Bryn Hughes, Joe Scarborough, Pete McKee, the Designers Republic, Thom Wilson
  • Kid Acne, street artist and musician

Sculptors

  • George Fullard A.R.A.
  • Trevor Faulkner
  • Coralie Turpin
  • Mario Raggi
  • George King, creator of the Covid Memorial sculpture in 2023 at Balms Green Gardens, Sheffield.
'The Man of Steel' if and when completed will be a stainless steel landmark 38 metres tall overlooking Sheffield as gateway to the North. Its creator is Steve Mehdi who also designed the Heart of Steel presently sited at Meadowhall, raising funds for The British Heart Foundation, but which it was originally intended would eventually be inserted inside the Man of Steel.

Fine Arts graduates

Sheffield is home to two universities, one of which, Sheffield Hallam University, has a Fine Arts department. Formerly based at Psalter Lane, the department relocated to Sheffield City Centre in 2008.
Fine Arts graduates from Sheffield Hallam University include:
  • Rosalind Nashshibi, Turner Prize nominee in 2017
  • Jamie Crewe, Turner Prize nominee and one of its bursary winners in 2020
  • Conor Rogers, 1st prize winner of Robert Walters Group sponsored UK Young Artist of the Year in 2019
  • Lynn Hodnett, winner of British Airways Young Achievers in Art award resulting in a commission for a 8'x5' painting at Heathrow Airport
  • Manish Harijan, winner of the Dianne Willcocks Lifelong Learning award on award of master's degree in 2019
  • Dr Eleanor Gates-Stuart, Taiwan and Australia professorships in technology and art

Galleries and studios

Amongst galleries, exhibition spaces and studios in Sheffield include,
The Site Gallery, along with studios such as Yorkshire ArtSpace and the participatory arts space Access Space, are located in the Cultural Industries Quarter of Sheffield. This area is also home to the Showroom Cinema, Sheffield, an arthouse cinema which occasionally showcases art.
Weston Park Museum incorporates the Sheffield City Museum and Mappin Art Gallery which first opened in 1887.
Cupola Contemporary Art Gallery is located in Hillsborough opposite the Leppings Lane tramstop. Described by the Sheffield Metropolitan as the most respected contemporary gallery in the north, as well as sales and exhibitions of fine art and crafts, the gallery represents over 300 artists.
Sheffield Makers shop, began as a Christmas pop up shop in 2015 and is now situated in a unit at the Winter Garden. Moonko is a shop in S1 supporting 'young budding artists' and local brands; similarly 'All Good Stuff' the gallery shop at Butcher Works sells a range of arts and crafts by local artists and Bird's Yard at 44 Chapel Walk indicated on their website in January 2023 that they opened 7 days a week stocking a collection of works by local artists.
Various initiatives/shows exist throughout the year to showcase the work of local Sheffield, Yorkshire and Derbyshire artists – amateur through to professional. Amongst these are "Open Up Sheffield" during May bank holidays, "Art in the Gardens" held in the summer Sheffield Botanical Gardens and is largest outdoor art show in north of England, and the Great Sheffield Art Show, previously held on the first weekend in July at the Octagon Centre in Sheffield, and since has been held later in the year at the Millennium Gallery.
Sheffield Museums Trust manages Sheffield City Council's museum collections and The Millennium gallery, Graves gallery, Weston Park Museum, Kelham Island Museum, Abbeydale Industrial Hamlet and Shepherd Wheel Workshop: Sheffield Museums Trust are also custodians of the Guild of St George's Ruskin collection and the Ken Hawley Collection, together the foregoing collections comprises over a million items of local, regional, national and international significance. The Public Catalogue Foundation, a charity registered numbers 1096185 and SCO 486011, was set up in 2002 to record the entire collection of oil paintings in public ownership in the UK via catalogues sponsored by Christies. The volume relating to the City of Sheffield at 2009 included over 2,400 paintings. In 2011 the Foundation in partnership with the BBC launched a 'Your Paintings' website. This partnership ended in 2016 and in its place Art UK the operating name of the Foundation announced its purpose to complete a digital record of the UK's collection of oils, tempora, acrylic paintings and sculptures and to make it accessible to the public. A further stated aim of Art UK, is to record painted murals and Street Art across the UK.
The Economic Development and Skills Policy Committee of Sheffield City Council, in September 2022, adopted the Sheffield Culture Collective strategy as an interim measure, and 'endorsed the priorities' in the strategy document, it repeated that commitment in January 2023. The 'Collective' was formed in 2019, in response to recommendations of the Core Cities Cultural Enquiry 2019. The priorities 'endorsed' by ECDSPC above are four in number, namely the Tinsley Art Project,, Park Hill Art Space ; Harmony Works..and Graves Gallery and Central Library. Sheffield City Council have recognised that the exterior of the 3 storey 'art deco' building erected in 1934, at 67–69 Surrey Street, Sheffield S1 1XZ, is in need of investment and was described as 'crumbling' by Sheffield Visual Arts Group at a meeting of the ECDSPC, on 18 January 2023. of the Sheffield City Council replied that his Committee would be working 'with partners to progress the future redevelopment of Graves gallery and the Central Library delay in the development of plans for the building was due to COVID-19 pressures, a change in the economic environment and budget pressures... the Accommodation Review is supporting 'a condition' review and an assessment of the necessary investment'. Alongside this, 'The Culture Collective, Museums Sheffield and Sheffield City Council are progressing the options work on the future vision for the building. Resources had been made available to undertake this 'visioning' and 'feasibility work' on the potential opportunity of the Graves gallery'.
A 2022/3 planning application for the transformation of Castle Street, Sheffield includes new public art Sheffield City Council as an added attraction expressed a desire to expose part of the castle and the River Sheaf.
The Pounds Park project is a new city centre play area at the heart of the city the programme of work and construction carried out by Henry Boot Limited which company also funded the play areas and public art content of the project. Pounds Park opened on 3 April 2023, ahead of schedule, on the site of the former fire station.
In February 2023 the Sheffield City Council adopted 'the Heritage Strategy for Sheffield 2021–2031', submitted to the council by Joined Up Heritage Sheffield. The strategy developed by the community rather than a local authority records a wide and varied range of heritage assets and then sets out to harness and enhance these in a 10-year action plan.
Reporting on Arts Council funding the Sheffield Star newspaper on 13 November 2022 publicised that Sheffield had received only a fraction of the money given to northern cities by the Arts Council Details of Art Council grants across the country allocated for 2023–2026, showed that Sheffield receives only £6.23 per head of population compared to Manchester's £44.41, Leeds's £35.65 and Newcastle's £29.74. The Arts Council makes funding decisions for National Portfolio Organisations. Existing Sheffield art organisations which were NPOS prior to November 2022, were not disinvested, but a number of Sheffield art organisations/ studios were unsuccessful in their applications for NPOS funding. At 1 January 2023 the list of Sheffield art related NPOS are AA2A, Arts Catalyst, Parents in Performing Arts, Sheffield Museums Trust and Yorkshire Artspace. A member of Sheffield Visual Arts Panel. However, this decade, Tyler Mellins, a member of Sheffield Visual Arts Panel, in an interview with Sheffield Culture Guide about being part of the 'Freelands Art programme' stated that Sheffield is packed full of amazing artists but there is not enough support and our own art organisations are underfunded.''
Sheffield Culture Consortium was set up in 2012. Its current aims and purposes are to help all cultures and communities to be visible, and to tackle inequality in Sheffield through art and culture. These ambitions are also shared by Sheffield Collective, an organisation mentioned above. The Consortium is a voluntary working Group with part-time staff supported by Sheffield City Council, and it fully supports the recommendations of the Sheffield Racial Equality Report, published on 14 July 2022, which urges key organisations to work together to make and create Sheffield a city which actively fights racism.
Art charities in Sheffield include Arts Catalyst, Ignite, Creative Sheffield, CADS, Audacious Art, Flourish, Art House, Site gallery, Yorkshire Art Space.
Wessex Archaeology charity no 287786 and SCO4236, in partnership with Sheffield Visual Arts Group, and a team of volunteers helped to create a free interactive digital map of Sheffield, featuring over 180 public art works.