Finalist in the VAA Artist of the Year 2025!
When you’re deep in the studio, covered in paint and chasing textures and tone, it’s easy to lose sight of what art does beyond those quiet hours. Then news breaks and everything feels more real.
I’m thrilled to share that I’ve been shortlisted as a finalist in the Abstract category for the Visual Artists Association (VAA) Artist of the Year 2025!
The VAA’s Artist of the Year is not just a competition; it’s a platform. There's a £10,000 prize package, professional development courses, mentorship, memberships, exposure, exhibition opportunity in London, this kind of recognition can shift trajectories.
Abstract art sometimes gets pigeonholed. This nomination reinforces that abstraction - the non-literal work, the work of exploring shape, colour, gesture - is just as vital, just as communicative, just as sharply needed as anything else.
Being shortlisted means people saw something in my work: energy, concept, voice. It’s affirmation, yes, what I’m making is worth putting out into the world.
A look behind “Abstract” in AOTY2025
This year, VAA added style-based categories (Abstract, Landscape, Still Life, Wildlife) to better highlight different artistic approaches. The Abstract shortlist is packed with artists pushing boundaries. Just to give you a taste, there’s Niki Hare – The Same, Tonia Rees – Lollipop, Robert Obier – Solar Wind, Michael Moore – Far, Linda Chapman – Drawn Light, Kate Mayer – It’s A New Dawn, Dick Langenberg – Soulcloud IV, Heather Weston – Are The Bluebells Out Yet, etc.
The diversity in style, from layered colours, fluid forms, gestural marks, to pieces that invite breathing space, is inspiring.
What being a finalist has done (and what I hope it will)
It gives momentum. When doors are closed, things like this are reminders: keep going.
It pushes accountability: you can’t hide. When your work is up for selection, you sharpen your process. You notice where everything needs tightening, or where something just needs letting go.
It connects. With artists I admire, with curators, with people who see abstract art as something to stretch into not just decorate with.
What I hope it will bring:
More viewers who will feel what I’m trying to say, rather than just see the shapes.
Opportunities to exhibit, collaborate, iterate — to build on this recognition rather than rest on it.
More freedom, in both material and concept, to explore abstraction’s edges (and sometimes its seeming chaos) without having to justify.
What I’ve learned (or re-affirmed) through this process
Trust the messy parts. Some of the strongest works in the Abstract shortlist weren’t polished perfection. They had rough edges, ambiguity, tension. That tension can be powerful.
Be intentional with intuition. Let intuition lead, but know what decisions you're making - colour, scale, form, and why.
Sharing matters. Putting work out for critique, for submission, for public eyes is uncomfortable. But that discomfort is the machine that forces growth.
Big thanks to everyone who’s been part of this: mentors, peers, family; those quiet mornings when I doubted myself; the times I forced myself to experiment (“what if I try this weird idea?”). Next steps: cross fingers for the final award; plan for the exhibition; keep pushing abstraction forward in my work: more pieces that ask, provoke, dream.