Artist of the Year: Masterclass comes to Sky Arts this winter

Sky Arts’ much-loved Artist of the Year franchise has added another brushstroke to its canvas with a brand new series of Masterclasses launching later this year. Artist of the Year: Masterclass will feature live tutorials from a host of talented artists who have taken part in Portrait Artist of the Year or Landscape Artist of the Year, as they demonstrate easy-to learn techniques for budding artists at home. Series judge, Tai-Shan Schierenberg, will also take to his easel to teach masterclasses of his own, showing the nation how he approaches an all-important portrait. 

The new Sky Original series follows the roaring success of Portrait Artist of the Year, the eleventh series of which launched to its biggest audience ever last month. Millions of viewers also tuned in to Portrait Artist of the Week in 2020, which saw celebrities sit live for their portraits during the Covid-19 lockdown. The series went on to break the Guinness World Record last year for the most people painting a portrait at one time as thousands of avid artists painted national treasure, Sir Lenny Henry, to celebrate Portrait Artist of the Year’s tenth anniversary.

Artists giving masterclasses alongside Tai-Shan Schierenberg include: Gareth Reid, who was crowned Portrait Artist of the Decade last year, Adebanji Alade, Wendy Barratt, Morag Caister, Finn Campbell-Notman, Phoebe Hicks, Christian Hook, Clare Lord, Sara Reeve and Fujiko Rose. Each masterclass will focus on a different subject or technique to help audiences understand the basics of painting and drawing, with classes covering everything from exploring tone and Alla Prima painting to composing a landscape, botanical flowers and even animal portraiture.  

 Phil Edgar-Jones, Executive Director of Unscripted Originals at Sky, said: “Portrait and Landscape Artist of the year have inspired huge numbers of people to take up a brush or a pencil (or any variety of materials) and have a go themselves. Now with this deep dive into technique courtesy of Tai and some of the programme’s brilliant alumni we can all pick up tips to turn ourselves into artists too…Order your berets and smocks now!” 

Danielle Graham, Executive Producer, Storyvault Films, said: “During the last eleven years, Portrait Artist and Landscape Artist of The Year have unearthed and celebrated some truly talented artists, whose work now hangs in prestigious national museum collections. We are delighted to have this opportunity to share some of their tips and secrets with the Sky Arts audience and, we hope, inspire many budding artists of the future.”    

Sky Arts programmes are commissioned by Phil Edgar-Jones, Executive Director of Unscripted Originals at Sky for Cécile Frot-Coutaz, CEO of Sky Studios & Chief Content Officer for Sky. The Commissioning Editor for Sky is Benedetta Pinelli. Artist of the Year: Masterclass is produced by Storyvault Films. The Series Editor is Nelda Sale and the Series Director of Production is David Buckley. Executive Producers are Danielle Graham, Samantha Richards and Stuart Prebble. 

Artist of the Year: Masterclass will air on Sky Arts, Freeview Channel 36 and streaming service NOW from 2 December.