Visual Arts Award

Winners: Phil Cosker and Dave Groom

Sponsors: Carre Street Gallery Arts Trust

"WE ARE very fortunate here in Sleaford to have such a wealth of artistic talent and now an investment by public bodies, private and voluntary effort to nurture that talent," said Windham Hime, of the Carre Street Gallery Arts Trust Ltd.

"Sometimes the crossover between visual and performing makes it difficult to draw the line and even within each there is a wide range of art going on.

"The winning project for the Visual Arts Award this year was craft-based but actually incorporated a lot of performing art activity.

"About four years ago, two people – one of who was fairly new in Sleaford – sat down to talk about the future of a major venue in town and the scope to design forthcoming exhibitions.

"One said that he'd like to do something with guitars, guitar-making itself being a craft in its own right and Lincolnshire being the home to a number of reputable guitar-makers.

"The other said, 'That's a coincidence, I know someone who could probably help'.

"Those two people were Phil Cosker and Dave Groom and 'the someone' was Gordon Giltrap.

"Gordon Giltrap did indeed want to help and between them they brought together more than 50 British guitar makers for the Hub exhibition Guitars: Made in Britain, Played the World Over, which ran from last November through to January and which, we understand, may become a future touring exhibition.

"Alongside the exhibition, Gordon and Dave managed to create a series of concerts with Newton Faulkner, Bert Jansch and many others.

"The exhibition was designed to allow for a stage, not only for those big ticketed concerts but also for lunchtime sessions for local musicians, including Winter Wilson, JET and the Sleaford Ukulele Orchestra, who entertained visitors during the run.

"As a result, I am pleased to reveal that the winners of the 2009 Visual Arts Award goes to Phil Cosker, director of the Hub and Dave Groom, music development officer at ArtsNK – founders of Guitars."

Phil said: "Thank you very much, it is a real privilege and honour to have this award.

"The Guitars exhibit was a great event and brought lots of people into the Hub.

"Please come and see us and see what we do because we really do value you!"

Dave added: "How lucky we were to get the artists involved to come to this event. The reason they came is because they were so enthusiastic and supportive of the venture.

"We lost a major source of funding for the project but artists including Newton Faulkner gave their services for free because they wanted to part of this event.

"We would like to thank all the artists who took part in it – and of course the people of Sleaford.

"With Guitars, Sleaford most probably had the honour of hosting the most successful guitar event in the whole of the UK – and Sleaford deserved it."