New Art of Ayresome exhibition celebrates iconic football ground: online gallery’s ‘Ayresome Art Club’ invites fans to create their own artwork

Cartoonist Graeme Bandeira’s personal illustrations of Ayresome Park feature in the exhibition

A new online football art exhibition celebrating Boro’s former Ayresome Park home has been launched by Middlesbrough Football Club as part of a collaboration led by Heritage Unlocked’s Dr Tosh Warwick.

Bringing together work spanning the early 1900s to the modern day from acclaimed architects, cartoonists, illustrators, painters, photographers and sculptors, Art of Ayresome celebrates the people, performances and place that defined the club for almost a century.

Art of Ayresome includes contributions from a number of today’s leading artists alongside historic plans by world-famous stadium designer Archibald Leitch and early twentieth century football cartoons by Fred May, an internationally acclaimed caricaturist whose depictions of leading political and society figures feature in the National Portrait Gallery collections.

The online exhibition also features a number of newly digitised publications, interviews with artists and fan videos. Visitors are also invited to submit their own Art of Ayresome inspired art as part of the ‘Ayresome Art Club’. Throughout June and July (deadline for submissions Friday, July 31), the initiative will see a selection of submissions featured in the online exhibition, with a range of Boro prizes up for grabs for the top three artworks as selected by the Art of Ayresome project.

Homes of Football’s Stuart Roy Clarke’s images are amongst a number of photographic works in Art of Ayresome

Art of Ayresome curator Dr Tosh Warwick said: “We are delighted to bring together an exciting range of works by acclaimed artists to mark the 25th anniversary of Boro’s final season at Ayresome Park. By combining art with historical research, interactive content and memories, Art of Ayresome provides a dynamic, digital approach to celebrating art and football heritage at a time when galleries and museums are closed.”

The Heritage Unlocked consultant continued: “We hope that the exhibition’s ‘Ayresome Art Club’ initiative provides a fun, uplifting activity during these challenging times and encourages people of all ages and abilities to create and share their own works inspired by the exhibition and Boro’s football heritage.” 

Mackenzie Thorpe's 'With Me Dad' (Mackenzie Thorpe Ltd 2020)

More information on Art of Ayresome and submitting work to the ‘Ayresome Art Club’ can be found at www.mfc.co.uk/art-of-ayresome. Art of Ayresome features the work of over 20 artists including Graeme Bandeira, Stuart Roy Clarke, Tom Collins, Robin Dale, Nigel Downing, Sean Durkin, Neville Gabie, Stephen Gill, Tim Hetherington, Alan Johnson, Archibald Leitch, Fred May, Philip Meadows, Alan Morley, Kate Noakes, Richard Piers Rayner, Craig Silcock, Sean Sims, Paul Thompson, Mackenzie Thorpe, David Watson and Steve Welsh.