ADAM SHAW
VISUAL ARTIST
Info@shawadam.co.uk
STATEMENT
Adam Shaw is a visual artist based in Middlesbrough, working across the North East of England. His practice investigates image-making as a process of construction, using fragmentation, layering, and reconstruction to engage with memory, trace, and place.
Working across painting, printmaking, and site-responsive installation, he develops works that draw on archival material, observation, and spatial contexts. These works operate between documentation and invention, assembling images that reconfigure how histories and locations are encountered. His practice is informed by theories of fictioning, approaching art as a form of world-making in which meaning is constructed through material and visual processes.
Alongside his studio practice, he has developed public-facing projects that engage communities through participation and shared making. These projects extend his interest in collective memory and site, testing how artistic practice can operate as a method for reimagining local histories through material engagement.
Selected projects & experience
April 2024 - Present - Teacher of Art and Art Foundation, Queen Elizabeth Sixth Form College
Aug 2024 - Present - The Kiosk, Artist-led public installation and printmaking project.
Oct 2021 - Present - Freelance designer, builder and technician working with organisations such as The Auxiliary Project Space Ltd, Middlesbrough Art Week & Navigator North.
EDUCATION / QUALIFICATIONS
2023 - 2024 - PGCE with SEND in post-16 : Distinction - Teesside University
2022 - 2023 - MA Contemporary Art Practice - ECA, University of Edinburgh
2019 - 2022 - BA (Hons) Fine Art : First Class Honours - Northern School of Art
2011 - 2013 - BTEC Diploma with Triple Distinction* Fine Art - Cleveland College of Art and Design
Selected EXHIBITIONS
Jan 2026 - Mar 2026 - Always seen but overlooked 2.0 - Redcar Contemporary, Redcar, UK
June 2025 - Sept 2025 - S&DR200 Festival - Hopetown, Darlington
Aug 2024 - February 2025 - Most Creative Station - Middlesbrough Railway Station, Middlesbrough, UK
Aug 2023 - Graduate show - ECA, Edinburgh, UK
Feb 2023 - Side-Quest - Whitespace Gallery, Edinburgh, UK
Nov 2022 - Masters - Embassy Gallery, Edinburgh, UK
June 2022 - Prospect - Graduate show - Northern School of Art, UK
Dec 2021 - Group Exhibition - The Auxiliary, UK
July 2021 - Aug 2021 - New Era - Art Number 23 - Virtual - London/Athens
May 2021 - Prospect 5 - Pineapple Black, Middlesbrough, UK
April 2021 - Nostalgia - The Holy Art, 17 Amhurst Terrace, London, UK
Dec 2020 - Foyer - Northern School of Art, UK
Dec 2014 - Symbiosis - Goldsmiths, St James Church, London, UK
Publications
April 2021 - Picasso Baby Issue 003 - Bobby Benjamin & John James Perangie
Feb 2021 - Picasso Baby Issue 002 - Bobby Benjamin & John James Perangie
May 2020 - Featured Artist of the Week - Tebbs Gallery, London
Sep 2020 - Crisis Chats - The Auxiliary, Middlesbrough, UK in partnership with Arts Council England, Gilkes Street Artists and Platform A
ACHIEVEMENTS
2014 - Goldsmiths VCS - Visual Cultures Society - Founding member
It is a student-run organisation, which provides an active and ever-flowing platform to engage with those practising or interested in the arts. Opportunities included: Proposing, and curating exhibitions and events, collaborative events, updates with news in the art scene, gallery visits, guest speakers, panel discussion, lectures and publication of The Art Columnist and Ephemeral magazine. My role took a group approach to curate the first shows and establish the society with a manifesto and events.