Baltic confirms 79 North East-based artists for Open Submission exhibition and 44 young artists for Youth Open Call supported by Fenwick

Over 1100 artists and makers based in the North East of England submitted artworks to be considered. 

79 artists were selected by a panel comprising panel internationally renowned artists Laura Lancaster and Rachel Lancaster, Tees Valley Artist of the Year 2025 Will Hughes, and Baltic Assistant Curators Rose McMurray and Rosie Coleman Collier.

Baltic’s Open Submission initiative, now in its third iteration gives visibility to arts practice from individuals and collectives that may not previously have been seen by a public audience. No training, qualifications, or experience of exhibiting publicly was necessary to submit an artwork. The resulting group exhibition will span painting, photography, sculpture, ceramics, film, and textiles, and is set to open to the public on Saturday 19 September 2026.

Amongst the artists are Graeme Hopper, a Newcastle-based collage artist selected to create a bespoke commission for the Lightbox in Baltic's entrance in addition to showing an original artwork in the exhibition. Ascetiks strips back surface details to expose the human face and body presenting them through an abstract and pragmatic lens. By removing what can be seen as decorative and performative, Hopper's work turns the attention to question beneath the image: Who are we when the need to look good fades? It suggests that our true selves are obscured by speed, expectation, and constant self-evaluation.

Kitty McKay, a recent Newcastle University Master of Fine Art graduate who works across installation, moving-image, sculpture, sound, collage and writing will exhibit their recent work, Public space archive (with keys). This work comprises drawings etched with a set of keys onto a salvaged bus window. The layered drawings form part of a decade-long and ongoing archive, documenting weird glitches in public spaces.

Aysha Tengiz, a North East based artist, who has exhibited in Taiwan, Shenzhen, Amsterdam and South Korea will show a work close to Newcastle Gateshead's heart, Karaoke Kittiwake. Inspired by a combination of the exceptional people and nature found in Newcastle, the sculpture shows a Kittiwake that sings at 2AM karaoke, to her favourite song that goes something like “kyah kyah kyah!”

One of the successful artists, Pete Robinson, has spent the last 11 years documenting the North Shields fishermen through his project Harvest from the deep, capturing on camera the heart and soul of the North Shields fishing community. His photographs show not only his immense technical ability, but a huge respect for the people he photographs; a desire to understand and communicate their difficult and dangerous occupation with real emotion and honesty.