MELLONY TAPER
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Photo: Alice Hendy Photography / RWA
Selected Group Shows
​
2025
​• THG Open Prize 2025, Thelma Hulbert Gallery, Honiton. Overall Winner.

• RWA Artist Network exhibition, Royal West of England Academy, Bristol
• Thinking Inside the Box, Hatch Somerset

2024
• The Royal West Of England Academy 171 Open Exhibition, RWA , Bristol
• Bath Society of Artists 119th Annual Exhibition, Victoria Art Gallery, Bath
• South West Academy 25th annual exhibition, Kennaway House,  Sidmouth ​
• RWA Secret Postcard, Royal West of England Academy, Bristol 
• Bath Open Art Prize 2024, Fringe Arts Bath, 4AD Gallery,  Bath
• RBSA Biennial Prize exhibition, Royal Birmingham Society of Artists, Birmingham
• Evolver Prize 2024, ACE Arts + publication in Evolver edition 138
• East Quay Open: About Identity, East Quay, Watchet, Somerset
• South West Academicians’ exhibition, Thelma Hulbert Gallery, Honiton
• SWAc Academicians at Delamore Arts, Stables Gallery, Delamore Estate, Cornworthy
• Mothers of Invention, The Mount Without, Bristol. An exhibition of work by Bristol-based artist-mothers;
​  in conjunction with Mothers in Music

• The Women’s Open, Artizan Gallery, Torquay
• Melville Public Art Commission, Melville Heritage Area, Torbay, Devon
​
​2023

• Found Cities, Lost Objects: Women in the City, The Royal West of England Academy, Bristol. Arts Council exhibition curated by Lubaina Himid CBE.  
• South West Academy 24th Annual Open, Kennaway House, Sidmouth
• ‘Freedom of Movement’ site-specific installation, Portishead Arts Festival, Muse, Portishead ​
• Turning Points: Through the Eyes of Bristol Women Artists, Royal West of England Academy, Bristol
• RWA Photo Open, Royal West of England Academy, Bristol
• Procreate Project Public Activations, Lewisham Shopping Centre, London
• Bath Society of Artists 118th Annual Exhibition, Victoria Art Gallery, Bath
• Women in Photography, The Glasgow Gallery of Photography
• RWA Secret Postcard, Royal West of England Academy, Bristol
​
2022 ‘
• Above and Below’
, In association with Professor Corinna Wagner (University of Exeter); the UK Climate Resilience Programme; the Natural Environment Research Council (NERC) and Marcus Verget’s Time & Tide Bell Project
• Evolver Prize 2022, Ace Arts, Somerton + publication in Evolver Magazine 126
• Bath Society of Artists 117th Annual Exhibition, Victoria Art Gallery, Bath
• ‘Spotlight’ Commission, residency & installation;  Ambassador Theatre Group, Arts Council England, facilitated by Arts & Heritage
• English Riviera Summer Open, Devon
• RWA Secret Postcard, Royal West of England Academy, Bristol
​
​2021

• Finding a Way Home: The South West Photography Collective Showcase. Curated by Robert Darch. One of eight spotlighted artists
• Wish You Were Here, community film screening, Bristol
• Bath Society of Artists 116th Annual Exhibition, Victoria Art Gallery, Bath
• The South West Academy 22nd Annual Open Exhibition, Kennaway House, Sidmouth
• The English Riviera Annual Open Exhibition, Prize winner: ‘Innovation in Digital Practice’ Award
​
2020

• VAO Visual Art Open Emerging UK & International Artists Awards. Final stage finalist in the Digital and Photography category
• South West Annual Open exhibition, Artizan Gallery, Torquay, Devon
• The South West Academy 21st Annual Open Exhibition, Kennaway House, Sidmouth. Prize winner. 
• English Riviera Summer Open, Artizan Collective, Devon
​
2019

• ‘Small & Mighty’, Black Swan Arts, Frome
• Selected to the Royal West of England Academy Artist Network
• The English Riviera Open, Artizan Collective, Devon
​
2003

• ‘Degrees of Separation’, ’a’ gallery, London

​1998
• Cannizzaro Sculpture, Cannizzaro Park, London
• Camden Arts, Swiss Cottage Library Gallery, London

1997
• Sculpture in the Park, Cannizzaro Park, London

1996
• Cannizzaro Sculpture, Cannizzaro Park, London

1995
• The Mythic Garden, Stone Lane Sculpture Gardens, Chagford, Devon


Public  Commissions

• Melville Cultural Heritage Installation (2025)
The brief: Drawing on local expertise and community storytelling to create a heritage narrative unique to the historic and ancient Melville area of Torquay, on the South Devon coast. The installed panels will celebrate the significant historic and cultural associations of the area, focussing on the great literary figures who have links to the area - Byron, Elizabeth Barrett Browning, Oscar Wilde, Charles Dickens, Agatha Christie, Alfred Lytton - and the diverse and vibrant community of the present day. This project will continue an extensive piece of place making and public realm work that has been undertaken. The trail will tell Melville’s unique cultural heritage story across 10 artworks in ten locations.

​• Ambassador Theatre Group and Arts Council England | Commission, residency & installation (2022)
The brief: to explore and celebrate the life of regional theatres after 500 days of pandemic-forced closure; a commission to create artwork specifically focusing on some of the regional theatres in the international Ambassador Theatre Group, which owns and operates theatres across the globe, from Broadway to the West End. The project was made possible by an award from the Arts Council Culture Recovery Fund, facilitated by Arts & Heritage and ably supported by Artizan CIC in Torbay. 12 selected works from the project archive are currently installed and on public display at Devon’s largest theatre, the Princess Theatre.


Arts Programming, Commissioning & Curation

​• ArtPort | Portishead Arts Festival
​Instrumental in the artistic and strategic development of ArtPort - a multi-event, multi-arts annual festival on the North Somerset coast, near Bristol. In the role Taper has commissioned and curated original film, art installations, exhibitions and events, including commissioning the #Portisfield ‘Field’ installation by Hamish Young RWA MRSS and co-producing  ‘ArtStories’, a series of original documentary films about the artists who live and work in the west of England with award winning film director Barry Wilkinson.
https://www.portisheadartsfestival.org

​• ArtStories
Together with award-winning film maker Barry Wilkinson of BW Film, we conceived an ongoing series of original, documentary short films profiling the artists of North Somerset. Click on images to watch:
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©️ Mellony Taper 2025. All rights reserved.
  • BIO
  • EXHIBITIONS
  • SELECTED WORKS
  • NEWS
  • PRESS