LONDON.- Turner Prize nominated artist Karla Black has hand painted and signed three beautiful linen bags for her exhibition for Scotland + Venice at the Venice Biennale 2011. These signed artworks will be auctioned off via silent auction with the proceeds going towards the Glasgow Project Room.

The Project Room is a non-profit contemporary art exhibition and project space based in Trongate 103, which has been championing emerging artists since 1997. Black believes The Project Room was instrumental to her continuing creativity in the first few years after leaving The Glasgow School of Art. It was the first place that Black ever publicly exhibited a piece of work which was in a group show that she co-curated in 2000, and then, in 2002, she had her first ever solo exhibition there. Black, along with fellow Glasgow artist Katie Exley, curated an experimental public art event which included her own work and that of 31 other artists which was in collaboration with Glasgow Project Room. She feels that Glasgow Project Room is and should continue to be incredibly important in making the work of young artists visible.

Anyone interested in bidding for one or all of the bags should email auction@scotlandandvenice.com All emailed bids will receive an acknowledgement by return to confirm that it has been received and registered appropriately. Bidding will end on Sunday 4 December at 5pm.

Karla Black (b. 1972) lives and works in Glasgow, Scotland. Her work has been shown in major museum and commercial gallery exhibitions in the UK and abroad.

Glasgow Project Room is used by artists to make and show work outside the public funded, more established and larger venues. Resulting in a challenging and diverse programme of experimental shows, organised by invited artists, curators and its own committee.

With shows such as Mountain Madness, Museum Magogo, VIVRE SA VIE, collaborations with other venues e.g. Tramway, Out of the Blue and many international connections, The Glasgow Project Room provides a central role and brings essential dialogue to the contemporary art scene of Scotland.

Scotland + Venice is a partnership between Creative Scotland, National Galleries of Scotland and British Council Scotland. Scotland + Venice 2011 was curated by The Frutimarket Gallery and Karla Black is on display at the 54th Venice Biennale at the Palazzo Pisani (S.Marina), Calle de le Erbe, 6103 Cannaregio, Venice until 27 November 2011.

The four artists who have been shortlisted for The Turner Prize 2011 are Karla Black, Martin Boyce, Hilary Lloyd and George Shaw. Work by the shortlisted artists will be shown in an exhibition at BALTIC Centre for Contemporary Art, Gateshead opening on Friday 21 October 2011. The winner will be announced at BALTIC on Monday 5 December 2011.

The Turner Prize award is £40,000 with £25,000 going to the winner and £5,000 each for the other shortlisted artists. The Prize, established in 1984, is awarded to a British artist under fifty for an outstanding exhibition or other presentation of their work in the twelve months proceeding 4 April 2011. It is intended to promote public discussion of new developments in contemporary British art and is widely recognised as one of the most important and prestigious awards for the visual arts in Europe.