Designer and maker Kate Noakes studied Fine Art at Hull College of Art and was Middlesbrough Football Club’s first artist-in-residence.
As part of the residency at Ayresome Park during the 1989/90 season, Noakes attended home matches and created a series of works inspired by the human body in motion - with the Boro players her subjects.
Noakes’ drawings, monoprints and sculptures were showcased at Ayresome Park and Middlesbrough Art Gallery. Among guests at the opening of ‘Men of Steel’ was Boro’s legendary captain Tony Mowbray. The residency gave Noakes a love of football and Middlesbrough FC and directly inspired subsequent life size sculptures made of welded mild steel - industrial scrap from Middlesbrough.
