Art Students Impress At International Competition
Chris Prince
/ Categories: News, Enrichment
Two of our Art students had their work highly commended by a professional artist as they narrowly missed out on winning an all-expenses-paid trip to Japan.
Billie in Year 10 and Elin in Year 11 both reached the final ten of United Learning’s International Art Competition after their masterpieces scored highly in the previous round, which was marked by Art Teachers from dozens of different schools and how many shares and likes they received on social media.
Both pieces were then displayed alongside other finalists at the United Learning Leadership Conference, where they were judged by delegates and also local Manchester artist Ruby Tingle. The overall winner would receive a once-in-a-lifetime visit to Tokyo to the International Art Festival, where their work will be displayed.
Speaking about her work, titled ‘My Sister’, Billie said: “When I thought about what to draw for this competition, there was no doubt in my mind on what to do. I chose this photograph because it is mine and my mum's favourite picture. It resembles both happiness and sadness, as it was one off the last times Stevie (my sister) ever walked. Stevie was born with cerebral palsy.
“Because of this as she aged it meant she could no longer walk, as a child she spent a lot of time in the hospital. Despite this, she always has a smile. This photograph is of Stevie at a festival in her walker, slowly but with real determination she was able to walk along a little pathway. The photo I think highlights, her ability rather than her disability, even though she had to rely on a walker, you can see the real sense of freedom she got. I will always be proud of my sister.”
Meanwhile, Elin designed a self-portrait titled ‘Deepest Expression Of Myself’. She said: “After some thought, I decided to create a self-portrait that reflected my inner feelings and hidden emotions. The portrait depicts the conflict between what I feel and what you see.
“The contrast between the tonal portrait and the bright colours are intentional, I wanted my main focus to be the screaming mouth, to draw attention to this I added red pencil. I am shouting here but what exactly am I saying? That is up to you to discover.”
After tallying the final scores, both pieces did extremely well but narrowly missed out on the top prize. However, they received high praise from Ruby.
Head of Art and Design at Stockport Academy, Ms Stirling, said: “I am so proud of everyone who entered their artwork into this competition – the standard in our school was incredibly high and everyone put so much thought, effort and emotion in their pieces.”