Derbyshire Young Artists of the Year celebrated at Chesterfield College
The winners of Chesterfield College’s Derbyshire Young Artist of the Year competition were announced last week at an event which launched an exhibition of the stunning entries received from young artists across the county. This was the first event in Chesterfield College’s Arts Festival, which runs until 28 June.
The competition was open to school children in Year 4 to Year 13, who were asked to produce an illustration, a painting or collage, photography or a 3D sculpture on the theme of “The environment and me.” Now in its third year, a record number of entries were received this year with judges commenting on the high standard of work when carrying out the tricky task of shortlisting the finalists.
Competition entrants, their families and their teachers gathered to see the work on display in West Studios before certificates were awarded to the finalists.
Isobel Greene, winner of the Visual Arts Year 7-9 category created a striking acrylic painting on canvas of planets in outer space with a single red balloon floating in the sky. She explained what inspired her:
“To follow the theme I wanted to create something about how I feel about the fact we’re ruining the environment. When you let go of a balloon it escapes all that, but we’re still trapped down here. I wish I could be that balloon escaping. I worked on my piece at home but I have chosen to do Art GCSE at school next year. If I could be an artist one day I would. It is really nice to win this competition.”
Evie Burgon, winner of the 3D category explained the thought process behind her entry and how she created the piece. She said:
“I created the earth using a balloon and papier-mâché. I asked my cousins to put hand prints on the earth to represent the younger generation protecting the earth. For the back panel I used my mum’s footprints to represent the older generation’s carbon footprint. I wanted the contrast between the negative impact and the positive and that it isn’t too late to do something about it. I started by collecting newspaper cuttings of headlines about the environment and I’ve used them on the sculpture. It took me about 2 weeks to create it. It feels good to have won.”
Harry Bell, Winner of the Visual Arts Year 4-6 category, chose to create a painting using acrylics inspired by a view of a beach out to sea with a stormy sky from the Tate Gallery in St Ives. He said:
“St Ives is one of my favourite places to go. We went to the Tate when we were there in the Easter holidays and when I saw the view out to sea from there I decided I wanted to paint it for the competition. My mum took a photo and when I got home I started using acrylics on canvas. I wanted to create texture so I mixed sand from the beach in the paint and mixed colours to show the stormy sky and sea. Winning this competition gives me a lot of confidence to paint a lot more.”
Finalists of each category are:
3D category
Winner: Evie Burgon
Finalist: Martha Bramwell
Photography category
Winner: Christian Spence
Finalist: Neve McMahon
Finalist: Ellie Mae Cooper
Finalist: Daniel Azoulay
Visual Art category, Years 4-6
Winner: Harry Bell
Finalist: Charlotte Faulkner
Finalist: Kyle D
Finalist: Stephanie Wells
Visual Art category, Years 7-9
Winner: Isobel Greene
Finalist: Tansy Hoyland
Finalist: Mason Chapman
Visual Art category, Years 10-13
Winner: Courtney Lewis
Finalist: Mia Dickerson
Finalist: Kira Cooper
The exhibition of the Young Artists’ work is open to the public until 28 June and forms part of the college’s Arts Festival which celebrates the work of art, design and fashion students. The annual fashion show is on the 26th June at 7pm, tickets can be reserved online ( https://www.chesterfield.ac.uk/event/fashion-show-2019/2019-06-26/2/ ).
