Creative juices flow in school art competition

THE artistic talent of schoolchildren has been recognised at an art exhibition in St Mary’s Church in Warwick.

The schools art competition has been sponsored by St Mary’s Hall Trust, which each year presents winners with gift tokens for themselves and cheques for their school art department.

This year, the judges — prominent artists Richard Yeomans, former head of the Art Education Department at Warwick University, and George Wagstaff — welcomed an increased proportion of individual work by younger children, giving pupils a greater opportunity to produce their potential creativity at an early age.

There were winners in a number of different categories: Will Stevens and Marco Lin from Warwick School; Amandeep Bhaura, Jake Crooks, Hannah Fardoe, Rebecca Morris, Rebecca Clear, Maya Gataaura, Cala Limouth, Bronwyn Hansen and Callum Hansen, all from Myton School; Sophie Davies, Mollie Donaldson, Olivia Feller, Esme Fergusson, Katharine Goodbourne, Molly Lock, Isabelle Meeke and Sasha Taylor, all from King’s High School.

There were also group prizes for Myton School, Warwick School, Warwick Junior School, Warwick Preparatory School, St Mary Immaculate School, Woodloes Primary School and Emscote Infant School.

Trust chairman, Richard Thornton, said: “Everyone has been commenting on the very high standard of artwork produced by these pupils.

“It is astonishing and probably the best work we have yet seen in the ten years of the competition. “The exhibition has become ever more successful and we understand that no other town promotes a similar event that offers a comparable public platform for the display of works of art produced in its schools.”

St Mary’s Hall Trust is a century-old charity which supports the residents of the town, with particular emphasis on art, music and drama, especially within schools.