Trinity Open Art Awards winners

Last week, Trinity’s Art Department hosted a private viewing of this year’s Open Art Award submissions in the school’s Shaw Gallery.  

The Open Art Award is an annual competition and has been running since 2008. It is open to the whole school community including students, family (parents and siblings) and staff. There is no set theme, but aspiring artists are encouraged to be ambitious and free in their subjects and media – whether video, needlework, painting or photography. 

This year’s overall winner is Upper Sixth student Alice whose striking pink Sphynx cat painting delighted the Art Department judges.   

Alice is not currently studying Art at Trinity but says, “I wanted to enter the competition to challenge myself to completing a piece because I often get so busy with other things that I forget how much I enjoy painting. I’m a very creative person and I’ve always enjoyed experimenting with different mediums. I love all cats, but I find Sphynx cats so appealing as they seem almost other worldly to me.  

“I was so impressed by the other Open Art Award entries, the diversity in mediums used and themes explored through the school community.” 

The Lower School runners up were First Year Delali for his drawings and a joint entry from First Years Aras and Oliver who created a Cosmic Catastrophe Fanzine!

The Upper School runners up were Fifth Year Ethan for his sculpture ‘Hope’ and Lower Sixth Former Tanay for his sculpture ‘Age of Man’.  

The Family Winner 2022 was from Ayanda and Rufaro, sister and mother of student Thabo, for their beautiful watercolour paintings.

The staff awards go to Teacher of History Mr Hutchings for his impressive series of woven tapestries and Maintenance Assistant Mr Hatton for his wonderfully dark 1980s film inspired ink drawings. 

Ms Stevens-Lewis, Teacher of Art and one of the Open Art Award judges, says, “The quality of this year’s entries has been remarkable. It is especially pleasing to see such a broad range of different creative skills within the school community. Well done to all involved.” 

Our current Artist in Residence Laurence Watchorn’s work was also part of the private viewing in the Shaw Gallery. A 2017 alumnus, Laurence recently graduated from the Slade School of Fine Art and is intending to study an MA course in Fine Art. He will be working with art students over the coming months, running various workshops to share his knowledge and experience.