We are delighted to announce the winners of our May City Art Stars schools competition.
This month there were four primary schools that took part in the City Art Stars programme. Weekly, interactive art sessions have been delivered via Microsoft Teams to three classes from Dalry Primary School, two classes from Clovenstone Primary School, two classes from Craigentinny Primary School and one class from Royal Mile Primary School; 167 pupils in total. The art sessions were inspired by paintings from the City Art Centre, as well as our Edinburgh museum collections such as the Museum of Childhood. They encourage children to discuss artworks and objects and to get creative.
The themes this month were fantasy creatures, abstraction, landscapes, toy designers and sculpture designs. For session one, pupils were asked to invent and draw their own fantasy creature inspired by the mythological paintings of John Duncan from City Art Centre. Our abstraction session used paintings from the City Art Centre to inspire children to create their own abstract compositions. We made our own string printing plates and then used them to create summer grass landscape artworks influenced by Joan Eardley’s paintings from the City Art Centre collection. Using images of toys from the Museum of Childhood as stimuli, pupils invented their own unique toy designs for session four and for our final session we discussed the artwork ‘Coda’ by Doug Cocker from the City Art Centre collection. Children then used cut paper shapes to create their own balanced sculpture designs.
This month’s winning artworks were voted for by City Art Centre staff and the Culture & Communities Committee at the City of Edinburgh Council:
Gold Award – Natalia, Dalry Primary School P4a
Natalia’s confident compositional arrangement impressed our judges. We loved the attention to detail in her collage and bold use of cut out shapes. The sense of movement that Natalia has created by layering printed paper in different directions makes this artwork appear alive with nature and effectively evokes the feel of a summer’s day. Brilliant work!
Silver Award - Lalitesh, Clovenstone Primary School P7
The imagination used in this artwork is by Lalitesh really impressed our judges. There is such a high level of detail in this piece of work, from the specific and thoughtful written description, to the excellent drawing of each scale and tooth on this creature. So much work has gone into this and we think it is fantastic. Well done!
Silver Award - Kanyarat, Royal Mile Primary School P7
We were very impressed by Kanyarat’s precise attention to line and pattern in this abstract work. The rainbow colour palette used is beautiful and it is clear that the arrangement of these shapes has been carefully thought out by the artist. Kanyarat has confidently used a variety of the visual elements to create this brilliant artwork. Well done!
Bronze Award – Shiyarini, Dalry Primary School P4b
This sculpture design artwork by Shiyarini demonstrates an impressive use of compositional balance. Our judges really enjoyed the fun use of colour and pattern in this artwork and were impressed by the execution of this complicated balancing act between unusual shapes. This artwork really made us smile and we thought that it would make an amazing real-life sculpture! Well done!
Bronze Award - Lauren, Clovenstone Primary School P7
Our judges thought that this artwork by Lauren was ‘beautifully and joyfully abstract’. This piece demonstrates a highly effective use of colour and pattern to create a balanced and eye-catching abstract composition. The use of layering and overlapping of shapes in this artwork give it an impressive sense of depth. One of our judges commented ‘this could be in a museum’. Well done Lauren!
All of our winners will receive certificates and an art materials prize.
If you would like your primary school to have the opportunity to take part in our exciting, interactive art programme, contact our schools engagement officer, Hannah at hannah.nugent@edinburgh.gov.uk to discuss eligibility.
