Four young people in Edinburgh were celebrated for their artistic achievements at a ceremony at the National Gallery of Scotland last night when the Paolozzi Prize for Art was awarded.
The overall winner of this year’s prestigious Paolozzi Prize for Art was Lorna Searl, an S6 pupil at Boroughmuir High School, who was presented with a £500 prize, with the three other winners each receiving a £250 prize.
Peyton Murdoch, from James Gillespie’s High School won the ‘New Directions’ category, Siobhan Anderson, Edinburgh Secure Services came out on top in the ‘Overcoming Barriers’ category, and Kit Andrew, St. Thomas of Aquin’s High School, won the ‘Talent and Creativity’ award.
Nominations, which were open to pupils in S4, S5 and S6 Art, were judged by a panel of art experts: Scottish artist Richard Demarco, Dundee academic Michael Spens who commissioned the Paolozzi ceilings at Cleish Castle, Duncan Robertson, freelancer with National Gallery’s Education team, who trained in Paolozzi’s class in Munich, and Councillor Paul Edie who had the original idea to set up the prize.
Education Convener, Councillor Paul Godzik said:- “This prize is all about recognising and rewarding the next generation of creative talent, and I’ve been very impressed by the calibre of the work submitted. I’d like to congratulate our four worthy prizewinners, and everyone who took the time to submit their work. I hope that for some of our participants, this is the first step in a successful artistic career”.
Artist and judge Duncan Robertson said:-“Eduardo Paolozzi was a great encourager of young talent, and would have been very supportive of this award in his name. I was extremely impressed with the standard of the entries, and while it was difficult to decide between the candidates in many of the categories, Lorna really stood out as the overall winner.”
This annual prize was organised by the City of Edinburgh Council’s Arts and Learning and Children and Families teams, in partnership with the National Gallery of Scotland.
Sir Eduardo Paolozzi (1924-2005) was a ground-breaking, Edinburgh-born artist renowned for his sculptures, prints, paintings and tapestries. His most famous works include the coloured mosaic in London’s Tottenham Court Road underground station and the iconic foot sculpture located at the top of Edinburgh’s Leith Walk.
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