A celebration of young, artistic talent
here was great excitement at the prizegiving of the annual Violet & Anne Bellingham Art Awards, hosted yet again at the picturesque Sumaridge Wine Estate in Hemel-en-Aarde on Saturday, 15 June.
This is the largest student art competition of the Overstrand region, with entries having poured in from several local schools, including Hermanus High School, Northcliff House College, Houston Secondary and Overberg High School. The competition is open to learners from Grade 9 – 12 and the categories include Visual Art; 3-D Art; and Fabric, Textiles & Design.
In addition to these prizes, another category was added this year, the Public Choice Award, which gave members of the public the opportunity to vote for their favourite artwork. The Tasting Room at Sumaridge was buzzing on Saturday as visitors admired the artworks on display and rushed to get their votes in before the cut-off time at 18:00.
The standard was particularly high this year and it was no easy task for the judges to select the winners. They were Michaela Lawrence (Visual Art Award), Matilda Pillay (Fabric, Textiles & Design Award) and Kristen Ganz (Daval Award for 3-D Art), all three from Hermanus High School. The Public Choice Award went to Neil Bosch from Northcliff House College.
Congratulations to all the winners, as well as those learners who achieved second and third places, ‘highly recommended’ and ‘most dedication’.
Jozua Rossouw, one of the organisers, said the aim of the competition is to become even more inclusive. “The Anne & Violet Bellingham Art Awards are not only aimed at discovering, encouraging and rewarding artistic talent among our local youth, but also to build bridges between communities and people of different cultures, races, ages, and lifestyles. The one thing that brings people together in a multi-cultural society like ours, is the love of art.”