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14 March 2022
The Annual Junior Schools’ Art Exhibition was hosted at Malvern St James Girls’ School on Saturday 5 March where pupils from schools within the West Midlands, Worcestershire and Gloucestershire area were invited to exhibit their best art pieces in front of over 200 guests.
The work submitted for this event ranged widely from abstract paintings to photographs, ceramics, and chalk. Croissants and hot drinks were on offer to all visitors as they toured the Art Department, gaining a chance to take in the wonderful artwork submitted for the exhibition, and even observe some MSJ pupils in action, working on their GCSE and A-Level pieces.
Guest Judge and local artist, Mariette Voke, viewed and judged all art entries and was very impressed by the quantity and quality of this year’s contenders.
Mariette said, “What an honour to be asked to be the judge of the Malvern St James Art Exhibition. It was an absolute joy to see all of the children’s work, so much colour and creativity. I spent four hours, two cups of tea and five chocolate biscuits having a really good look at all the entries. I loved them all, each picture was a winner in its own way, from the careful pencil drawings, the exuberance of coloured paint, the characterful and lively animals and birds, exciting prints, and collages, to the bold three dimensional and group work. I thoroughly enjoyed Saturday’s event. The welcoming clatter, colour and energy of the art department were uplifting, and it was heartening to see such enthusiasm for the creative arts. Every one of us should be encouraged to either start, or to keep on, painting, drawing, and making!”
Children got the chance to view their own project exhibited amongst other creations, gathering a wide amount of inspiration for their own artistic journeys.
The Art Exhibition included 11 invited schools who all had work submitted and displayed for judging. The schools who participated were Hereford Cathedral School, Berkhampstead School, based in Cheltenham, Colwall CofE Primary School, Hatherop Castle School, The Croft Preparatory School, Bromsgrove School, Abberley Hall School, The Blue Coat School located in Birmingham, The Downs Malvern, The Elms School, and Eastnor C of E Primary School.
Headmistress of Malvern St James Girls’ School, Mrs Olivera Raraty, presented the prizes and certificates for those selected as either Highly Commended or Winners. Categories included 3D Artwork and Photography, as well as prizes for the Winner and Highly Commended Artists in each Year Group.
Head of Art and design at Malvern St James, Ms Weissberg commented, “On Saturday MSJ hosted the annual Junior school Art event, after two years of absence due to covid. The entire event was held in the Art department, which allowed for GCSE and A level students to show their work to highly appreciative visiting children and parents. Eleven schools submitted a wide range of exciting work in a variety of media and our visiting judge artist Mariette Voke, had the difficult job of selecting the winners from the highly creative submissions. Despite the chilly weather the event was very well attended and was clearly much appreciated by all.”
