Do you know a young person in Years 11-13 who has a passion for Art & Craft? ArtSpark young artist competition has an exciting opportunity to receive one-on-one tuition from a professional artist, along with £75 worth of art materials. Encourage them to apply and take advantage of this fantastic initiative where they could gain valuable skills and confidence.

Last year’s winners were Anjali Shanker and Freddie Hodges. Anjali, a Year 12 student, chose to learn silver jewellery making with award winning jewellery designer and author, Janet Richardson. Meanwhile, Freddie who was a year 11 student, focused on mastering oil painting for portraiture under the guidance of professional artist Sue Tilbury (top image).

“Freddie and Anjali had an incredibly enriching experience. Winning the competition not only boosted their confidence but also provided invaluable learning opportunities that are not typically available in a traditional school setting”, said Wendy Penrose, chair of the Henley Arts Trail committee.

She continued, “When I set up ArtSpark last year it was with the purpose of supporting up-and-coming young artists. To give them recognition and confidence but more importantly to teach them skills in specialist media that they might not have experience of in school. There are so many different ways of being creative and the winners of ArtSpark get to choose from one of seven different types of media to be taught by a one of the professional artist from the Henley Arts Trail”.

New to the competition this year, ArtSpark has announced that Daler Rowney is generously offering the winners £75 worth of art materials. This is in addition to the specialist tuition, which is sponsored by The Art Society Henley. The winners will receive their awards from the Mayor of Henley at the Henley Arts Trail launch party on 12th March at The Plough Shiplake.

The winners get to choose from silver jewellery making, photography, wheel thrown pottery, sculpture, watercolours, oil painting, and life drawing.

The competition is open to students in years 11, 12 or 13. The deadline to apply by is 28th February 2025.

The online application can be found here: www.henleyartstrail.com/artspark