Portrait artist of the year competition

A teenager who hot footed it from her maths GSCE exam to take part in Brockington House Care Community’s unique portrait artist of the year competition saw her effort rewarded with first prize.

Liza took her maths exam in the morning and then immediately rushed to Brockington to join her fellow other students from Hereford College of Arts, along with students from Hereford Sixth Form College, competing in this year’s event.

This is the third year the competition has been staged and is believed to be the first of its kind in a care home in the UK, with the ladies and gentlemen who live at Brockington House spending the day acting as models whilst the young artists used a variety of different mediums including charcoal, paints, ink and digital to create the portraits.

A judging panel, consisting of local artist Mark Stewart of Sunrise Giants, Brockington House Home Deputy Director Alex Onisor, Brockington House Activity Lead Tara Chatterly-Russell, and Dormy Care Communities Chief Executive Helen Davies-Parsons, reviewed all the work before selecting the top three.

After much deliberation and careful consideration, the title of Portrait Artist of the Year, and a Hobbycraft voucher worth £150, was awarded to 16-year-old Liza for her drawing of Frances, one of the ladies at Brockington House.

The runners-up – Liberty and Enzo  – were also presented with vouchers.

Liza, who was taking her GSCE maths exam as a result of moving to the UK from Ukraine, said: “This is my first year at college so I can’t believe I have won the competition; it’s a beautiful feeling.”

Mark Stewart, of Sunrise Giants, said: “Liza was a deserving winner as she really captured the whole soul of Frances in her drawing. It was an amazing piece of work for someone so young.”

Helen Davies-Parsons, Chief Executive of Dormy Care Communities, said: “This is the third year we have run the competition and it gets better each time.

“It’s clear we have some very talented artists in our community and this made the judging very difficult as everyone had captured our lovely ladies and gentlemen so well.”

Kay Rambaud, Curriculum Leader at Hereford College of Arts, said: “It was wonderful to take part in the competition again this year as it’s something our students very much look forward to. It’s even more special that Liza won given she has had to contend with cultural differences since moving from Ukraine and taking her GSCE exam on the same day as the competition.”

Phil Tranter, Deputy Principal at Hereford Sixth Form College, said: “Our students produced some excellent work and it’s fantastic experience for them, not only from an artistic perspective but also generally building their confidence in situations which are a little different than they are used to.”