What does St Albans mean to you? Budding artists are invited to pick up their pens and paint brushes and present a picture celebrating our amazing city.
The Maltings Art Prize 2019 is for youngsters aged four to 18, and is looking for 2D artwork or 3D ceramics on the theme of St Albans, whether that’s how you spend your weekend, a memorable event which takes place in the city, or an iconic landmark.
The top prize is £1,000 for the winning child’s school art department, and £250 for them, but all finalists will receive trophies recognising their work, and the winning pieces will go on display at St Albans Museum + Gallery later this year.
Centre manager Phil Corrigan said: “We have been looking at doing an art competition for some time now, and as the Maltings is the principal sponsor of the Barbara Hepworth Exhibition at the St Albans Museum and Gallery, now seemed like the perfect time to launch the Maltings Art Prize 2019.
“We are always looking at ways of engaging with the local community and this project is designed to support and encourage the development of art skills from the students of St Albans-based schools, so the two dovetail really nicely. If it goes well we may even roll it out as an annual project, we look forward to receiving lots of wonderful artwork from the budding young artists in St Albans – good luck everyone!”
There are five different groups for entries: Group One (Years 12-13, ages 16 – 18) Group Two (Years 9-11, ages 13-16), Group Three (Years 6 to 8, ages 10-13), Group Four (Years 3-5 , ages seven to 10) and Group Five (Reception to Year 2, ages four to seven).
Pupils are invited to use pencils, inks, watercolours, acrylic paints, oil pastels, fixed chalk pastels and ceramics, but prints and photographs are not permitted. Groups One and Two should use A4 to A3 maximum, Groups Three and Four A4 maximum, and ceramics should be no bigger than 30cm by 30cm.
Artwork should include the child’s name, contact details, date of birth, name of current school and group category they are entering.
Schools should register via email to hertsad@archant.co.uk using the subject of Maltings Art Prize between April 1 and 5pm on May 24, and artwork should be dropped off at the management office at The Maltings Shopping Centre by July 31.