With less than four weeks to go before the 2009 deadline for entries to the EAC Over-60s Art Awards (26th October) we are making a big effort to bring the competition to artists’ attention, wherever they may live. Below are a few snippets from press releases that have gone out this week. Keep your eyes open for articles in the press near you, and for mentions on local BBC radio stations. Even better, tell your friends about the competition and help to make the 2009 Awards the best-ever!
Local Artist Knits her Way to Victory
Horley artist Joan Seabrook, who last year was a major prize-winner in an international art competition, is hoping to repeat her success in the 2009 EAC Art Awards.
The list of finalists for this year’s Awards will be announced at the end of October, and no doubt, Joan will have her fingers crossed that her work will once again be chosen for the annual exhibition at London’s Bankside Gallery, next to Tate Modern.
Last year, Joan, now aged 85, was stuck at home recovering from a knee operation, and decided to put her knitting skills to good use by creating a selection of fancy cakes out of odds and ends of wool. Entered under the title ‘Tea in the Garden’, Joan’s entry went on to scoop the Angela Farnell Memorial Prize at the 2008 prize giving. Joan is a member of the local Shed Art Group (www.shedart.co.uk), and this year has entered three works of art; two paintings and another knitted article! Can she repeat her 2008 success?
Local Artist Goes for Gold
Last year, after the EAC Over 60s finalists’ exhibition at the Bankside Gallery, Leslie Child’s winning picture ‘Leeds City Market Hall’ was snapped up by a gallery owner from Milan. Since then he has gone from strength to strength, having had exhibitions of his work in galleries at Knaresborough, Richmond, York, Selby and of course Leeds.
His local Leeds Images calendars and cards are now for sale in several Yorkshire outlets, and his picture of Leeds ‘Time-Ball Building’ was acquired by “Derwent” The Pencil Company, and is soon to be reproduced on their range of graphic pencils.
Age – Brush it Aside!
At the age of 89, Nan Leifer still paints each week with friends, and is a member of the Finchley Art Society. She began painting in 1992 – already a 70 year old - and has since attended art classes, experimenting with watercolours and acrylics and tackling portraits, landscapes, animals, plants and flowers. “I keep painting, and I hope I can go on painting, because it’s the most important thing in my life”, says Nan. She adds” I can’t sew any more, because my fingers are stiff, but I can still paint”, referring to a working life in the dress trade, which began in 1936, at the age of 16, in Mme Charmian’s Dress Shop, and progressed through to the cutting out and embellishment of beaded dresses and two-pieces for the Bond Street market.
Talented Twosome
In 2008, a mother and son duo from Bury St Edmunds both made it into the finals of an international art competition for the Over-60s. And this year they’re hoping to repeat their amazing success.
What is even more amazing, however, is that Edna Dray, aged 82, is partially sighted and can only complete her works of art with the aid of a magnifying glass, painstakingly working on outlines and colours. Her son, Mick Beale, a self-taught artist aged 62, joined his mum in entering the EAC Art Awards last year, with his picture ‘High Summer Meadow’, never expecting to reach the finals. In the event, both mother and son’s work was exhibited at London’s Bankside Gallery last year, next door to the Tate Modern. Can the talented twosome continue their successful partnership?
