Ella wins all-island art competition
A TALENTED young Arklow artist travelled to Croke Park last Sunday to be crowned a winner in the All-Island Credit Union Art Competition.
Ella Kelly, representing Arklow Credit Union, was the overall winner of the seven years and under group thanks to her wonderfully colourful creation.
In addition, to Ella’s fantastic achievement, two other young artists secured runner-up spots in their highly-competitive categories.
Sofia Kennedy from Altura Credit Union took second place in the eight to ten years group, while William Nolan, representing Baltinglass Credit Union, also took second spot in the eight to ten years age group for artists with learning disabilities.
Just like Ella, both Sofia and William created eye-catching and thought-provoking artworks in response to this year’s theme, ‘ The Force of Nature’. The theme inspired some deeply inspiring works among the 30,000 entries, ranging from depictions of catastrophic weather events, ethereal images of humans interacting with nature and a stark portrait of a child overcome by litter and pollution.
In all, there were eleven awards up for grabs and the category winners made their way to Croke Park on Sunday, where they received their cash prizes from MC Marty Whelan at the gala prize-giving ceremony. In addition to the winners, there were 22 runner-up and merit awards handed out to young artists ranging in age from under sevens to over 18s.
This is the 35th year of the all-island art competition, which is run by the Irish League of Credit Unions (ILCU).