CARA WINS PRESTIGIOUS ZURICH AWARD
Portrait wows the judges
The talented young Ravensdale artist Cara Pilbeam has scored another success when she won the 16-18 years category of the inaugural Zurich Young Portrait Prize at the National Gallery of Ireland last week.
A 17 year old Leaving Cert student at St Vincent’s Secondary School, Cara wowed the judges Hetty Lawlor (finalist in the 2018 Sky Arts Portrait Artist of the Year) and artists Perry Ogden and Brendan Rooney with her self-portrait Eire: Study of a Young Woman.
A delighted Cara said she was ‘chuffed’ to have her work hanging on the walls of the National Gallery. ‘It’s so cool.’
She says that she has been interested in art for as long as she can remember and hopes to study art at the National College of Art and Design, Dublin when she finishes her Leaving Cert.
Her delicate self-portrait was created from a photo using colouring pencils.
In her artists’ statement, she explains, ‘ This work is inspired by what it means to be a young woman in Ireland today, on the threshold of her future. I am layered with fabric from different countries that represent our modern day, multi-cultured Ireland. I love traditional aspects of portraiture in works by the artists John Lavery and Johannes Vermeer but I wanted to create a portrait with contemporary elements.’
‘ The art department in St Vincent’s is amazing and so supportive,’ she said, adding that her teacher Ms Woods had helped her so much along the way.
Ms Deirdre Mathews, principal of St Vincent’s Secondary School, where Cara studies are with teacher Caoimhe Woods, said her success was ‘marvellous and so well deserved’. She also paid tribute to the school’s art department for bringing out the best of their students’ talents.
Cara was presented with her a personalised box of high quality art materials alongside a cash prize of €250 at a reception in the National Gallery.
This is just the latest of a number of high profile prizes which Cara has won, as she has had success in the Texaco Children’s Art competition, the Credit Union poster competition and has her work on display in Trinity College as a result of winning a prize in their Book of Kells competition.