SAATCHI GALLERY
Winners announced for the Saatchi Gallery Art Prize For Schools 2017, which attracted 24,000 entries from 66 countries.
London, 10 July 2017: The Saatchi Gallery is delighted to announce the winners of the 2017 Saatchi Gallery Art Prize for Schools.
Adam Hall, 17 years old, from Bolton School Boys’ Division, UK, won the Secondary School category for his mixed media installation Bolton School: A Modern Tradition. A group of 9-11 year old students from Samuel Marsden Collegiate School in New Zealand were awarded first place in the Primary School category for their installation Matariki–Maori New Year. Both category winners received £1,000 and their respective schools’ art departments were awarded £5,000 each to spend on art and computer equipment.
The overall winner is the group of students from New Zealand, who were awarded an additional £2,000 and collected a further £10,000 for their school.
The winners were announced by Nigel Hurst, CEO of the Saatchi Gallery at an exclusive reception at the Saatchi Gallery in London on 4 July, 2017.
The panel of judges this year includes Alice Anderson, Artist; Alistair Hicks, Writer and Curator; Dea Vanagan, Director, Hauser & Wirth Somerset; Megan Piper, Gallerist and Founder of The Line and Nigel Hurst, CEO of the Saatchi Gallery.
“Participating as a judge for the Saatchi Gallery Art Prize for Schools was a privilege- to witness the creativity and openness of young students from around the world, some as young as four years old. Its overriding worth is the opportunity for children to share in a creative experience with their peers and create connections from such an early stage in their artistic development. It’s encouraging that so many worked in collaboration, and I’m pleased to be part of a Prize that helps direct much needed awareness and funds towards supporting creative education around the world, especially as education budgets are ever more stretched”.
Dea Vanagan, Director, Hauser & Wirth Somerset.
The Saatchi Gallery has a 30-year-long history of supporting emerging artists and bringing contemporary art to the widest possible audience. Saatchi Gallery Art Prize for Schools aims to support and encourage budding young artists by providing them with a platform to showcase their work, and give them the confidence to continue studying art and to consider a creative career.
Alongside the Prize, the Saatchi Gallery offers tailored artist-led workshops to pupils from schools where the need is greatest. The workshops increase pupils’ understanding of fine art processes and provide the opportunity to work with specialist art materials, helping pupils to explore and realise their creative potential. Artist-led Continued Professional Development (CPD) workshops are also offered to art teachers from these schools. The workshops aim to support art teachers who are working with limited resources by providing space, time, solutions and ideas to approaching art making, and ultimately serve to open up the Schools Prize to students from all educational backgrounds.
More details and the full shortlist can be viewed at: