Thurles student wins Texaco art prize

Following three near misses, a Co Tipperary student has finally taken home the main prize in the Texaco Children's Art Competition.

Keith Blake (18) from Ballingarry, Thurles, took first place out of the 30,000-plus entries in this year's contest, having previously won merit awards in 2008 and 2010 and third prize in 2009.

His self-portrait, entitled A Warm Place, was selected from a broad field that included a view of Arklow Harbour, a 13-year-old girl's take on the abstract art of Rene Magritte and a colourful bouquet of flowers.

Keith, a student at Presentation Secondary School in Thurles, who hopes to study art after he sits his Leaving Cert this summer, received a prize of €2,000 for winning the competition.

His oil-painting will also go on display at an exhibition hosted by the International Federation for Arts and Culture in Tokyo’s Ueno Royal Museum later this year. “It’s pretty weird to think it’ll end up in Japan,” he said.

Keith, who said he may spend his winnings on a car, was just one of the 161 award winners - ranging in age from four to 19 - announced at the Hugh Lane Gallery in Dublin today.

Kerry Grimes (8) from Scoil Naomh Éanna in Carrickmacross, Co Monaghan, won the 7- and 8-year-olds category for her striking crayon drawing of a bouquet, entitled Flower Power.

Two category winners from Co Mayo made use of light to capture the essence of older men for their entries.

Bryna Molloy from Ballina won the 14- to 15-year-old category for her entry, Despair, an image of a pained, older man, while Shania McDonagh from Claremorris took first prize in the 12- to 13-year-old category with her drawing Bill.

Juliette Morrison (13), from St Vincent's Secondary School in Dundalk, Co Louth, said her entry Raining Men, which took second place in the 12- and 13-year-olds category, was her first attempt at abstract art. It featured a self-portrait inside a self-portrait against a backdrop of men falling from the sky.

“My art teacher took a picture of me holding a book of Magritte, and I drew myself in the canvas on the book and then in the canvas again,” she said.

Judging panel chairman Prof Declan McGonagle, of the National College of Art and Design, said the level of skill among competition entrants was increasing each year.

“The standard is very high, and what is clear is that a lot of young people are not only getting support in school to do this but also in their family,” he said.