A celebration of student creativity in Scotland, the RSA Schools Art Award has been running since 1986, and this year’s exhibition of winning entries is now live. From Stromness to Castle Douglas, Oban to Edinburgh, the level of creativity and imagination demonstrated was excellent. We received over 1,000 submissions from schools across Scotland, and our judges, including RSA President Gareth Fisher, had some tough decisions to make.
Brodies LLP, our award sponsor, welcomed the 32 winning students, accompanied by teachers and parents, to their headquarters in Edinburgh earlier this month for our award ceremony. We heard from Gareth Fisher PRSA and Brodies Chair Christine O'Neill, and our winners were presented with certificates, prizes and graphics tablets courtesy of our associate sponsor XP Pen.
Mae Barr from Campbeltown Grammar School received 1st prize in the 2024 Chairs Challenge. The theme for the challenge was "The World Needs More of This!”, and Mae’s work looks at the impact of climate change on the world’s animals: 'The chair’s challenge made me think about raising awareness of this issue. I wanted to paint the polar bears because they are affected by climate change, we see them balancing on tiny melting icebergs. By adding the skeleton cubs, I show what a lack of awareness would mean to all living things on the planet.'
Mae Barr, Campbeltown Grammar School
1st prize in the Junior Category went to Ryley Smith from Bannerman High for his self-portrait: 'I learned how to use the Bargue drawing method and applied it to my initial sketch of my self-portrait. I then blocked in major colours, focussing on skin tones and then later shadows and finer details. Afterwards, I started layering different colours to create unique shadows and tones in the skin. Finally I worked on details such as highlights in the eyes and hair. I feel extremely privileged to have won 1st place and appreciate the Royal Scottish Academy, has given me the confidence to keep trying challenging paintings.'
Ryley Smith, Bannerman High
Darcy Duguid from Dollar Academy received one of our Brodies Regional Awards, which celebrate students studying at schools located outside of the central belt: 'In creating this photograph, I really wanted to explore the effects of mental health issues and the impact that they have on human emotions in a minimalistic yet emotive way. I took a lot of inspiration from Edward Honaker, a famous photographer who faced a lot of his own mental health issues whilst growing up and conveyed this through his images.'
Darcy Duguid, Dollar Academy
We are incredibly thankful to Brodies LLP who have supported the awards since 2016, and we’d also like to thank our new Associate Sponsor for 2024, XP Pen.
