Young artists in T&T have been asked to use their country as the inspiration for their landscape paintings.The plea came from president of the Women in Art Organisation of T&T, Fraulein Rudder, during Monday's prize-giving ceremony for the Women In Art Organisation of T&T's competition at the National Museum in Port-of-Spain.Rudder told the Form Five and Six students who participated in the competition that she had noticed some landscapes were copied and taken from other countries.She stressed that it was important the landscapes be original.
"Trinidad is a beautiful country, paint what we have here," Rudder said.Nicholas Chen, of St Stephen's College, Princes Town, won the Dr LeRoy Clarke trophy for the Most Outstanding Art Student, while International School student, Sarah Achim took the Dr Pat Bishop Trophy for Excellent Drawing.Winning the Republic Bank Trophy for Graphics in Corporate Use was Leonel Sorrillo of Presentation College, San Fernando.Students competed in seven categories of visual art, portrait, landscape/seascape, still life, experimental, sculpture, graphics and abstract.
Rudder said the work submitted by the students was of a higher standard as compared to previous years.Master artist LeRoy Clarke, described the students as courageous for taking on the task of doing art, in his address to them.He speculated that children seemed to lose their creativity as they pass through the school system.Clarke described Trinidad as a place which did not encourage art or freedom of expression. He gave an example of Trinbagonians following trends and said that T&T was a country of mimics."Art is a dedication... You must dedicate yourself to your art and in so doing you learn to dedicate yourself to life," he said.
Clarke, along with Zalayhar Hassanali, wife of the late president Noor Hassanali, and parliamentary secretary Neila Khan, presented trophies and prizes to the winning students.The prize-giving segment of the programme began with the distribution of distinguished trophies in recognition of the top students' excellence in art.The competition was a collaboration among the Women in Arts Organisation of T&T, the National Museum and Art Gallery, the Ministry of Arts and Multiculturalism and the Ministry of Education.