Art competition repeated
THE art competition organised by Mercia Marina on the Trent & Mersey Canal has proved so popular that it is to be repeated next year.
The competition, that was in conjunction with the annual Willington Arts Festival, received dozens of entries in the 12 months prior to the judging during the May Bank Holiday weekend.
Essence of the marina
People were invited to submit artworks of any discipline that captured the essence of Mercia Marina, in a choice of four categories—Spring, Summer, Autumn or Winter.
Visitors to the arts festival, held between the 5th and 7th May, were invited to vote for their favourite artworks in each of the four categories, with the most popular entry being judged the overall winner.
Overall winner
After the votes had been calculated, blacksmith artist Hayley Powell (pictured) was crowned the overall winner with her ironwork sculpture of a pair of magpies, which won the Spring category.
The other category winners were: David Tremane (Summer) for his large oil painting of a swan; Ursula Kay (Autumn) for her oil painting entitled ‘Homecoming 2012'; and Barbara Wain (Winter) for her ‘Snowy Outlook', painted in acrylics.
Brian Davies, organizer of the Willington Arts Festival, exclaimed:
"The competition was a big success and visitors to the festival and arts trail really got involved because of the voting—so a definite for next year's festival."
Free trip
All category winners were given a bottle of champagne, while Ms Powell also won a free trip boat excursion along the Trent & Mersey Canal and river network for herself and 11 guests.
Tony Preston, Sales and Marketing Manager of Mercia Marina, who organised the competition, enthused:
"We were taken aback by the high number of entries we received. It was a huge success. Visitors to the arts festival were really engaged with the competition, as we had hundreds of votes to count. With such a great response, we'll definitely be repeating the competition for next year's festival.
"We had everything from abstract photography to some fabulous paintings of boats and swans. This whole idea has really helped to bring boater art back on the map."
Further details on the 2013 Mercia Marina art competition will be announced in due course.