Prize-winning student artwork to feature in Finsbury Trust offices

Mathieu Busto won the Finsbury Trust-Bayside School Art Competition with his piece, New York 5th Avenue, as announced at a prize-giving ceremony at the school.

CEO of Finsbury Trust Benjy Cuby made the announcement flanked by directors and judges Bianca Daniell and Maurice Perera, and in the presence of the Minister for Education, Dr John Cortes.

The Key Stage 3 category winner was Amal Al Labed for her work, Lavender Fields.

Second prize went to Aimee Linares for her painting, La Calle Comedia, and third prize went to Luciana Murray for her Final Destination.

Six students received a Highly Commended for their work, namely Highly Commended Movinsia Jesuira Raj for Heaven, Isabella Macedo for OV Reflections, Leah Duarte with a painting of the Finsbury Trust building, Alba Bocarisas for Irish Town, Arianne Mena for Upper Town Steps, and Erin Rodriguez for Med Steps View.

Dr Cortes called the initiative “a wonderful example of how our education system is promoting the arts.”

“Today, I can confidently say that supporting our young people in artistic pursuits makes for a brighter, more creative Gibraltar.”

The initiative, born out of a collaboration between local artist and Bayside teacher Karl Ullger and Mr Cuby, aims to generate enthusiasm for art well beyond the confines of the school curriculum.

“We want to try and nurture them as young as possible, this promotes it,” said Mr Ullger.

Mr Cuby said: “We recently bought a new building, and we refurbished it. We have lots of empty space, and for us, it was a bit of a leap of faith.”

“We thought, you know what, we think the young artists in Gibraltar, the emerging artists in Gibraltar students, are able to produce works that we will be proud of to put up in our office.”

Different to most other exhibitions, this competition also focuses on Key Stage 3 pupils, encouraging children as young as 11 to create and display their work alongside older students.

The competition drew in over 80 students, submitting 105 artworks, many of whom had little or no formal teaching and certainly no experience exhibiting and seeing others view their art.

“For the kids to develop their confidence, to develop their skill, you need to see what others are doing,” said Mr Ullger.

“We want to try and nurture them as young as possible. Because what happens a lot… my daughter’s nine years old, and she’s very, very meticulous and lacks that self-confidence when she sees something that doesn’t look like what it should be.”

“Well, it doesn’t need to look like how it should be. And I think this promotes it.”

Finsbury Trust, whose support was vital according to Mr Ullger, recently refurbished a new office and sought to infuse its space with fresh creativity.

“We thought the young artists in Gibraltar are able to produce works we will be proud to put in our office,” said Mr Cuby, who described the judging process as “tougher than anticipated” due to the high number and quality of submissions.

Ultimately, four cash prizes and six Highly Commended awards were handed out.

“Before we came in to do the judging, we thought, we’re not quite sure what’s the quality going to be like, you know? Is this something that we were going to be able to put up in our offices?

And then we were blown away, in terms of number and quality of the pieces that we saw,” said Mr Cuby.

Mr Ullger said that he was very grateful to the sponsors.

“I think it helps to promote it even more outside the closed community of just students. And again, it gives them more exposure and helps to dress up the building, which is a beautiful building they’ve just recently moved into,” he said.

This collaboration between teachers, parents, and community sponsors culminated in a vibrant showcase, with parents flocking to see their children’s achievements.

“It’s important that some of these students may not have ever gone to a museum or gallery—this is hopefully the first of many opportunities,” said Mr Ullger who praised his colleagues at Bayside for their hard work in getting the project to fruition.

Looking ahead, Mr Cuby expressed hope that the project would extend to other schools and become a recurring feature in Gibraltar’s artistic calendar.