Future Artists Celebrated at the Cooper Gallery

As part of the Cooper Gallery’s latest exhibition, Light and Soul, Early Impressions of the French Landscape, a competition was launched to inspire and encourage young emerging talent. 

Barnsley Museums, working in collaboration with Barnsley’s Cultural Education Partnership, launched the Art Competition for Schools 2023 to coincide with the exhibition. It aimed to encourage children aged 4-18 to use the themes from the exhibition of nature and the landscape to create their own artwork. 

There was a huge response to the competition with over a hundred and seventy entries from schools across the borough. Judges were amazed at the range of artwork and the level of talent from the budding artists.

After a tricky judging process 15 winners were chosen and their work is now on display in the Sadler Room at the Cooper Gallery. The children who created the artwork were invited to the Light and Soul exhibition launch event at which they could not only see their artwork on display but also received a prize sponsored by the Trustees of the Cooper Gallery. 

As well as the physical exhibition the artwork is also available to view on the Cooper Gallery website as part of an online exhibition.

Cllr Robert Frost, Cabinet Spokesperson for Regeneration and Culture, said: “We have an abundance of artists' talent in Barnsley, and it's important that it is nurtured and encouraged. We were blown away by the level of talent from the entries and are proud to be able to display them in the Gallery as part of the exhibition. The children were delighted to see their artwork included and we hope it inspires them to continue expressing their creativity in the future.”

 Entry to the exhibition is free of charge, contact the Gallery for opening times