AN INCREASE IN ENTRANTS FOR THE JAMAICA NATIONAL ART AND CRAFT COMPETITION!

This ceramic work submitted by Chantal Newman of St Hugh’s High School is among the works forming part of the National Art and Craft exhibition organised by the Institute of Jamaica.—–

THE Institute of Jamaica (IOJ) is recording an increase in entries for its annual National Art and Craft competition.

The event — open to students in high, junior high, all-age, and primary schools — received entries from 16 institutions for the 2013 staging compared to five which responded the previous year.

There is an equal spread in terms of participation from rural and urban schools, with eight participating from each region.

While calling the increase in entries remarkable, public relations officer at the downtown Kingston-based IOJ, Michka McCreath notes there is one area of concern.

“The area of weakness that we recognised in students’ work is their overall presentation and finishing of the entries. Presentation needs to be improved with proper labellng of works. In terms of finishing, students need to ensure that neatness is executed in terms of cutting, pasting their pieces on the support materials,” she said.

Winners will be announced during a ceremony at the IOJ tomorrow and an exhibition of the top entries will be mounted. The exhibition opens tomorrow and runs until June 9.

Schools are invited to submit a minimum of 20 entries covering art and crafts including painting, sculpture, drawing, graphic design, leather crafts, metalwork, woodwork, ceramics and sculpture.

McCreath added that with animation becoming such a popular area, the IOJ has seen this medium included in the list of categories for the first time.

“The most popular area as it relates to entries is painting. However, we also get a number of entries in fabric work and 3D works such as sculpture,” she said.

The National Art and Craft Competition is an initiative of the IOJ and is aimed at encouraging development of literature, science and the arts.