MANTAS PODERYS (18), of Donegal, collected the top prize at the Texaco Children’s Art Competition award ceremony held yesterday at the Citywest Hotel. This was the last year he was eligible to enter the competition after receiving smaller prizes three times before.
“Winning left me speechless,” he said. “I am really honoured to have such a prestigious award.”
Mantas, who came to Ireland with his family from Lithuania in 2004, created a self-portrait for the contest because he wanted to challenge himself. He experimented with taking photos of his face from different angles and was inspired by the movement he felt when he put them together.
Eventually he lined up five, three of him looking to the right and two to the left, so that they appeared to be looking at each other. He painted the five self-portraits, naming the piece You Talkin’ to Me?.
Mantas is now studying Art and Design at the North West Regional College in Derry and plans to continue studying fine art and painting in university. In addition to the €2,000 prize he received the £1,000 UTV/Texaco Young Artist Commission.
There were 34,000 applications this year in seven categories. Each category had a first, second and third place winner and 20 special merit awards. The winning pieces were diverse in the subject matter and materials used. Watercolour, paint, charcoal and tin foil were common choices for materials. Subject matter ranged from fairies on mushrooms to Garda speed checks.
“All of us are artists when we’re children, the trouble is trying to stay that way when you grow up,” said Barry Andrews, Minister for Children and Youth Affairs, quoting Picasso. He said that one of the major benefits of art is that is leaves a legacy of being able to express oneself, something which can be difficult for children.
Declan McGonagle, director of the National College of Art and Design and chairman of the judging panel for 14 years, said that the standard of art in the competition improves every year. The most important way to nurture a child’s artistic talent is simply to have art materials at home, he said. “Children are innately creative and will find a way to be creative with those materials.”
He advised future applicants to be creative. “No matter where the subject matter comes from, no matter what technique or materials they use; what makes it unique to the individual, what makes it very much their own? If I can’t see something which gives it their own particular twist it doesn’t stick out for me.”