Three year-nine pupils from St Benedict’s School in Ealing have won awards in the 2015 Fourth Plinth Schools Awards Competition. Alex Szczech’s ‘The Pigeon of Trafalgar Square’ took the award for best in the Borough of Ealing while Oscar Llinares-Perales and Jules Dehon came runners-up in the 12-15 age category with ‘Cloud in a Box’. They received their awards at a recent ceremony and the school’s Nicola Bradley also received a prize for being an ‘outstanding art teacher’. Her award recognised the commitment she has shown in helping her students with the project.
Made out of money, Alex Szczech’s pigeon expresses “popularly held contrasting views of pigeons (pests) and banks (affluent and desirable)”. Oscar Llinares-Perales and Jules Dehon tackled the theme of the weather, aiming to stimulate discussion and interaction between passers-by.
The Fourth Plinth is an annual competition providing an opportunity for students aged 5-15 to create an artwork inspired by the commissions for the fourth plinth in Trafalgar Square. This year’s competition, organised by the Mayor of London in partnership with Cass Art, was judged by artist Mark Wallinger, who praised young Londoners’ creativity: “The overall quality of the work submitted for the Fourth Plinth competition was extraordinarily strong. I was quite overwhelmed by the sheer breadth of imagination displayed and the enormous diversity of materials that were used to express the proposals.”
Mayor of London Boris Johnson said: “The Fourth Plinth Schools Awards are a fantastic way to showcase the artistic talents of young Londoners and give them a chance to connect to the capital’s most famous square.”
Artwork from the Fourth Plinth Competition will be on display in an exhibition at City Hall, London until 3rd July 2015.
