21st November 2019

Talented young artist Tegan Rowe, a former Year 11 student at Wave Multi Academy Trust’s Caradon Academy, has won a prize in this year’s prestigious Young Art Cornwall competition. 

The project, run by Cancer Research UK volunteers, provides an exciting opportunity for aspiring young artists from across Cornwall to have their work judged by well-known and respected local artists at the same time as raising money for Cancer Research UK.

Open to all schools, colleges and groups in Cornwall, young people aged between 4 and 19 are invited to submit a piece of work, which can include drawings, paintings, printmaking, photography and digital media, on a set theme in four age categories. The winning entries are then displayed at a special public exhibition.
Organisers received more than 300 entries for this year’s competition. Tegan’s painting was selected as the winner in the 16-19 Drawing category. The artworks were judged by Porthmeor based painter Simon Williams, illustrator Daniel Cole and St Ives photographer Chris Webber.
Tegan’s work will be exhibited along with the other winning and highly commended pieces, from Young Art Cornwall 2019, at Falmouth University between Thursday 12th December and Sunday 15th December. All the young artists, together with their family and friends, have been invited to a special private view, prize giving evening and silent auction ahead of the exhibition being opened to the public. All proceeds from this event will go to Cancer Research UK, to help fund vital research into the causes of and potential cures for cancers.
Teacher Lauren Fulton, Wave’s Art and Design Technology Lead, is delighted with Tegan’s success. “It was clear when Tegan first started at Caradon that she had a natural ability to draw and paint” she said. “She was also able to use her art as a way to relax and something positive to focus on.”
“The title of this year’s project ‘Feelings’ was a perfect avenue for Tegan, enabling her to develop her ability alongside expressing her deepest thoughts and feelings. The work she produced is amazing and I am very proud to have been her teacher.
So what about the talented young artist?
“I feel proud of my art work and cannot believe that I won” said Tegan. “Doing art helps my mental health incredibly as I am able to express my emotions into my art pieces which gives it more of a meaning and brings out the mood a lot more. Art is very calming and takes a lot of effort.
“You have to be passionate about this subject to achieve what I have.”

Notes to editors

Wave Multi Academy Trust
Wave MAT is the largest Alternative Provision provider in the South West, with six Academies based in Cornwall, three academies based in Devon and the Community and Hospital Education Service (CHES) based across three centres.

Young Art
Young Art first started in London in 1988 at the Royal College of Art and has been exhibiting there ever since. In 2016 it raised over £86,000 for Cancer Research UK. It was then replicated as Young Art Oxford in 2008, where it is held at The Ashmolean Museum. The recent Devon and Cornwall projects have been so successful, that Cancer Research UK are now looking to extend this to every county across the country!
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