Young artist gets recognized

Date: 30 July 2015 By: Isabel Venter

Art students from Louis Trichardt keep on astounding people with their creations. One particular young artist from the KidZ Art School did his school proud. Last week, Ryan Gilbert received the news that the painting he entered for the 2015 Santam Child Art Project got selected for their 2016 calendar.

Ryan is currently ‘n Grade 6 pupil of the Ridgeway Independent School, which is situated just outside of Louis Trichardt. He has been studying art with the KidZ Art School for the past four years as an extracurricular activity. Every year, Santam organises a competition and selects 13 artworks, painted by children, to appear in their calendar.

The competition was established in 1963 to develop the notion that art is a valuable aspect of human development, to promote a love of art among children and to give them a platform for expressing and presenting their own thoughts. Since then, the Santam project has developed into a nationally recognised initiative that now incorporates a national art competition, an online exhibition of selected artworks, an art calendar, as well as informal art centres at schools around the country.

This year, Santam received more than 4 000 nationwide entries. The theme was “A place of my dreams.”

Ryan’s picture is titled “I saw the Birchelor in his epic flight”. The Birchelor is an imaginary animal.

Mariza Joubert from KidZ Art said Ryan, and his fellow students, drew inspiration from the imagination of the children’s book series The Magic Treehouse to create images of where children go to when their stories come alive. She also explained that the school is waiting to hear from Santam about the other students' entries, as they are processed at a later stage. Last year, four other students’ paintings were selected for inclusion in Santam’s on-line exhibition, for which only 200 images are selected.

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Isabel Venter

Isabel joined the Zoutpansberger and Limpopo Mirror in 2009 as a reporter. She holds a BA Degree in Communication Sciences from the University of South Africa. Her beat is mainly crime and court reporting.

More photos... 

A closer view of Ryan's Birchelor. Photo supplied