CASS Art Award Winners Announced

Work from students at Manchester School of Art has been celebrated as part of the annual Art Awards from CASS Art, the UK’s leading art supplies retailer, with three students securing the main prize, three more earning high commendations, and a separate prize for six selected entries to exhibit their work at CASS Art’s store in Manchester.

Jessica Smith and Nick Landon, final-year students on the BA (Hons) Three-Dimensional Design programme earned the main prize along with BA (Hons) Illustration with Animation student Chloe Watts. Jake Cox and Eilis Dart, also on the course, received commendations in addition to Rowen Ford from BA (Hons) Interior Design.

This years’ awards were a “celebration of the journal, sketchbook and visual diary”, and served as an opportunity to “acknowledge the wonder, delight and value that the supportive book form has in driving forward the practices of artists, designers and visual practitioners”. Submissions could take a variety of forms, including more conventional book structures, in addition to sketchbooks, online documentaries and more hybrid practices.

Jessica Smith’s submission, selected for its playfulness and innovation with the form, documents the journey to create an interactive artistic installation that narrates trends in human behaviour - culminating with the exhibition of an interactive robot that uses mark-making to react to the movement of passers-by.

Chloe Watts’ sketchbook submission is a personal, reflective piece submitted in video form, exploring themes of loneliness and isolation during the COVID-19 pandemic, in addition to the author’s relationship with food and observations on the state of public services during the crisis.

Nick Landon’s submission took the form of a two-part sketchbook that illustrates the artists’ third-year journey across sculpture and fashion. Containing extensive research, analysis and prototyping for materials and methods, the submission is an exhaustive insight into the creative process, and was commended for its engagement with material processes.

Each of the three winners will be awarded £100 in CASS Art vouchers and supplies. The six students chosen to exhibit their work at CASS Art are Chloe Watts, Jake Cox and Edie Medley (Illustration with Animation), Ellie Samson and Briony-Rose Murtagh (Textiles in Practice), and Emily McManus (Three-Dimensional Design). The exhibition will be open to the public from October 7th - 22nd.