The winners of the Swire Ridgeway Arts Prize have been announced.
The annual exhibition, held in Uffington on April 18 and 19, celebrates artistic interpretations of the Ridgeway and its surrounding landscape.
This year’s event attracted more than 120 entries and 300 visitors.
Katherine Smith, from Oxford, was named overall winner for her written work, which captured the ‘spirit’ of the ancient landscape.
Read more
Lady Victoria Beckham signs major multi-season deal with Gap I’m A Celebrity star Gemma Collins spotted in Cotswolds getaway PART TWO: Oxford United fans look back 40 years after ‘extraordinary’ Milk Cup win
Lucy Stopford, chair of the judging panel, said: “Katherine Smith’s written entry is a brilliantly evocative contemplation of time and place.
“The writer fluently describes the magic of the prehistoric landscape and the ‘open secret’ of the white horse revealed through the changing shapes and shadows cast by the sun during the course of a day.”
Ms Smith’s winning piece, 21st Celebration: A Winter Solstice, included an acrostic poem and a personal reflection on the sun crossing the Uffington White Horse during the winter solstice.
Visitors to the exhibition chose Amanda Bates’ Barrow Stone (Lambourn) as the winner of the People’s Choice award.
The black-and-white artwork, depicting trees growing over sarsen stones at Lambourn Long Barrow, proved particularly popular with attendees.
Other category winners included Emma Coleman-Jones from Oxford, who took home the Wall Art prize for Brightwell Barrow from Castle Hill, impending storm.
Robin Danely, one of the judges, said: “This sublime piece has incredible presence despite its small scale and spare mark-making.
“It conveys both delicacy and power in its atmospheric rendering of the shapes and shadows of the Ridgeway, and I was especially moved by the dramatic beauty of this stormy day.”
In the photography category, Sophie Matthew from London won for her image titled Winter Sunrise by White Horse Hill.
Judge Hedley Thorne praised the photo, saying: “By balancing the warmth of the morning sun against the deep, cool contours of the landscape, Sophie Matthew creates a masterful play on contrast.
“Rather than centring the White Horse, she allows the hill’s unique and natural geometry to take centre stage, letting the iconic figure emerge subtly as it ascends toward the Ridgeway in a beautiful harmony of light and form.”
Karen Vogt from Faringdon, Oxfordshire, won the sculpture category for her stone carving Circling Kites.
Her work was described by Martin Smith, the judge, as both well-executed and strongly connected to the exhibition’s theme.
All entries from this year’s Swire Ridgeway Arts Prize will be displayed on the Friends of the Ridgeway website.
The prize has been organised by the Friends of the Ridgeway since 2017 and is open to both professional and amateur artists across four categories: wall art, photography, sculpture, and writing.