*Image Courtesy: Di Cope including her original works.
Last year, we started a little drawing and colouring competition for our students during the first lockdown. Throughout the year, students have shared some of their beautiful artwork in class online! So surely worth having another art competition this year too!
This year, we have invited Cambridgeshire-based artist Di Cope to judge our student’s artwork on Sat, 22nd May. The theme to create new artwork on Covid19. It could be an imaginative Covid19 form, or its environmental impact, or anything that you may have experienced because of Covid19.
Message to all participants from Di Cope
Art is a skill that all children are born with.
Then, slowly, many children “grow out of” their belief in their ability to make art of any sort. As dancers, though, the children and adults at the Sanskruti Cambridge are already artists. They are already learning to hone and direct their love of their art, and to channel their innate ability.
I am very much looking forward to seeing the students’ artwork. And I already know that judging the work will be hard. I know this because the appreciation of Art is a very personal thing. This is why the world of Art is so diverse. As some people like to watch Morris Dancers, and others may prefer Ballet; then whether a person loves the Mona Lisa, or the kind of Art which looks just like a pile of bricks, or an unmade bed, is just down to what they like. Some people like both. But it’s hard to judge them against each other.
What I am sure of is that every piece of work will have its own merits. If we all got to judge, we wouldn’t all choose the same one! So I will be looking for the work that shows that the artist has worked hard on it, thought about it, and put their energy into it. That’s the kind of thing that shines through in an Artwork. If you don’t love it, and didn’t enjoy making it- how can you expect anyone else to? It’s the same for any Art form.
I’m very much looking forward to seeing the artwork. Thank you for asking me to judge the competition.
– Di Cope
About Di Cope
Di Cope is a traditional oil painter. Living and working in the Fen-edge village of Burwell in rural Cambridgeshire, much of her inspiration is gleaned from the landscape of her surroundings.
Painting in a realistic style, much of Di’s work depicts the big skies we enjoy here in East Anglia, over the fields, plants and waterways that make up much of the landscape.
During the early months of the Coronavirus pandemic in the UK, Di took a break from painting landscapes (partly to help her two youngest children with home-learning), and took part in the #portraitsforNHSheroes movement on Instagram, instigated by Tom Croft. http://www.thomascroft.co.uk/portraits-for-nhs-heroes/ Di painted three portraits of front-line NHS Covid workers, as part of a project that involved hundreds of portraits being painted as a way to say “thank you” to the heroes of the pandemic. Di enjoyed painting portraits, and is looking forwards to, perhaps, making more in the future, alongside the landscape work.
Di lives in Burwell with her husband, two of their three children (the eldest having moved out during the Covid pandemic, to work away from home in a Covid ward), their dog Teddy, and an assortment of other pets. Her studio is a room above her home’s garage, which overlooks the garden. Difficult to heat, this is only used between April and September- but visitors are always welcome during this period, by appointment. Di is happy to see art lovers at other times, but viewing paintings is more limited then.
Di has been participating in Cambridge Open Studios since 2016, and will once again welcome visitors during the first three weekends of July in 2021.
If you would like to see some of Di’s work, please visit her new website: https://www.dicopeart.com
Have a look at her Cambridge Open Studios page: https://www.camopenstudios.co.uk/user/926/summary
Read a recent article, with examples of work, in the Cambridge Independent newspaper: https://www.cambridgeindependent.co.uk/whats-on/cambridgeshire-landscape-artist-now-painting-nhs-workers-9156189/?cmpredirect&fbclid=IwAR3XHlcuvpC3kiUC0CIayl8wbv2OwlyRB0J9ssP42jsVdC5rzMR0PqT3yCU
If you’re interested in supporting local art by sending artists greeting cards to your friends and family, you can buy Di’s cards online, and customisable, at https://www.lovefromtheartist.com/Artists/burwell/di-cope
