Works of Art by Peter Monkman (Director of Art at Charterhouse) and his daughter Anna (a former pupil at the School), were both shortlisted in the Wells Art Contemporary International Open Art Competition (The WAC Awards). Anna, who attended Charterhouse for Sixth Form between 2013 and 2015, was awarded the Special Judges Award at the Private View on Friday 7 October. Justin Mortimer, internationally celebrated contemporary painter and a judge of the competition, said that Anna had an incredibly sophisticated use of visual languages in her work for someone so young.
Anna’s work was composed of painting and video. Peter Monkman’s entry was ironically an apocalyptic painting which used Anna as the model. Anna was also the model in the Peter’s Changeling 2 painting, winning him the prestigious BP Portrait Award in 2009.
The WAC Awards is an open competition for contemporary visual art that is gaining praise and respect in Britain and abroad. It was established five years ago by a group of artists and their friends in Wells, the beautiful cathedral city in the South-West of England. The 2016 competition generated a record number of 723 entries, with a shortlist of 86. These works, including Anna’s and Peter’s, are being exhibited in the magnificent surroundings of the Bishops Palace, Wells, between 8 and 22 October.