A 15-YEAR-OLD girl from Skibbereen has been appointed as an arts ambassador following her winning entry in the This is Art competition.
Isabelle Prime won the overall prize in her category at the end of 2024 for her large acrylic work, ‘Wader’, but it was only recently that she was invited to be an arts ambassador for the competition, and to be involved in this year’s Cruinniú na nÓg events on Saturday June 7th.
As an ambassador, Isabelle has to promote her own work, as well as encourage young people throughout the country to be creative.
That’s what the 1,000 free music, art, circus, storytelling and film events, as part of Cruinniú na nÓg, is all about.
After being announced as a winner in the competition, she travelled to Dublin for the awards ceremony where she was presented with a trophy, a gift voucher, and was invited to submit her portfolio for a course at the Crawford College of Art from October to January.
Isabelle said the winners spent the day meeting the people who organised the competition, as well as the judges; it was a combination of her work and her personality that led to her appointment as an ambassador.
Isabelle already knows that art is her life’s work.
‘It’s my vocation. It is what I have always loved,’ she said.
She was inspired at an early age by her mother, Emma, who is an artist, and also greatly encouraged by her father Michael.
Isabelle estimates that she spends about two hours a day on her art work, but she that she could spend ‘all day at it’ at weekends.
Although home-schooled, Isabelle studies art through a qualified teacher who is recognised by an exam board. She is hoping to also complete the degree course at the Crawford College of Art in the future.
‘Because I have been a home-schooler for most of my life, I haven’t had the influence of a teacher showing me how to do things,’ she added.
‘I have worked my own way and I paint what I want to paint.’
