XPPen Joins the RSA Schools Art Award 2024, Celebrating the Wonder of Art with the Young Generation

The Royal Scottish Academy (RSA) Schools Art Award is considered by teachers to be one of the most prestigious awards made to pupils in Scotland. With 36 years of history, the award recognizes works that showcase creativity and originality. XPPen is honored to be the associate sponsor of the RSA Schools Art Award in 2024.

The RSA School Art Award is open to all pupils in secondary schools in Scotland. In 2024, the response was overwhelmingly positive as pupils eagerly submitted their works, showing a remarkable breadth of creativity and talent. From January to April, the RSA received 1020 submissions. This is the second-highest number of submissions the RSA has ever received, surpassing last year’s total of 800. There were 9 categories of awards this year, covering a range of age groups and regions.

XPPen was founded with the ultimate mission of supporting new-gen artists and art lovers, and encouraging them to express themselves and explore their creativity through art. XPPen is thrilled to witness the remarkable works created by the young and talented entrants.

XPPen revels in sparks of inspiration

Mae Barr, 1st Prize, Chairs Challenge

The prompt of the 2024 Chairs Challenge, one of the categories of the award, is “The World Needs More of This!”. Mae Barr, who won 1st prize in the Chairs Challenge, was inspired by the effects of climate change on the world’s animals and painted a picture with a polar bear and 2 skeletons walking on melting icebergs. In this painting, XPPen senses Mae Barr’s eagerness to awaken people’s awareness of the impact brought by climate change and the appeal of protecting the environment.

XPPen is also delighted to see the pupils expressing their thoughts on self-improvement and life in their works.

Sophie Bowles, 1st Prize, Senior Category

Sophie Bowles is fascinated by chiaroscuro and the effect of light and shadows on the human face. She experimented with dramatic light sources and tried to find out the light’s effect on the mood of a portrait. Her work conveys a sense of drama with the strong contrast between light and dark.

Oriana Kacz, 2nd Prize, Senior Category

Oriana Kacz expresses the embrace of femininity in her work: “When creating this piece, I was fascinated with using fine contour lines to show the curved and organic forms of both myself as well as the flowers which adorn me”.

Ariadne Al-Hermazi Gurska, 2nd Prize, Intermediate Category

Ariadne Al-Hermazi Gurska’s work is inspired by the loyalty of dogs and the companionship they share with their owners. In the work, the woman and all three dogs have one eye showing. Although their eyes look in differing directions, which shows that they have their own unique viewpoint on companionship, they are all still unified by their closeness.

XPPen is impressed by the pupils’ creativity shown in the RSA Schools Art Award 2024 and finds lots of inspiration in their unique ideas. XPPen is always together with the young generation and glad to be their faithful companion in their growth, witnessing every moment when inspiration sparks. As an enterprising brand, XPPen remains committed to continuous innovation and keeps offering extraordinary products and services, aiming to empower every artist and art enthusiast to express freely. In the future, XPPen will remain dedicated to supporting the development of art and nurturing the talents of the young generation, embracing the wonder of art together.