Images by Bethany Pass, Maya Krishan and Jessica Mitchell

Black Swan Arts Young Open 2020
Long Gallery and Round Tower Gallery
Available as a virtual tour

We are not able to offer any more visitor appointments as one of our café staff has had symptoms for COVID-19. As a precaution we have closed the building and are deep cleaning. Find out the latest announcements from our COVID-19 information page.

We aim to go ahead with collection of work as planned on Sunday as planned but will confirm with exhibitors.

Collecting your work

We will arrange to carefully take the show down and need your help to ensure all work is returned safely at long last to your homes. Please come and collect your work after the last day of the exhibition on Sunday 1 November.

In order to stagger the collection of work, we ask you to collect work during the timeslot according to the first letter of your last name as follows;

  • 11am – 11.50pm : A – F
  • 12pm – 12.50pm : G – L
  • 1pm   – 1.50 pm : M – S
  • 2pm   – 2.50 pm : T – Z

The Young Open is our annual competition for creatives between the ages of 8 and 19. We’re always impressed with the variety and vibrancy of work submitted. It is one of our best-attended exhibitions of the year.

The Young open gives younger artists the opportunity to experience entering an art competition and to have their work displayed in an art gallery. We hope that entrants from the Young Open will go on to take part in the Art Open as they get older.

Black Swan Arts is proud to collaborate with local education providers. We welcome group submissions from schools and colleges and entries from individuals.

As with our Art Open, there are also prizes awarded. Visit the competition site to submit an entry or to view our full competition details, terms and guidelines.

The 2020 panel of independent judges

photograph of mark dorrington

Mark Dorrington
Mayor of Frome

photograph of Kristina Stephenson

Kristina Stephenson
Author and illustrator

photograph of Amy Yates

Amy Yates
Artist

Prize winners

8 – 11 years

Painting of an orchard with the trees casting shadows

Indigo Cameron Clarke
‘Indigo Spring’

Brightly coloured drawing of animals

Jacob Kersey
‘Le Pets’

Small 3d astronaut, holding a gun.

Francisco Rogers Reilly
‘One Small Step’

Drawing of a sad clown

Oliver Squirrell
‘Tragic Beauty’

Highly commended, 8 – 11 years

  • Logan Hallybonen,  ‘Sunset’
  • Ben le Bas, ‘Diana’
  • Oscar Picken, ‘Nunney Castle’
  • Nancy Walter, ‘An Eight Year Old’s View of Frome’

12 – 15 years

Watercolour painting of a hare

Eliza McKeever
‘Magestic Hare’

Painting of Dr Martens boots

Nell Ttwheam
‘Old Boots’

Drawing of a nymph

Violet Venables Ziminski
‘Nymph’

Mixed media portrait

Emily Weale
‘You, looking at me’

Highly commended, 12 – 15 years

  • Biz Kendall, ‘Inner Darkness’
  • Eva Larsen, ‘Cells’
  • Jay P Macgillan, ‘Winter Magpie’
  • L’Lainne Wood, ‘Hare’

16 – 19 years

Portrait of a man

Thea Knight
‘Dad’

Painting showing a house, which has been hit by a bomb attack

Miranda Li
‘After Tangshan’

Two photographs showing a pyramid in the woods, reflecting the trees around it

Tom MacCallum
‘Surrealism’

Portrait of a girl

Anouk Sonntag
‘Self Portrait’

Highly commended, 16 – 19 years

  • Lucja Korczak, ‘Non omnis moriar’
  • Otta Brown, ‘Life Study’
  • Amy Diment, ‘untitled’
  • Charlie Matthews, ‘Jellyplastic’

Exhibition video tours

Join, Sally Barnett, Morag Stuart and Amanda Sheridan on a video tour of the Young Open 2020 exhibition. In parts 1 to 4 we look at all the prize winners and the highly commended artists.

Full exhibition tour

Prize winners and highly commended