Colourful paintings in a wide array of artistic styles have adorned the walls of a Jewish community centre, with hundreds attending the show’s opening night.
Curators carefully selected the 115 best pieces of art from the hundreds sent in from all over the UK for the annual Art House exhibition at the London Jewish Cultural Centre in North End Road, Golders Green.
Muswell Hill resident Carol Tarn, of Rookfield Avenue, won this year’s competition, securing her the £2,000 top prize for her oil painting Gary and Viv and Radio Days.
Teaching assistant Gita Kraus, 19, of Bridge Lane, Temple Fortune, even competed against her own mother to win second prize and £1,000.
Her mother Shoshi had also entered work in to the annual exhibition but lost out to her daughter, who has been painting since taking art lessons in school.
Gita, who is a teaching assistant at Kisharon School in Finchley Road, Temple Fortune, for children with learning difficulties, said: “She was probably more excited than I was! She was so happy for me and very pleased.”
Unfortunately Gita, of Bridge Lane, Temple Fortune, could not make it to the prizegiving but Shoshi stepped in to pick up her daughter’s award on her behalf.
Gita added: “It was such a shame I wasn’t there, I was quite upset. I’ve been in school exhibitions but this was my first proper one and my first prize.
“It was a big shock and I am really excited about it.”
Gita won £1,000 for her work Chilling Out, a vibrant and colourful realist-impressionistic painting of a schoolboy lounging around.
Though this is the first time she has had her work professionally exhibited, Gita’s A-level art teacher has submitted her work online to the Saatchi Gallery website for anyone to view.
She will continue as a teaching assistant for now but hopes in the next year or so to study art at college or university.
“It’s all up in the air at the moment but to be an artist would be amazing, that’s the end goal,” she said.
More than 330 people entered the exhibition this year, which runs at the centre until October 31.
CEO of the London Jewish Cultural Centre, Louise Jacobs, said: “It is wonderful to see the walls of Ivy House so full of life, in a wide variety of different painting, drawing and photographic styles and mediums.
“There is so much talent in the community and we are delighted to provide an annual showcase for that talent.”
Both amateurs and professionals were invited to submit their work to the exhibition.
The winning entries, including third prize winner Theodore Matoff, will be shown at the Catto Gallery in Heath Street, Hampstead, on November 16 and 17.
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