Art Competition asks Young People to Celebrate Nature and the Environment

Birmingham Museums Trust is launching its annual art competition aimed at celebrating the creativity and imagination of young people across Birmingham and the West Midlands.

Now in its sixth year the Inspire 21 art competition invites young people from across the West Midlands to submit their own art works and creative masterpieces - and this year the theme is nature and the environment.

Completely free to enter - and open to anyone aged up to 25 years old – Inspire 21 aims to create a collective picture of our environment, whether it is reflecting our surroundings, capturing the wonder of Mother Nature or raising awareness of the need to look after the planet.

Rosie Barker, Senior Engagement Officer at Birmingham Museums Trust said:

“Last year we saw the most amazing artworks created through lockdown from embroidered facemasks, line drawings of iconic Birmingham buildings and topical digital collages.

“This year our competition theme is nature and the environment. The natural world is so important for human wellbeing, but also for the wellbeing of the whole planet. The great thing about art is there is no right or wrong, it inspires us and makes us understand things differently.

“We can’t wait to see everyone’s creations – whether it’s making art as a climate activist, recording the nature around us or even reflecting your personal idea of the present and future of our planet.”

[Inspire 20 winner, Solidarity in Separation – The Greenway Sisters]

Last year the art competition encouraged artists to think differently about their surroundings while we were all spending more time indoors. The winners included The Greenway sisters - Helen, Cathryn and Sandra - for their textile face coverings called the Solidarity in Separation series, Lenny aged 8 with his intricate line drawing of the University of Birmingham and Mia aged 18 from Stourbridge, who was chosen for her abstract painting called Inconvenience Store.

All entries to Inspire 21 will be added to an online gallery for everyone to see and the winning images will be displayed at Thinktank Birmingham Science Museum, where they’ll be seen by thousands of visitors. The winning entry in each age group will receive a prize of £50 in art vouchers and a free family membership giving access to all Birmingham Museums’ sites for a year.

The Inspire 21 art competition opens on Monday 22 March and closes on Friday 16 July 2021. For details on how to enter please visit: birminghammuseums.org.uk/blog

The Inspire 20 winners and highly commended gallery can be viewed here.