Summer Term has proven busy and rewarding in the John Lyon Art Department, with artistic success for the School’s Art Scholars in the Royal Academy’s newest exhibition.

Works by both Upper Sixth student Zak Samak and Year 10 pupil Fritz Storp are currently being displayed on the Royal Academy’s website as part of its first ever Young Artists’ Summer Show, a new initiative inspired by the Academy’s world-famous Summer Exhibition, which has run every year since 1769.

Designed to showcase artworks by talented artists aged 7-19 from the UK and beyond, the online display contains 329 works, which were chosen from more than 6,200 submissions. The display will run online until the last day of 2019.

And there is extra artistic success for Fritz, whose work Anatomical Stitch-Up, has been chosen as one of just 139 that will go on physical display in the Royal Academy this summer, in a special exhibition in central London from Saturday 13th July to Sunday 4th August. It is also somewhat of a family affair, as his parents’ company, Storp Weber Architecture, has a work on display in the main Royal Academy Summer Exhibition.

Both Zak and Fritz’s works are based on images of themselves.

In submitting Charcoal Self-Portrait, Zak wrote: “In this piece I have used charcoal to create a self-portrait reflecting the complexity of human emotion. The sketchiness of the charcoal and the dark tones reflect the ambiguity of the self in adolescence, and the focus on selected expressive points of the face convey a sense of vulnerability.”

Of Anatomical Stitch-Up, created with embroidery on linen, Fritz wrote: “I wanted to change the way people viewed the insides of our bodies from something that can be gory for some to something unique and pleasing to look at, yet still semi accurate. The idea behind the piece was to bring what is on the inside of the body to the outside.”

Yasseen Hassan and Dhanesh Jegatheesan were also shortlisted for the show, making it to the final 700 but narrowly missed out on being part of the final exhibition.

Click on images to view larger files.

A competition to celebrate the best young artists in Harrow Borough has seen more artistic success for Zak, as he was named overall winner.

The Whitefriars Art Competition on Thursday 6th of June, run by Whitefriars Studios in the old Windsor & Newton Building in Wealdstone, saw Zak take first place with his Mediterranean Landscape, winning a cheque for £400 and a further £150 worth of art supplies. There was also a commendation for Dhanesh’s Portrait of Fritz.

The display continues until Monday 17th June.