Announcing the Global Canvas 2022 winners

The Global Canvas 2022 winners have been announced with attendees joining the Global Canvas live final from across the world. The virtual awards ceremony included contributions from Plantlife, Twig World and the Sussex Wildlife Trust Kelp Restoration Project in keeping with the “Forests of Land and Sea” theme. There was also a mini masterclass with wildlife artist Alex Fleming.

Global Canvas is DSWF’s annual children’s art competition for individuals and groups aged 4-16 years with age groups split 4-7 years, 8-11 years and 12-16 years. The standard was incredibly high with the creativity, variety and environmental messaging hugely inspirational. A total of 705 individual entries and 111 group entries were received spanning some 54 countries.

Individual winners (4-7 year age group)

First place: Paari, UK

Paari created a kelp forest with water colours and pastels on paper to depict the forest of the sea.

Second place: Frederik, UK

Frederik made a mangrove forest using two boxes, one that represented the land and the other the sea. He then added plants and animals from the Andaman Islands. He used materials from a recycling box, coloured card and even stones he’d collected from different locations across the UK.

Third place: Fionn, UK

Fionn created kelp and urchins by using charcoal on canvas effect paper.

Individual winners (8-11 year age group)

First place: Alice​, Lithuania

Alice has been painting on canvas since she was 7 years old. Forest in the water is an acrylic drawing on canvas which shows where the forest and water meet.

Second place: Advika, India

Advika loves to visit beautiful places including jungle safari where animals and birds can be observed in their natural habitat. The inspiration of this piece came from life streaming rather than live streaming.

Third place: Elze, Lithuania

Elze is a huge fan of the forest in spring, summer, autumn and winter which is where the inspiration for this piece came from.

Individual winners (12-16 year age group)

First place: Stephanie, Dubai

Stephanie considered how people are cutting down trees for tissue or paper bags for her piece. Her artwork shows a misty forest where there are less trees and with fewer leaves.

Second place: Ma, China

Ma’s work depicts the scene of a big tree in the city with its roots wrapped around it, the green environment on which human beings depend shrinking day by day. It serves as a reminder that people can live sustainably to help the environment.

Third place: Ksenia, Russia

Ksenia drew inspiration from the relationship between forests and humans, creating a tree made from multiple strands of twisted wire. This medium was chosen for its monochrome grey tone and the angularity of lines create a sense of despair and hopelessness to communicate the message that modern society is harming the forests.

Group winners (4-7 year age group)

First place: Heber Primary School​, UK

Heber Primary School children chose to look at the Mangrove Forests from all across the world and created a muddy mangrove forest installation. This included work from two Year 1 classes who used man made and natural materials to create the mangroves. They even collected their own stationary over a period of months which they could recycle. The children also used lots of materials including papier mache, charcoal, twigs, mud, paints, recycled maps and plasticine.

Second place: Colégio Valsassina, Portugal

The children at Colégio Valsassina became aware of different plantings and trees, smells, textures and colours through touch, sight and sound. Back in the classroom they talked about forests, plants and animals as they were curious about their habitats. The children then made a collaborative art panel using tempera, sponge and brushes which they brought to life using animals painted with gouache.

Third place: Colegio Internacional de Sevilla San Francisco de Paula, Spain

The students discovered the Amazon Rainforest is considered the lungs of the planet which led to two 5 year old classes (separated due to Covid) brainstorming ideas on how they could best represent it. The children then had two weeks to bring in recycled materials from home that might otherwise have gone to waste including egg cartons, bottles and boxes. If anyone asked, the two classes said they were separated by the rainforest.

Group winners (8-11 year age group)

First place: ding creative workshops​, Greece

Ding focused on a native underwater plant, posidonia oceanica, as it’s a vital lung for the ecosystem. Providing home and refuge for over 1,000 sea animals and 300 plants, it has the ability to absorb 15 times more carbon dioxide per square metre than a tropical forest. The main idea behind the creation was a pizza box on the top of which the children planted posidonia made from recycled carton boxes. It was then populated with fish and other sea animals also made from mostly recycled materials including paper, cardboard boxes, buttons and bottles.

Second place: Creative Hearts Art Club at Sacred Heart RC Primary School​, UK

The children used watercolour to create atmospheric paintings of birch tree forest. As these trees grow near the school, the children had the opportunity to look at the detail such as the colour and texture to see how unique they are.

Third place: Cross-in-Hand Primary School​

The “Forests of the Land and Sea” theme enabled the children to explore a range of forests with their creations largely based on using recycled materials. Early years made a mangrove tree made from chicken wire wrapped in material and surrounded by salt dough fish. Year 1 explored the kelp forest with different painting techniques used with wire trees covered with newspaper and fabric. Underwater creatures were created with a range of collage materials and foam pellets became coral.

Year 2 created a cloud forest with cardboard furry gorillas in a mist of jungle and colourful birds. Year 3 used water colours to create the leaves of a deciduous forest observing the range of coloured leaves to create their own designs. Year 4 focused on the rainforest, using pencils to create different effects in their trees, tigers and birds. Year 5 built a tropical forest with recycled newspapers with origami techniques to make birds and butterflies. Year six went with a spiny forest using plastic bottles and twigs to generate the trees with animals made using old cereal boxes and plastic bottles covered with papier mache.

Group winners (12-16 year age group)

First place: Suha Suha Art Studio​

Families and friends helped contribute to the materials used in creating their piece. From boxes, newspapers and textbooks to paper towel rolls, empty cans and plastic bottles. Once the sketches were planned, the structure was created using papier-mache so it was easier to paint. The forests, these being the lungs of the earth, were represented as an intertwined set of ecosystems – the sea and the land. The animals in the middle represent how water and land are opposites but intrinsically connected.

Second place: Hurstpierpoint College Prep School​

Year 7 at Hurstpierpoint College Prep School has created a sea kelp forest using a variety of techniques. Recycled materials were used to create a shimming sea background with ink, paint and oil pastels adopted for the sea kelp to give it a 3D feel. The students loved creating their sea creatures out of things that might overwise have ended up in landfill.

Third place: St Edmund’s School Canterbury​

St Edmunds wanted to communicate a real sense of the threat and emergency facing forest ecosystems. The theme became a forest fire, this being the most direct and topical symbol of this crisis. Light and shade were used to instill a sense of drama and jeopardy with the one green living tree a symbol of hope, fragile but still alive. The trees were made from toilet roll tubes and refined with papier mache. The leaves were made from old science exercise books and stuck to the structure.

Michael O’Mara Books Choice​

Winner: The Ferrars Academy

Our generous sponsor Michael O’Mara Books, who have generously supported Global Canvas since 2016, chose The Ferrars Academy as their choice. The work was created by children by three Y2 classes (in the age 4 to 7 age group) who explored how plastic pollution is harming the environment. For this piece the children brought recyclable materials in from home to make the kelp forest and sea creature that live there. Michael O’Mara Books were particularly impressed with the collaborative approach and the imaginative ways the children had used recycled materials such as creating a sea horse made from crisp packets.

Huge congratulations once again to our Global Canvas individual and group winners together with everyone that participated in making Global Canvas 2022 such a success. Thank you! Global Canvas 2023 will open in July 2022 so do make sure you’ve signed up to our newsletter if you’d like to receive the latest updates.