Judging Panel

We are delighted to introduce our panel of esteemed judges hailing from the world of art and from within Craegmoor. They have the very difficult task of selecting a shortlist for you to vote on from the many entries received for each category.

We would like to extend our grateful thanks to the judges and all of you for making this competition an enormous success.

Heather, a former tenant of Cherrywood Supported Living Service, won the Grand Final of Artist of The 2007 with her entry, entitled ‘Woodland Scene’ a beautiful intricately painted autumnal scene.

Heather is quite a prolific artist and submitted a number of entries to the competition last year.

Painting is Heather’s hobby “I like to vary all of my paintings and take my work quite seriously. I am thrilled to be a judge in this years competition”.

Kath has recently been appointed as the manager for Kinsley Day Care Centre in Pontefract, West Yorkshire. In 2007, Kath was recognised as Craegmoor’s Shining Star for her outstanding contribution to all at Kinsley Day Care Centre.

“When I found out that I had been nominated for the shining star award, it came to me as a shock. To be appreciated and told that I deserved it was a great feeling and made me feel very proud. If it wasn’t for having such a brilliant staff team working alongside me, it wouldn’t have been possible.”

Kath’s passion for helping Service Users to develop is evident in all that she does, so when she was asked to be a judge for this competition she was delighted and took up the challenge with great enthusiasm.

John has developed his artistic career over the years starting as a class tutor and painting part time. He also used to teach young offenders in a prison helping to encourage and inspire individuals. Of this, John says
“I have found working with these young people very rewarding, as there is so much talent that would normally be unrecognised. I have tried to encourage them to see this as a new adventure, and knowing that I may have contributed something towards turning people’s lives around has made the job worthwhile for me”.

He now works from his studio at home full time creating pieces for a partnership with a major art gallery. He produces two distinct styles of work – figurative and landscape.

His inspiration for his landscape comes from long walks he takes with his dog, Sally, over the Staffordshire countryside. His landscapes are traditionally painted in sepia tones giving each piece a sense of serenity and peacefulness only captured early in the English countryside morning with the mist hanging over the ground and lying in between the trees.

His figurative art has a very different style to his landscape. He paints people in an almost photographic quality – in such intricate detail. John gets his ideas for this art by sitting in public places and just soaking up the world as it walks passed him.

In 2004, John won the Fine Art Trade Guild award for Up and Coming Published Artist of the Year.

To read more about John and his inspirations and to view some of his artwork, please visit the Washington Green website (right click to open in a new window).

Dorothy enjoyed painting at a young age but she left her artistic talents behind to pursue a career in nursing.

On retirement Dorothy returned to her love of the arts and set up a picture framing business from home, with her husband Don and son Nigel. So successful was this venture that three years ago the family bought a lovely old building in a picturesque village and converted it into a two storey art gallery with a studio for the picture framing side of the business.

For more information on Dorothy and her gallery visit Waterhouse Gallery (right click to open in a new window).

Ted joined Craegmoor Healthcare as Chief Operating Officer in April 2004 and was appointed Chief Executive in October 2005.

His aim and passion at Craegmoor is to really put individuals' needs at the heart of everything the company does, ensuring that everyone who lives in or uses Craegmoors' services is fully involved in everything that happens.

He comments: "This competition promises to be very exciting and will offer an opportunity for a much wider audience to view service user art – this is a key media for expression that many people enjoy."

In his spare time he enjoys all kinds of music and lots of fresh air - walking, skiing or most of all watching Sale Sharks winning a hard fought game of rugby.