UAL extended diploma in Illustration & Animation student Libby Hughes won a live brief competition to create a festive Christmas Display for Mackenzie Thorpe’s Arthaus Gallery which was unveiled earlier this month. Middlesbrough-born artist and former CCAD alumni Mackenzie was in attendance for his annual Christmas show and to present Libby with her prize.

Libby’s prize was a £500 cheque plus a budget to bring her design to life in the gallery’s iconic window space in Finkle Street, Richmond. Libby said  “It felt was very surreal seeing it all put together and people stopping by to appreciate it especially after some of the challenges I faced during its creation. Seeing my designs become real step by step was very rewarding.”

The inaugural competition was created to celebrate and support emerging creative talent in the region and received an outstanding number of imaginative submissions. Libby came out on top with a festive vision inspired by Mackenzie’s much-loved artwork.

Libby, 17 years old, originally from Chelmsford Essex, explains that the project was introduced to illustration students this summer: “The brief was introduced to me at the end of June this year and the task was to submit a design for a potential Christmas window installation for Mackenzie Thorpe’s Arthaus gallery in Richmond.”

For her design she took inspiration from Mackenzie’s work, “I really fell in love with Mackenzie’s work while finding out more about him. His art, especially the way he uses colour, is gorgeous.”

For the installation she said, “I wanted to create something involving his recurring characters all together in a festive environment to show community and togetherness at Christmas time.”

To create the design Libby said that “initially I planned to use cardboard to create the characters for the display until September time where I tweaked my ideas to instead have a vinyl background illustration and the characters to be laser cut and hand painted onto MDF. I planned to create depth with my installation by placing the characters dynamically based on their size to surround a large Christmas tree in the centre.  Above the scene I wanted to hang MDF stars and snowflakes of various sizes also placed in a similar way to the characters.”

Speaking of the submission process Libby said “after our designs were submitted it was whittled down to two finalists and Mackenzie’s wife and gallery manager would decide the winner after an online zoom call meeting to ask some final questions.  This felt very nerve-racking for me.”

Libby discovered  she had won whilst volunteering – Libby was named Catalyst Conference Young Volunteer of the Year earlier this year. She said, “I found out I had won whilst I was at the youth club I volunteer at discussing the meeting and my unsure feelings about it when my phone pinged with a message from my lecturer telling me I had won. Very embarrassingly I jumped up and said, “I won!!!!!”  which was quite funny.”

Libby’s design was also chosen as this year’s winner of the Richmond Duck Club Children’s Christmas Window Trophy – an annual competition based on votes from children. “We are incredibly honoured,” said a spokesperson for the Arthaus team. “To know that children connected so strongly with Libby’s design is truly heartwarming. Her creativity brought joy and wonder to our window, and we couldn’t be prouder.”

“It’s wonderful to see young talent thriving,” said Mackenzie. “Libby’s work captured the magic of Christmas beautifully, and it’s a privilege to recognise her achievement.”

Keep up to date with Libby’s work on Instagram @bunny_cl0wn and can also check out Arthaus gallery and more of Mackenzie’s work by following @arthaus1989 and @artistmackenzie.

If you are interested in a career in illustration and animation and are leaving school this year make sure you check out our college level UAL Extended Diploma in Illustration & Animation today!