Young with a passion for arts
Claire also won the prize in 2014 and repeated the feat this year making her win the junior prize 3 years in a row
Claire Tucker is a young and talented crafts woman who made her mark on the big stage by winning the junior section of the crafts and home industries at the Royal Show in Pietermaritzburg. Claire entered in the categories of fabric painting, knitting and crocheting, quilted articles, hand embroidery and cross stitching. Claire started art classes in Ladysmith back in 2003 and also needle work because she enjoys sharing her talent and creating new features in addition to coming up with new concepts.
Last year she entered the competition and won for creating a small dragon from the movie “How to train your dragon“. In 2013 she won her first junior prize in the arts and home industries section at the Royal Show. Claire also won the prize in 2014 and repeated the feat this year making her win the junior prize 3 years in a row.
Claire is now 18 and will not be able to participate next year and sincerely urges the youth of Ladysmith to be next year’s junior champion and to keep the prize local.
The divisions are crafts, woodwork, metalwork and models, needlework, knitting, crochet, cookery and photography. The articles then get judged and points are awarded and the person with the most points is the junior section is adjudged champion. Claire is disappointed to witness the decline in the numbers of entries in the junior section category.
The experience of entering items into the show and achieving first or special prizes has been a special and memorable one for her. The judges are more attentive in the work of people under the age of 18 and their feedback has helped Claire to improve her work in many respects.
Many of her first attempts at a new skill have been entered into the show and it is wonderful to learn new things says Claire who insists “please don’t use the age old excuse of no time”. She is currently studying to write Cambridge exams and as well as working three afternoons a week. “It is possible to make items for the show even with a hectic schedule” says Claire.
She wants to encourage people who are interested in any form of art or craft to seriously consider entering next’s years show.
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