Wilfrid Wood, Plasticine Model of Connor Newall

Wilfrid Wood

Wilfrid Wood is a British artist whose practice spans sculpture, painting, and drawing, with portraiture at the heart of his work. For Wood, there is no such thing as a boring face. His greatest source of inspiration is the human head, and his distinctive portraits—whether modelled in Plasticine, clay, paint, or pastel—capture the quirks, vulnerabilities, and individuality of his subjects with humour, empathy, and unflinching honesty. Rather than striving for photographic likeness, Wood seeks the features and expressions that reveal character, creating works that are both psychologically acute and instantly recognisable.

Martyn Harris

Martyn Harris RBSA is a British realist painter with more than 40 years of professional experience, renowned for portraits and landscapes that combine exceptional technical skill with warmth, empathy, and psychological insight. Mentored by a professional artist from an early age, Harris developed a distinctive style that captures the essence of his subjects with honesty, purpose, and quiet emotional depth. In 2025, Harris received national acclaim when his portrait Memories won Third Prize at the Herbert Smith Freehills Kramer Portrait Awards at London's National Portrait Gallery, as well as the exhibition's Visitors' Choice Award, selected by more than 140,000 visitors.

Jason Butler

Jason Butler was born in Nottingham in 1970 and was raised in Jersey. He studied at Bristol University and Cheltenham School of Fine Art and has been exhibiting his work in Jersey and abroad since leaving college in 1993. Butler works from his harbour-side studio in St Helier. Alongside displaying his work in numerous solo and group exhibitions, he has been commissioned three times by the Government of Jersey to commemorate Royal visits, was selected to paint Colin Powell OBE for the Jersey Museum and most recently painted the Bailiff of Jersey for the States Chambers. He has been exhibited on three occasions in The National Portrait Gallery in London, and his work resides in private collections in the UK, Europe and America.

Olympia McEwan

Over recent years Olympia McEwan has been absorbed by issues such as championing women’s portraiture in public spaces, fundraising for medical aid for Ukraine, gathering contemporary reflections on the German occupation of the Channel Islands, and highlighting the fragility of the natural world. McEwan’s work can be found in private collections in the Channel Islands and further afield, and she has several pieces in the permanent collection of Guernsey Museums.

JUDGING PANEL

Iness Rychlik

Iness Rychlik is a Polish-born artist, based in the UK. Despite a severe myopia, Rychlik has been dedicated to visual storytelling since her early teens. Rychlik is recognized for her dark surreal self-portraits; exploring themes of pain, solitude and vulnerability. Since she suffers from a chronic skin condition, she uses her own body as a canvas for artistic expression. She draws on her deeply personal experiences, often reflecting on growing up in a conservative and patriarchal society. The subtle elegance of Rychlik’s compositions contrasts with an underlying aura of brutality. Her conceptual photographs provoke the viewer’s imagination, rather than satisfy it.