16-year-old Shania McDonagh, the new Irish star artist, has won the top prize at the Texaco Children’s Art Competition, an annual art contest for children in Ireland since 1955, for her astounding work named “Coleman”, a hyper-realistic pencil portrait of an elderly man. According to the judging panel chairman, Declan McGonagle, director of the National College of Art & Design, the girl’s work could position her “as one of the most talented artists of her generation, and one whose skill could see her become one of Ireland’s foremost portrait artists of the future.” McDonagh will get her $2,075 (€1,500) award at the Royal Hospital Kilmainham ceremony next month.
