Cleo wins first local art prize (From Stroud News and Journal)

Cleo wins first local art prize

THE FIRST Stroud District Arts Award has been won by local mosaicist Cleo Mussi.

The award takes the form of a £2,000 commission to provide a piece of public art at Stroud Subscription Rooms.

Forty-two local artists submitted entries and six were short-listed. After the artists were interviewed by the judging panel - which included Damien Hirst and SNJ arts editor Adam Horovitz - the public were invited to view the entries over a weekend and give a collective vote.

Significantly, it was this public vote that decided the winner after the judging panel's votes were tied.

The announcement was made at last week's Stroud District Council cabinet meeting by council leader Chas Fellows, who said: "We set up the arts award to recognise the talent of local artists - I think this has been achieved very well."

Cleo was 'relieved, surprised and pleased' to have won. "I would have made the piece anyway, given the amount of thought that went into it," she said.

"It's good to have a local commission, though - it means I don't have to get in the car except to deliver the finished piece."

She is now starting to gather mosaic pieces and quotes to go into her mosaic. The mosaic is expected to go on show in the entrance lobby of the Subscription Rooms in the spring.