Ruby Cascarina, a final-year Fine Art student at Lancaster University’s Lancaster Institute for the Contemporary Arts (LICA), has been selected for the Freelands Painting Prize, which celebrates outstanding undergraduate work in painting.
Ruby said: “I make oil paintings about the sublime – the acknowledgement or feeling of being insignificant within the wider contexts of the world.
“I submitted three paintings that articulate those ideas under the title How Long Is a Piece of String, referring to a string motif that appears in each of my paintings.
“Given that the Freelands Painting Prize works by each university nominating one student, I was already really proud to be nominated by my tutors in the first place, so to be a winner was very exciting. It was just the motivation I needed.”
Originally drawn to Lancaster for its joint honours course in Creative Writing and Fine Art, Ruby later decided to focus solely on Fine Art after her first year.
She said: “I couldn’t decide whether I wanted to study English or Fine Art and Lancaster offered a joint honours degree in Creative Writing and Fine Art so it was the perfect choice.
“My experience at Lancaster University has been really positive, the staff have been supportive and engaged with my progression throughout the course.”
Ruby is the third LICA student in five years to win the Freelands Painting Prize.
Pip Dickens, LICA Fine Art lecturer (Painting), said: “Ruby was an automatic nominee for this prize and we are thrilled that, out of some 48 participating institutions, she will be one of a handful of undergraduate winners exhibiting their work, probably for the first time, in a London venue.
“It’s a superb kickstart to her art career.
“This is the third time a LICA student has won the Freelands Painting Prize.
“We are immensely proud of these outcomes given the prize only launched in 2020.”
Ruby now plans to rent a studio and continue developing her painting practice.