OVER 100 people gathered at a Private View in the Torch Theatre's Joanna Field Gallery on Saturday to hear the announcement of the winning artist of Pembrokeshire's first Open Art Competition.

The joint winners, chosen from a shortlist of 30 artists and a total of over 100 entries, were Kim Lee, of Birmingham, for Bookworm and Hot Love, and Hannah Davies, of Pendine, for Only Dreaming. They will share the award of £1,500.

The panel of selectors for Pembrokeshire Open 2010 included Anthony Shapland from G39, an artist-run gallery in Cardiff, together with artists David Fitzjohn and Alison Hayes and the Torch Theatre's artistic director, Peter Doran.

"The quality of work and diversity of creative approaches made it a difficult decision," commented general manager Daniel Shaw.

"In the end," added Alison, "the two works we finally chose encompassed the spirit of the Pembrokeshire Open. They were ambitious, technically challenging and used their medium in a highly creative way."

Hannah's winning piece, Only Dreaming, is a painting using acrylic on canvas.

"My work explores the notion of escapism... my paintings are like dreamscapes, snap shots of my imagination and distorted memories from my childhood," she explained.

Hannah, who is studying Fine Art Painting at West Wales School of Arts, likes to use seductive colours and luscious paint so that her paintings merge somewhere between reality and fantasy.

Kim's paper sculptures, Bookworm and Hot Love explore the boundaries between fine art and craft.

"Being British Chinese, my work references traditional Chinese art forms such as origami and calligraphy, but seeks to apply them to different and contemporary contexts, innovating through choice of subject, material and scale," she said.

With the aim of being cutting edge, visually stimulating and thought-provoking, The Pembrokeshire Open, which was the brainchild of the theatre's general manager, Daniel Shaw, will be held at the Torch as a bi-annual event.

"As we saw from the commitment of Bridget Kennedy, who came down from Northumberland and spent a week at the theatre painting her entry in-situ on a wall in the upper foyer, the prize for this competition was not the driving force behind the entries by any stretch of the imagination." he enthused.

Work from all shortlisted artists, many of which are for sale, will be on display until March 28 and can be seen at on display in the Joanna Field Gallery, Foyers, and Café Torch at Milford Haven's Torch Theatre.