A former head of art and design at West Herts College, who also designed and painted the mural in Charter Place, has been shortlisted as a finalist in the 2014 international Arte Laguna Art prize, in Venice.

Laurence Wood will find out on Saturday, when the exhibition opens, if he is one of the winners, with his painting, New Flat Painting, done in oil and acrylic on canvas, and which he painted in Hong Kong.

“Making the final stage of this prestigious international competition is really rewarding, especially as my work was chosen from thousands of international submissions by an international panel of jurors,“ says Laurence, who was at West Herts College in the 1990s.

“It makes me feel that all the painting I have been doing over the past couple of years really has engaged with the international debate about what contemporary painting has to offer to potential audiences. It is very exciting to be included in the finalists exhibition in Venice, whatever the final decision of the jurors will be in relation to awarding the prizes.“