Almost four hundred works were hung at the Royal Ulster Academy’s (RUA) annual exhibition this year.
Almost four hundred works were hung at the Royal Ulster Academy’s (RUA) annual exhibition this year. Of these, 261 were open submission, selected from 2,147 entries. In any given year, the RUA is a kind of litmus test for the health of the visual arts. To my mind, three kinds of work get shown: first, the work of serious professional artists; next, elegant, well-made craftwork, skilful but rarely rising to resonance; and lastly, the somewhat kitsch.
The Drawing Prize this year was awarded to Catherine Creaney for her marvellous pastel pencil portrait Peace Comes Dropping Slow. The Photography Prize went to David Stephenson for Main Street, while the Printmaking Prize went to Stephen Lawlor.
Some artists are always there, doing steady and significant work but rarely attracting major attention, so it is good to see the meticulous Carol Graham getting the A Russell Award for her mixed-media interpretation Prospero’s Dream, while Eugene Worrall received the mid-career bursary.
Daniel Nelis was awarded the Tyrone Guthrie Centre Director’s Award for his flower arrangement in oils, All Things Shining; Cara Gordon’s mixed-media Tribe, depicting elephants and a young child, won the Irish News Prize. John Cooney won the Watercolour Prize for his landscape Going Home, Donegal, and Neal Greig the two-week Residency in France Award for his oil seascape Balinful. The Paul Henry Landscape Award was given to Emma Spence for the mixed-media In the Teeth of Winter and the Sponsor’s Prize went to Jessica Checkley for her bronze Robin on Branch.
Rounding off the awards were the major prizewinners: the Perpetual Gold Medal went to Ciaran Gallagher for his acrylic and oil portrait Tony D; the Silver Medal was awarded to Stephen Johnston for his oil Flowers in Jar (No. 4); and Lynsay-Erin Mercer received the Bronze Medal for her clay sculpture Matrilineal – the Mother Line.
Although they didn’t win prizes, there was particularly interesting work from Mollie Browne, Evan Connon in stained glass, David Crone, Diarmuid Delargy, Eileen Ferguson, Clement McAleer, Ronnie Hughes, Zoe Murdoch, Bob Sloan and Sharon Kelly.
Brian McAvera
