GERALDINE SWAYNE WINS THE MOTH ART PRIZE 2019 – ‘The Moth Art Prize is very much an artist’s art prize’ Geraldine Swayne
The Moth
Art Prize is awarded annually by
The Moth magazine to a body of figurative or representational artwork. It consists of €1,000 plus a two-week stay at
The Moth Retreat in
rural Ireland.
GERALDINE
SWAYNE studied
Fine Art at Newcastle University and in 1990 won a Northern Arts Travel Award
to paint and make super-8 films about Voodoo in New Orleans. She then moved to
rural France, living as a portraitist and making a series of large outdoor
paintings. In 1992 she moved to the UK and became a pioneer special effects
designer in London, and later in Los Angeles. She has made numerous experimental
films, including ‘East End’ with Nick Cave, and for ten years was a member of
the artist-initiated band Faust.
She recently exhibited at the Fine Art Society and Turps in the UK, and
Aeroplastics in Brussels. Her work has appeared in group shows at the Saatchi
Gallery, the Jerwood and the Barbican in London.
Geraldine's painting ‘Mask Man’ appears on the cover of the winter issue
of The Moth.
‘I am very honoured to receive The Moth Art Prize. It feels pretty rare to be
acknowledged for what I can paint, rather than what statement I can write. The
Moth Art Prize is very much an artist’s art prize. I am
counting the days till I can unpack myself at The Moth Retreat and make some
new work in that beautiful part of the world.’ Geraldine Swayne
WORK BY THE FOLLOWING ARTISTS WAS COMMENDED
SAMANTHA
ELLIS FOX lives and works from her studios in Co Tyrone in Northern Ireland and
the Inishowen Peninsula in Co Donegal. She is known predominantly for her
oil-based landscapes, but has recently begun to develop her work to include
figurative paintings and drawings. She has exhibited regularly on both
sides of the border and has shown at the Royal Dublin Society, Royal Ulster
Academy, Royal Hibernian Academy and as an invited artist at King House, Co
Roscommon. Her work is held in private and public collections including that of
the Office of Public Works and the Northern Ireland Department of Finance and
Personnel.
ADAM HENNESSEY finished a one year course at Turps Banana Painting
programme in 2015 and won the Darbyshire Prize for Emerging Art. He has been
selected for the Creekside Open, Oriel Davies Open, and most recently the
Contemporary British Painting Prize. He is represented by New Art Projects and
has had a painting added to the Groucho Collection.
BRIAN
KIELT is a visual artist based in Northern Ireland whose work explores ways of
interpreting the subjectivity of experience, in particular trauma and memory.
Kielt has received awards from the Stendhal Arts Festival, NI Young Artist of
the Year, Esmée Fairbairn Foundation, the Arts Council of Northern Ireland and
the University of Atypical. Kielt has also been included in several group
exhibitions throughout the UK and Ireland, held four solo exhibitions and has
work in private collections throughout Europe and North America.
JENNIFER McCRAE works with studio models, friends
and public/privately commissioned sitters. Collections include: National
Portrait Gallery London, Scottish National Portrait Gallery, Lords MCC, Ruth
Borchard Collection, The Royal Society London, Reading Museum, The Royal
Collection Windsor The Royal Scottish Academy. Awards include: BP Travel Award,
Sunday Times RSW Award 1st prize winner, Royal Society of Portrait
Painters Gold Medal and Lynn Painter Stainers 1st prize gold medal
2019. Sitters include Dame Judi Dench, Michal Frayn and Michael Vaughan.
EMERSON SCHREINER is a painter and a sand sculptor who splits his time between
Grand Rapids, Michigan, and the beaches of Texas. He spends his summers giving
sand castle lessons and travels whenever a sand sculpting opportunity presents
itself. When he’s not travelling and covered in sand, you can find him in his
studio in Grand Rapids working on his paintings. Emerson has exhibited his work
in Michigan since he was a teenager, and occasionally in other places as well,
including British Columbia and Texas. Emerson is a graduate of the University
of Michigan Art and Design program and has participated in artist residency
programs in Vermont and Iceland.