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

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.