Ailbhe Ní Bhriain announced as winner of the 2020 Golden Fleece Award, Annemarie Reinhold and Kathy Tynan receive Golden Fleece Special Awards.
Our friends, the Trustees of the Golden Fleece Award are very pleased to announce that Cork-based multimedia artist Ailbhe Ní Bhriain is the winner of the 2020 Golden Fleece Award. She receives the main award, worth €15,000. Two Golden Fleece Special Awards are being presented to jeweller / silversmith Annemarie Reinhold (€10,000) and painter Kathy Tynan (€5,000). Visual artist Laura Fitzgerald and jeweller/engraver Pierce Healy were also shortlisted for the 2020 Award.
The 2020 Golden Fleece Award was to be presented at a ceremony at the RHA, on 25 March 2020, but due to the current circumstances the announcement was made online.
Now in its nineteenth year, the Golden Fleece Award was initially restricted to craft and figurative visual art. In 2018 the criteria were broadened to include artists working across all forms of visual, craft and applied arts. This year’s prize fund of €30,000 makes the Golden Fleece Award the most generous art prize open to both visual artists and craft practitioners/makers in Ireland.
"The standard of applications is outstanding and a tribute to the professionalism within the creative community. I would urge all that applied but were not shortlisted this year to continue to apply in the future.
The Golden Fleece Award has established itself as one of the most central and supportive awards for artists and craftspeople at a pivotal moment of their careers.
As I conclude my term as Chair of the Advisory Panel I want to express my thanks to my fellow panelists for their hard work and dedication and thank the Trustees for affording me the privilege to be involved with the Award."
- Patrick T. Murphy, Golden Fleece Advisory Panel Chair and Director, RHA
Image: Ailbhe Ní Bhriain, Untitled (the sublime and the good), 2019, Pigment print on hand-coated cotton, 65 x 39.5 cm, Image courtesy of the artist.
