Awards Winners at 91st Annual Exhibition – Art Works
The Reading Guild of Artists (RGA) has released the names of this year’s recipients of the Marie Dyson Award (for a work in 2D) and the inaugural Pauline Mercier Award – awarded for a 3D art work. Shiplake sculptor and past President of the RGA Clive Duncan chose the winners from a ‘pool of great talent’.
For the Marie Dyson Award winner, Clive chose two watercolours by Henley resident Belinda Fitzwilliams, I Love My Cello and Nude at Dusk saying “Belinda has captured the essence of her subjects. These are understated but visually strong images”. Belinda, who is a long-standing active member of the RGA, was stunned, later saying she was “over the moon”. Clive also awarded second prize to Mick McNicholas for his oil painting The Living Embodiment of Frida Kahlo “A remarkable front-on portrait which has been handled with sensitivity”. The third prize was presented to Linda Saul for The Sheer Cliff Crumble “Clever use of mixed media: collage, watercolour, print & text – a composite storyboard”.
This year saw the introduction of the Pauline Mercier Award a new award for work in 3D. Clive chose a piece by Paul Whitehouse Lobed Form saying of it “Spare, strong form and well executed”. Emma Major received a Special Mention for her tactile 3D piece.