Galway-based artist Cecilia Danell is the winner of The Merrion hotel’s Plinth Award 2024 …
Galway-based artist Cecilia Danell was recently announced as winner of The Merrion’s prestigious Plinth Award, established in 2019 to celebrate the 21st anniversary of the hotel.
This prize, which supports contemporary artists, was judged by Lochlann Quinn, chairman of The Merrion, as well as Patrick Murphy, Director of RHA Gallery and Oonagh Young, director of the Oonagh Young Gallery.
Oonagh Young, Cecilia Danell and Patrick Murphy.
Cecilia won a prize of €5,000, and the opportunity for her work to hang in the hotel alongside its significant collection of late 19th-century and early 20th-century Irish and European Art.
Cecilia’s winning artwork is called “The Farthest Shore” and reflects her interest in landscape, the strong use of colour and the psychology of place. The artwork captures an entire landscape devoid of trees, yet brimming with life.
Cecilia recently completed a residency in Áras Éanna Arts Centre on Inis Oírr, the smallest of the Aran Islands and in her artwork is the Plassey shipwreck, off Inis Oírr. The judges were particularly impressed with Cecilia’s “accomplished use of colour to portray an atmosphere evocative of the west while managing to accentuate particular forms to near abstraction.”
At the reception were artists Martin Mooney and Robert Ballagh, as well GLOSS contributor Katy McGuinness, and Karen Higgins and John Redmond.
Click into the gallery to see the guests who attended the event.
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