R & M McGivern Prize previous winners
The R & M McGivern Prize was established by the will of the late Muriel Evelyn McGivern, a local resident and artist of Maroondah, as a legacy of Muriel’s support of the arts in Maroondah.
The Prize is awarded every three years by the Perpetual Trustee Company Limited as Trustee of the R & M McGivern Croydon Arts Trust for outstanding, original artwork in the medium of painting in oil and watercolour (including gouache).
R & M McGivern Prize 2019
Theme: Anthropocene
In 2019 the R & M McGivern Prize was awarded to Nadine Christensen for their work Snagged.
Image: Nadine Christensen, Snagged, 2019
The judges commented that the work 'is a technically accomplished painting that renders a collision of imagery, scale and painterly planes in a masterfully cohesive fashion. Christensen’s work reminds us that while life is fleeting and fragile there is hope in the midst of despair. The artwork showcases the artist’s affinity with spatial deconstruction and the existential plight of humanity.’
Maroondah City Council People's Choice 2019
Dale Cox was the winner of the $1,000 R & M McGivern People's Choice Prize for his hauntingly prophetic work Untitled, 2019.
R & M McGivern Prize 2016
In 2016 the R & M McGivern Prize was awarded to Rose Nolan for their work QUOTE / UNQUOTE (double version).
Image: Rose Nolan, Big Words - QUOTE / UNQUOTE (double version), 2016, photograph by Matthew Stanton
Inspired by the provocative aesthetics of Russian Constructivism and associated with the Store 5 group of artists from Melbourne, Rose Nolan is a highly regarded artist who has exhibited extensively in Australia and overseas since the 1980s.
This painting on concertina cardboard, blurs the boundaries between painting, sculpture and architecture.
R & M McGivern Prize 2012
In 2012 the R & M McGivern Prize was awarded to Rosslynd Piggott for their work 24 hours/Tremor.
Image: Rosslynd Piggott, 24 hours/Tremor
Piggott’s style is slow and deliberate, often using natural forms and systems as a starting point for painterly meditations. The winning painting depicts the same area of sky as recorded over a 24 hour period. The artist describes how the work forms “a tenuous time-line across a falling and chaotic night sky. This painting aims not to illustrate these ideas, but to emanate them, in stillness and vibration.”
R & M McGivern Prize 2009
In 2009 the R & M McGivern Prize was awarded to Celeste Chandler for their work Untitled 5.
Image: Celeste Chandler, Untitled 5, series naked in the dark, 2009 (detail)
This work combines Chandler’s mastery of the brush with her interest in manipulating paint into human skin and the intangible connections and disconnections that exist between people.
R & M McGivern Prize 2006
In 2006 the R & M McGivern Prize was awarded to Stephen Haley for their work United (but not reconciled).
Image: Stephen Haley, United (but not reconciled), 2006
Haley’s work addresses the issue of reconciliation between Indigenous and non-Indigenous Australians. Through incorporating a single-point perspective view and an aerial view of suburban Australia, the work alludes to the vantage points of two different cultures and to the tensions that persist on the road to reconciliation.
R & M McGivern Prize 2003
In 2003 the R & M McGivern Prize was awarded to Martin King for their work First Rain 11.
Image: Martin King, First Rain 11, 2003
In 2003 the inaugural R & M McGivern Prize was awarded to Martin King for his painting First Rain II. Inspired by his travels around Australia, the work depicts the coming of the rains to the harsh desert terrain of the continent’s interior.