Dungannon painter in finals of prestigious competition

THE shortlist of this year’s prestigious ‘Zurich Portrait Prize’ have been announced by the National Gallery of Ireland – and a talented artist from Dungannon, whose intricately-detailed oil portraits could be mistaken for photographs, has made the cut.

For her oil on linen painting, titled ‘Care’, created in 2021, Catherine Creaney is one of only 26 artists to successfully be chosen for the final stages of the competition, out of hundreds of entries.

The winner of the Zurich Portrait Prize will receive a cash prize of €15,000, and will be commissioned to create a work for the national portrait collection, for which they will be awarded a further €5,000.

Two additional awards of €1,500 will be given to highly-commended works.

Judges for the Zurich Portrait Prize are Diana Copperwhite, artist; Anna O’Sullivan, Director of the Butler Gallery, Kilkenny; and Nick Miller, artist.

Young artists

Meanwhile, the ‘Zurich Young Portrait Prize’ returns for its fourth year in 2022. Five winners – one from each respective age category and an overall winner – will be selected from a shortlist of hundreds of entries from young people aged four to 18 from across the island of Ireland. Winners will receive a bespoke art box and a cash prize.

The overall competition winner will be awarded a personalised wooden box of high-quality art materials, specific to their choice of material in their portrait, and a cash prize of €500.

All twenty shortlisted entrants will have their artwork professionally framed/prepared.

This year’s Zurich Young Portrait Prize judges are: Janet McLean, curator, National Gallery of Ireland; Nick Roche, comic illustrator; and Una Sealy RHA, artist.

Exhibition

Exhibitions of shortlisted works in both competitions run at the National Gallery of Ireland between November 26, 2022, and April 2, 2023. The exhibition will then travel to the Regional Cultural Centre, Letterkenny, Donegal, where it will be displayed between June 3 and September 2, 2023.