Named after one of the Clubs founders, Constance Gore-Booth, Countess Markievicz, the Gold Medal and Prize Fund was inaugurated to encourage young Irish Artists who have yet to make their mark.

The competition is run annually and has a different theme and a particular artistic discipline. The 2001 competition took a theme from Irish History and Mythology and the discipline was in painting.

At present the Prize Fund stands at €1270. The Markievicz Gold Medal, was designed by well-known local artist Tom Ryan PRHA.

This year’s Markievicz Gold Medal for aspiring artists and a prize of €1,700 was won by Catherine Griffiths, Bandon Co Cork, for her painting “Obsession and Murder”. The work was inspired by the murder scene of French socialite Sophie Toscan du Plantier in Schull, West Cork, in 1996 and depicts her cottage and the lane in which her body was found.

The prize was presented by Minister for State at the Department of the Taoiseach, Mary Hanafin at a reception in the Club.

The theme of this year’s competition was “Love, Sacred and Profane”. The adjudicators, well-known artist John Coyle RHA and Campbell Bruce, Chairman of the Contemporary Irish Arts Society selected the winner from 13 finalists whose works were exhibited for sale in the Club.

 

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