Meath Artist Annabel Potterton wins Solstice Visual Arts Award 2019

Meath artist Annabel Potterton has been announced as the overall winner of the 2019 Solstice Visual Arts Award at the opening of the eight annual SURVEYOR exhibition on Saturday 8h November. Solstice Arts Centre invited artists from or living in County Meath to submit artworks of all disciplines for inclusion in the open exhibition, which presents an overview of living visual arts practice throughout the county and is the largest of its kind in the northeast region. This year SURVEYOR was selected by Kevin Kavanagh of the Kevin Kavanagh Gallery, Dublin. As part of the award, Annabel won a €2,000 bursary to contribute towards her continued practice within the visual arts field.

The winning pieces are from Annabel’s Border Candy series of work, which are created using the ‘alla prima’ technique, in that they are created in one sitting to keep a freshness of stroke and colour. Talking about the piece, Annabel described it as “an exploration of the herbaceous border; a process of indulgence combining the joy of growing a garden and a compulsion to paint, particularly with oils.  Through the daily practice of “doing”, painting becomes habitual and not having to agonise over subject matter delivers, for me, a glow of happiness in pure painterly pleasure.”

Annabel sits on the committee of The Connolly Collective, which serves to make a link between arts and health in Connolly Hospital and runs creative workshops with residents in the Silver Birch Unit who are living with advanced dementia. This experience has influenced Annabel’s new body of work, all about being in the moment and taking every opportunity to enjoy the process of painting using material that is around her.

Posted on 14 Nov 2019.