Samuel Walsh the winner of the Savills Art Prize 2017
The Clare based artist Samuel Walsh has won the 5,000 euro Savills Art Prize. The winner was announced at Vue 2017, Ireland’s national contemporary art fair at the Royal Hibernian Academy, which runs until Sunday evening.
London born Walsh, whose parents hail from Limerick and Ennis, lived in Limerick for 22 years and is now based in Cloonlara, Co. Clare. “Art is a lifetime vocation, not a weekend job, and this prize is a confirmation that if you keep your focus and, hopefully, keep producing good work, then it will pay off,” the artist said.
Samuel Walsh was born in London. His parents are from Limerick and Ennis. He lived in Limerick for 22 years and is now based in Cloonlara, Co. Clare. He is the founder of the National Collection of Contemporary Drawing which hangs in the Limerick City Gallery of Art. The Aosdana member is closely associated with the beginnings of the Limerick Exhibition of Visual Art and has taught at many institutions including NCAD, the National Gallery of Ireland and the Pont-Aven School of Contemporary Art in France.
Walsh’s work has been acquired by national collections in Hungary, England, Croatia, Italy, and Switzerland and he will exhibit ‘Segment and Apple Drawings’ at the Hunt Museum, Limerick in February-March 2018.
