Monash Memo - articles - 18 June 2002

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Monash lecturer wins prestigious art prize

Monash fine arts lecturer Ms Mary Tonkin has beenawarded the $10,000 national Dobell Prize for Drawing.

Ms Tonkin, whowill graduate with a Masters of Fine Art this year, won the prize forher work, Rocky Outcrop, Werribee Gorge (2000, charcoal on paper,225 x 460 cm).

One of Australia's most prestigious art prizes, theDobell Prize for Drawing is awarded simultaneously with the Archibald,Wynne and Sulman prizes.

Ms Tonkin, who has exhibited widely inAustralia and overseas, said she was "surprised and thrilled" to win theaward for the landscape drawing that took her more than 500 hours tocomplete at the site.

"The drawing represents my intimate experienceof the landscape and the sensations I felt while I was engaging withit," she said.

Ms Tonkin's work has been automatically acquired forthe Gallery of New South Wales' collection.