| Ranamok Glass Prize | |
| Former Name: | RFC Prize |
| Awarded For: | Excellence in contemporary glass |
| Presenter: | Ranamok Glass Prize Ltd. |
| Country: | Australia and New Zealand |
| Year: | 1995 |
| Year2: | 2014 |
The Ranamok Glass Prize, formerly RFC Glass Prize (or Resource Finance Corporation Glass Prize), was an annual award given to glass artists who live in Australia or New Zealand. The award was established in 1994 by Andy Plummer and Maureen Cahill in order to promote glass art to the public. Plummer and Cahill announced that 2014 would be the final year of the prize.
Andy Plummer, a coal industry executive and glass artist, and Maureen Cahill, a gallerist and glass artist, created the Resource Finance Corporation Glass Prize, aka RFC Glass Prize, in 1994[1] [2] in order to recognise contemporary glass artists in Australia and New Zealand. Plummer, a mining executive, had met Cahill in the early 1990s, when undertaking a glass-making short course at the Sydney College of the Arts. Cahill was an established artist, who had created Australia's first glass course in 1978. Plummer was looking for an arts focus to be the beneficiary of funding by corporations in his sector.
Resource Finance Corporation went through various changes of names and mergers, through Whitehaven Coal, Eureka Corporation and Excel Corporation, and the prize became the Ranamok Prize.[1]
The first exhibition of finalists was held at the Earth Exchange Museum in Sydney in 1995.[1]
In 2014, Plummer and Cahill announced that they were ending the prize, in part to focus on their own work as glass artists.[3] The final exhibition was held at the Canberra Glassworks,[4] before touring to Sydney and Brisbane.[1]
By this time, Cahill was exhibiting her work regularly, and was running the Glass Artists' Gallery in Glebe, Sydney. One of her works was hung in Parliament House in Canberra. Plummer had retired, and was then aged 64, and was still working on his practice, planning his first exhibition in 2015.
The winning pieces, collected each year by Ranamok Glass Prize Ltd, were donated to the National Gallery of Australia.[5] [1]
After the demise of the Ranamok Prize, a new prize, the biennial FUSE Glass Prize, was established by Jim and Helen Carreker at JamFactory in Adelaide.[6]
The prize was open to artists of any level, and was considered the most prestigious glass award in Australia and New Zealand.[7] An annual showcase of finalists was held, and the winner received a cash prize and the publicity resulting from a major multi-venue exhibition.
The award, which was known for pushing boundaries,[8] attracted entries from glass artists of all levels, including established leading artists.[1] The winner was chosen by a board of directors which included Plummer and Cahill.[9]
It was an acquisitive award, with the winning piece going to the Ranamok (formerly RFC) Collection.[1] (later donated to National Gallery of Australia[5]).
Many of its winners and finalists went on to become well-known artists, with work exhibited around Australia.[8]
| Year | Artist | Title of winning piece | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1995 | Deb Cocks[10] | Stream | Australia | |
| 1996 | Susan Hill | ripening ll | Australia | |
| 1997 | Jessica Loughlin[11] | Horizon Lines Series #7 & #8 | Australia | |
| 1998 | Ben Edols and Kathy Elliott[12] | Groove II | Australia | |
| 1999 | Emma Camden[13] | The Tower of Secrets | New Zealand | |
| 2000 | Richard Whiteley[14] | Blue - Grey | Australia | |
| 2001 | Mark Thiele[15] | Time 1, 2 & 3 | Australia | |
| 2002 | Mel Douglas[16] | Between the Lines | Australia | |
| 2003 | David Murray[17] | Gatherer | New Zealand | |
| 2004 | Scott Chaseling[18] | Censor | Australia | |
| 2005 | Joanna Bone[19] | Ominous Fruit | Australia | |
| 2006 | Cobi Cockburn[20] | Shifting Fields | Australia | |
| 2007 | Evelyn Dunstan[21] | Ngahere Karauna (Forest Crown) | New Zealand | |
| 2008 | Matthew Ryan[22] | A Net for Light #1 | Australia | |
| 2009 | Lisa Walsh[23] | Across the Lines | New Zealand | |
| 2010 | Sue Hawker[24] | Too Much Is Never Enough | New Zealand | |
| 2011 | Masahiro Asaka[25] | Surge 1 | Australia | |
| 2012 | Denise Pepper[26] | Punto in Aria (Stitches in Air) | Australia | |
| 2013 | Tom Moore[27] | Massive Microscopic Bug | Australia | |
| 2014 | Kathryn Wightman | Carpet | New Zealand |