Dublin artist Stephanie Hess has won the RUA 2025 Sculpture Award, sponsored by Hamilton Architects. Her work, ‘By the Tail’, is a large bronze rendition of a tiger with a golden monkey swinging on its tail.
Stephanie attended the awards ceremony at the Ulster Museum, where the 144th annual exhibition has just opened and will run until January 6th, to be presented with her certificate by Paul Millar of Hamilton Architects.
Paul said: “Stephanie’s work was charming and characterful. There were many excellent entries in the sculpture category, but for me this figure stood out for its scale, power and whimsy. It is a worthy winner.
“The practice has been sponsoring awards at the RUA annual exhibition for many years, and we have always been impressed by the sheer number and standard of entries. I’m happy to say the 144th show is no exception!”
Stephanie was born in Singapore to Irish parents and travelled widely before settling in Ireland in 2014. She began casting her work with CAST foundry in Dublin and within months won the ESB Moran Award for Outstanding Sculpture at the RHA annual exhibition.
Distinctive patinas play an integral part in conveying the characters of her stylized animals.
“My childhood bookshelf has been a great influence in my life,” she says. “The adventures, hopes and dreams of the little creatures anthropomorphized in the stories of Beatrix Potter, AA Milne, Richard Scarry and Kenneth Grahame, to name but a few, have given me a sense that anything is possible in a world inhabited by animals who sail rafts, bake pies, drive cars, make cups of tea and head off on adventures!”
