OXFORD.- On Wednesday 26 June, the winners of the first Mansfield-Ruddock Prize for art were announced at the Ruskin School of Art at Oxford University.

The Mansfield-Ruddock Prize is a new prize, kindly funded by the Ruddock Foundation for the Arts, facilitated by Sir Paul Ruddock. Its object is to acquire one graduate and one undergraduate work from the Ruskin School of Art degree show each year for Mansfield College.

Through displaying works by Ruskin students in the College setting, Mansfield aims to open up new conversations and debates around contemporary art, to inspire its students and visitors, and support some of the many talented emerging artists graduating from the Ruskin School of Art.

The inaugural jury consists of acclaimed artist Marc Quinn; Victoria Siddall, Director of the Frieze Art Fairs; and BAFTA-winning filmmaker – and Mansfield alumnus - Simon Pummell.

The jury was unanimous in choosing Anya Gleizer as the winner of the graduate prize, of £5,000, for her work, Granny’s Bones and Greta Sharp for the winner of the undergraduate prize, of £2,500, for her film, Conversation with myself.

Both artists will be invited to Mansfield College to display and speak about their work.

Helen Mountfield, Principal of Mansfield College said: “We are delighted to be able to reflect the forward-looking character of Mansfield College by launching this new Prize, to support artists at an early stage in their careers, and to inspire, delight and intrigue all who visit Mansfield. We are hugely grateful to our alumnus Sir Paul Ruddock and the Ruddock Foundation for the Arts for making it possible, and to our distinguished inaugural jury for helping us to choose from some really exciting work”.

Anthony Gardner, Head of the Ruskin School of Art, said: "The Ruskin is thrilled to be part of this new prize for its MFA and BFA students, thanks to the extraordinary generosity of Sir Paul Ruddock and Mansfield College, as well as the inaugural jury of Victoria, Marc and Simon. This visionary initiative comes at an exciting time for contemporary art and culture at Oxford, and recognises the superb talent coming through the Ruskin as one of the UK's leading art schools".

Anya Gleizer’s piece, Granny’s Bones, combines monumental sculpture, virtual reality and doctored photography, referencing a trip to Siberia, and her costumed performances at the Ruskin School of Art and Pitt Rivers Museum in Oxford. The jury felt the many elements to Gleizer’s work – performance, sculpture, VR, photography, and costume – were tied together by a strong narrative, exploring cultural identity, both personal and historical.

Greta Sharp’s work, Conversation with myself, is a film of a woman (the artist) speaking directly to camera and lip syncing the voices of a man and a woman talking about a relationship. The jury found Sharp’s work strong and confident, despite being quiet and simple, and while they described the concept as straightforward, they found the execution compelling and hypnotic.