Mary Tonkin

Mary Tonkin is an Australian artist, who in 2002 won the Dobell Prize, the highest prize for drawing in Australia. She was awarded her prize for her work Rocky Outcrop, Werribee Gorge 2000.

Tonkin was born in Melbourne, Australia in 1973. In 1992, she was accepted to study at the Faculty of Art and Design at Monash University. She went on to obtain a Bachelor of Arts (Fine Arts) with honours and a Masters in Fine Arts.

From 1996 to 2004, she was a lecturer at Monash University.

Major recent exhibitions of Tonkin's works include Near the top dam (2007), a retrospective exhibition Home 2000-2010 (2011–2) at the Burrinja Gallery in Upwey, Victoria, and at the Sydney Contemporary in 2022, which included the major, 21-panel work Ramble, Kalorama (2017–19), which was featured in Art Almanac in 2019.

List of solo exhibitions Source: Both sides now, Australian Galleries, Melbourne, 2024 Sydney Contemporary, Carriageworks, Sydney, 2022 Ramble, Whitehorse Artspace, Melbourne, 2020 Ramble, Australian Galleries, Melbourne, 2019 Between the dams, Australian Galleries, Sydney, 2017 Two spots, Australian Galleries, Melbourne, 2015 A short walk, Australian Galleries, Melbourne, 2013 Black paintings, La Trobe Regional Art Gallery, Mrowell, 2012 Home 2000–2010, Burrinja Gallery, Upwey, 2011

Collections Source: Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne Mornington Peninsula Regional Gallery, Mornington Shepparton Art Museum, Shepparton Kedumba Collection of Contemporary Australian Drawing, Wentworth Falls City of Whitehorse, Melbourne ANZ Bank, Melbourne Monash University, Melbourne Australian Catholic University, Melbourne Deakin University, Melbourne UNSW Art Collections, Sydney

Awards Source: Holding Redlich People's Choice Award Salon des Refuses, S. H. Ervin Gallery, Sydney, 2022 Kedumba Prize for Drawing, Wentworth Falls, 2010 Dobell Drawing Prize, Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney, 2002