The 24th Brett Whiteley Travelling Art Scholarship has been awarded to six young Australian painters with the scholarship providing two types of residencies for the first time.
Following a two-year hiatus due to COVID-19 related travel restrictions, the Art Gallery of New South Wales has this year awarded one artist, a three-month residency at the Cité Internationale des Arts in Paris as well as five artists, a two-week residency at Shark Island Institute Kangaroo Valley.
This year’s Cité recipient is Bill Hawkins from Coburg, Victoria who also receives $40,000 in funding to further his art education while in Europe.
Following the success of the reformatted 2020 and 2021 scholarships, five artists have been offered a two-week residency at Shark Island Institute Kangaroo Valley, NSW. The recipients are Mark Maurangi Carrol (NSW), Sarah Drinan (VIC), Miranda Hine (QLD), Drew Connor Holland (NSW) and Flin Sharp (NSW). Each recipient will receive $10,000 as part of the scholarship.
2022 guest artist judge Mitch Cairns, who won the scholarship in 2012, selected the 11 finalists and six recipients from 187 entries. Cairns said it was an honour to judge the 2022 Brett Whiteley Travelling Art Scholarship.
“The finalists comprising the 2022 scholarship collectively mark the very healthy state of painting being produced by emerging artists in Australia today. As this year’s judge I would like to thank all of those who entered and congratulate the 11 finalists and six scholarship recipients,” said Cairns.
Speaking about Hawkins’ winning body of work, Cairns said: “I found the works to be utterly compelling, alive in their surface quality and capacity to destabilise my painting mind. The works are at once rich and reserved; both sensitive to the historical lineages of painting, while remaining at peace with their own personal artistic entanglement.”
The Paris residency for Hawkins will take place from July to September 2023, whilst the five Shark Island recipients will take their residency in Kangaroo Valley in November 2022. A curriculum and various events and programs has been produced by the Brett Whiteley Studio to support the artists in developing new bodies of work.
Scholarship recipient artworks will be on display at the Brett Whiteley Studio in Surry Hills, along with works by other finalists Amelia Carroll (ACT), Brodie Cullen (NSW), Emily Galicek (NSW), Nina Radonja (NSW) and Oliver Scherer (NSW).
Art Gallery of New South Wales director Michael Brand said that with the return of international travel it was exciting to be able to once again offer young artists opportunities to broaden their artistic horizons.
“I’m delighted that we can again take full advantage of this scholarship’s potential to provide an artist the chance to further their art practice abroad, while continuing the unique local element of the scholarship successfully offered in 2020 and 2021 thanks to the ongoing generosity of Shark Island Institute Kangaroo Valley,” said Mr Brand.
“With both the overseas and local residencies being awarded in 2022, I’m proud that we can provide more young artists with exceptional, formative experiences than we’ve been able to offer in the past.”
Established in 1999 by the late Beryl Whiteley, the Brett Whiteley Travelling Art Scholarship commemorates the profound effect international travel and study had on her son, artist Brett Whiteley, who won the Italian Government Travelling Art Scholarship at the age of 20.
A selection of the 2022 Brett Whiteley Travelling Art Scholarship recipient and finalist works will be on display at the Brett Whiteley Studio until Sunday 27 November 2022.
Alongside the works in this exhibition, visitors to the Brett Whiteley Studio will also be able to view the free exhibition Brett Whiteley: Blue and White – which presents a rare focus on the artist’s ceramics, along with related prints and drawings, and explores the importance of the colour blue in his art.
Image: The finalists of the 2022 Brett Whiteley Travelling Art Scholarship with Art Gallery of NSW director Michael Brand, deputy director Maud Page, guest artist judge Mitch Cairns, and Wendy Whiteley – photo by Felicity Jenkins | AGNSW