Brett Whiteley travelling art scholarship 2008 finalists
1 & 2: Installation views of 9 Shades of Whiteley
On view: 20 September – 30 November 2008
Also on show: Whiteley and the third dimension
Amber Wallis Untitled landscape 2007 mixed media on paper
Amber Wallis from North Fitzroy in Victoria is the winner of the tenth Brett Whiteley Travelling Art Scholarship for her work Untitled landscape 2007.
127 entries were received from around Australia, 22 of which are included in the finalists’ exhibition on show at the Brett Whiteley Studio until 30 November 2008.
30 year-old Amber Wallis is studying at the Victorian College of the Arts (part of the University of Melbourne) for her Masters in Visual Art. She is a part-time practicing artist and has participated in several group and solo exhibitions.
Amber Wallis was born and raised in Bondi, Sydney, and has lived in Canberra and the Northern Territory. Wallis said: My work explores personal memories. I’m interested in collecting stories and rescued moments, threading them together to form visual narratives. I am highly influenced by colour, the experience of creating line and the effect of random mark-making.
'Untitled landscape' forms my recollection of an un-photographed memory of the country property 'Clea', thirty minutes outside of Captains Flat in rural NSW. Merged with other memories, a dark undercurrent is ubiquitous, starkly contrasted with the colourful mark-making that exemplifies the beauty of the land.
Mrs Beryl Whiteley was awarded an OAM for the creation and endowment of the Brett Whiteley Travelling Art Scholarship. The inspiration for this annual scholarship was the profound effect of international travel and study experienced by her son, Brett Whiteley, as a result of winning the Italian Travelling Art Scholarship at the age of 20.
The Brett Whiteley Travelling Art Scholarship is open each year to Australian artists aged between 20 and 30 years. The winner is awarded $25,000 and a three-month residency at the Cité Internationale des Arts in Paris, which is administered by the Art Gallery of NSW.
The judges for the 2008 Brett Whiteley Travelling Art Scholarship were artist, Nicholas Harding, Art Gallery of NSW director, Edmund Capon, and Barry Pearce, the Gallery’s head curator of Australian art.
Nicholas Harding comments: Amber’s work reveals a poetic transformation of experience. Emotions, feelings and materials have fused in a lyrical abstraction where we move through a field of inventive mark-making, carried by a playful disposition of varied form, colour and line.
Samuel Hughes was highly commended for his work Subway No. 2 2008.
2008 finalists
Seth Birchall
28 years NSW
Untitled 2007
Oil on canvas
Private collection
Nicole Chaffey
28 years NSW
Crossings 2008
Oil on canvas
Collection of the artist
Michelle Donald
29 years NSW
Kitchen with sink 2008
Oil on canvas
Collection of the artist
Vitor Dos Santos
26 year QLD
Riding on letters 2008
Mixed media on board
Collection of the artist
Peta Dzubiel
24 years NSW
No.7 outskirts 2008
Oil on canvas
Collection of the artist
Emily Ferretti
25 years VIC
Balloon top 2008
Oil on linen
Collection of the artist
Courtesy Sophie Gannon Gallery, Melbourne
Emily Fitzgerald
25 years NSW
Dream night 2008
Charcoal, gouache, acrylic on paper
Collection of the artist
Michelle Gearin
29 years NSW
Toilet legs 2008
Oil, graphite on paper
Collection of the artist
Samuel Hughes (Highly commended)
30 years NSW
Subway No. 2 2008
Oil on board
Collection of the artist
Laura Jones
26 years NSW
Claire 2008
Oil on canvas
Collection of the artist
Nicole Kelly
20 years NSW
Woman with green 2008
Oil on canvas
Collection of the artist
Tom Langlands
30 years NSW
Atari abstract minigolf 5 2007
Acrylic on linen
Private collection
Belem Lett
21 years NSW
Moore Park 2008
Oil on board
Collection of the artist
Scott Millington
22 years NSW
Blue mirror 2008
Oil on canvas
Collection of the artist
Anthony O’Carroll
29 years NSW
Exploration of subject, No. 8 2008
Acrylic, mixed media on cardboard
Collection of the artist
Alicia Poppett
29 years NSW
White slopes 2008
Night time snowscape 2008
Oil on canvas
Collection of the artist
Elena Papanikolakis
23 years ACT
Pulseplanktonne 2008
Dronemeat 2008
Whiskdrifter 2008
Oil on wood
Collection of the artist
Kelly Purvis
25 years QLD
Tree light 2007
Tree birdie 2007
Oil on paper
Collection of the artist
Ben Sheers
30 years VIC
Headlights 2008
Oil on canvas
Courtesy of McCulloch Gallery,
Melbourne
Amber Wallis (Winner)
30 years VIC
Untitled landscape 2007
Gouache, acrylic, oil stick, pigment,
watercolour pencil, pastel on paper
Private collection
David Whitworth
23 years NSW
Spy 2006
Acrylic on board
Private collection
Alan Young
28 years TAS
One of a kind 5 2008
Acrylic, oil stick on canvas
Collection of the artist