Windows to success
Two students from the South Australian School of Art have shone through at two separate national awards programs.
Karen Cunningham, a 2005 Bachelor of Visual Arts (Honours) graduate, won the Industrial and Object Design category in the Qantas Spirit of Youth Awards. The award program is Australia’s leading grants program for new creative talent.
Cunningham received $10,000 in cash and flights, as well as a professional mentorship with iconic Australian glass designer Marc Newson, working in his Paris studio later this year.
"Marc is a huge inspiration for me – it’s amazing that I will get to work with him," Cunningham said.
Cunningham currently works for Adelaide’s Blue Pony Studio as a glass artist designer, after completing a two-year traineeship at Adelaide’s Jam Factory. The Jam Factory is located with UniSA’s City West campus, and has earned Adelaide its spot as the centre of glass design in Australia.
Kristel Britcher, a 2007 graduate of the same course, won the
Fleurieu Youth Scholarship for her blown glass work. The $10,000
professional development prize will give Britcher the chance to
attend a glass conference and workshops in either the United States
or the United Kingdom later this year.
"There will be some exceptionally good artists at those conferences who I would really like to meet," Britcher said.
The award is part of the Fleurieu Biennale awards program which includes Australia’s richest and highly sought after Fleurieu Art Prize.
Both UniSA graduates specialised in glass during their studies and graduated with First Class Honours. The work of Karen and Kristel was selected for inclusion in Hatched, the prestigious national graduate show held annually at the Perth Institute of Contemporary Arts, in 2006 and 2008 respectively. Critic Ted Snell wrote of Kristel’s work in The Weekend Australian (May 3-4, 2008), ‘To enter into the presence of the extraordinary glass forms by Kristel Britcher is a profound experience …’
Program Director of the University’s Bachelor of Visual Arts (Honours), Olga Sankey said both these graduates are exceptionally talented and are very deserving of the accolades they have received.