News
2007 SAMSTAG SCHOLARSHIPS
Friday, 17 November, 2006
The University of South Australia has
announced the 2007 Anne & Gordon Samstag International Visual Arts
Scholarships.
Six artists from around Australia have been presented the prestigious awards for
study overseas in the visual arts, commencing in 2007. They are:
Paul Knight and
Nick Mangan (Victoria);
Anthea Behm and
Jess MacNeil (NSW);
Sarah CrowEST (South
Australia); and
Kirra Jamison
(Queensland). Each artist will receive a twelve months living allowance of
US$32,000 (approximately $42,000 Australian) as well as travel expenses and the
cost of institutional study fees, commonly in excess of $30,000 a year at
leading international art schools. A total of 111 Samstag Scholarships have been
awarded since 1992.
Now in their fifteenth award year, the Samstag Scholarships are renowned for
identifying artists of genuine talent and exciting promise. Commenting on this
year’s awards, Samstag director Ross Wolfe notes
that very significant numbers of past ‘Samstagers’ have enjoyed major – and
often quite rapid – professional success following their announcement as Samstag
Scholarship recipients. These, for example, include Anne Wallace, Shaun Gladwell,
Deborah Paauwe, John Kelly, Megan Walch and Timothy Horn, to name only a few.
Meanwhile, Samstag alumni Callum Morton and Daniel Von Sturmer have recently
been selected to represent Australia at the 2008 Venice Biennale, signalling the
high-level attention the Samstag name attracts from the profession, especially
among curators, dealers, collectors and art magazines.
This year’s catalogue essayist is Brisbane-based curator and writer,
Timothy Morrell, who has
contributed regularly to periodicals on Australian art for the past 20 years. A
former curator at the Art Gallery of South Australia and the Queensland Art
Gallery, his freelance curatorial work has included exhibitions in Australia,
Asia and Europe, as well as public art projects in Brisbane.
The Class of 2007 catalogue also includes the innovation of a DVD insert. With
half of the 2007 scholarship recipients presenting digital video work, the DVD
acknowledges the growing shift towards technology-based mediums among the new
generation of visual artists.
Judges for the 2007 Samstag Scholarships were Professor Kay Lawrence,
head of the South Australian School of Art, Paul Hoban,
artist and lecturer at the School of Art, and Jon Cattapan,
the prominent Melbourne-based painter.
For further information contact – Ross Wolfe, Director, Samstag Program
Tel + 618 (08) 8302 0869; 0417 814 188 (m);
ross.wolfe@unisa.edu.au
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