The Art Gallery of New South Wales (AGNSW) has announced Australian artist Kate Scardifield as the recipient of the 2019 Eva Breuer Travelling Art Scholarship.
The Eva Breuer Travelling Art Scholarship provides Scardifield with a three-month residency at the Dr Denise Hickey Memorial Studio at the Cité Internationale des Arts in Paris and a $25,000 stipend for living and travel expenses associated with the residency.
This year the scholarship was judged by Jackie Dunn, special exhibitions curator and Lisa Catt, assistant curator of international art at the AGNSW. Dunn said that scholarships and international residencies are invaluable to young artists: ‘Kate’s textile practice is unconventional and striking. Paris is a city with a robust textile history, so there is a real logic to Kate immersing herself in that during this key period in her career development as an artist.’
Scardifield’s work spans textiles, sculpture, installation and video. Her kinetic textiles employ a range of methods including hand pleating, appliqué and dissective cutting techniques into fabric to create tessellated surfaces and malleable sculptural forms.
‘I intend to use the Eva Breuer Travelling Art Scholarship to develop ambitious and experimental new work that explores connections between the body and the sculptural properties of cloth,’ Scardifield said.
‘Living in Paris for three months will afford me the opportunity to engage first hand with the Sonia Delaunay textile archive at Centre Pompidou and the relational textile works of Lygia Clark that were produced in Paris. I’m also looking forward to visiting Marché Saint-Pierre, the famous market dedicated to textiles, and consulting with Atelier Lognon the acclaimed French pleating studio that combines traditional craft skills and digital technologies to sculpt fabric,’ Scardifield added.
The Eva and Tom Breuer Foundation established the Eva Breuer Travelling Art Scholarship four years ago, in collaboration with the AGNSW, to support young Australian female artists for travel to and study in Paris. The scholarship commemorates the late Eva Breuer, one of Australia’s most loved and prolific art dealers who made a significant contribution to Australian art for over three decades.
The recipient of the Eva Breuer Scholarship is chosen from one of the winners of the AGNSW’s existing residency scholarships that are awarded to up to ten Australian artists each year.
Studios in Paris Scholarships
The following artists who have also been awarded a Studio Scholarship at the Cité Internationale des Arts in Paris:
Lauren Brincat – Elizabeth Bay, NSW
Teelah George – Cottesloe, WA
Susan Hawkins – Manly West, QLD
Sarah Mosca – Leura, NSW
Nicola Smith – Potts Point, NSW
Ella Sutherland – Potts Point, NSW
Shireen Taweel –Punchbowl, NSW
