Congratulations to Natasha Walsh who has been awarded the 2018 Brett Whiteley Travelling Art Scholarship. The annual prize is open to Australian painters between the ages of 20 and 30. It consists of a three-month long residency at the Cité Internationale des Arts in Paris and $40,000 to facilitate further travel.
Walsh, a Sydney-based painter, was selected based on a body of self-portraits painted on copper.
This year the prize was judged by well-known painter Ben Quilty, himself an alumnus of the award.
Speaking of his choice, Quilty said that Walsh’s work “has a quiet yet very self-assured sophistication that belies her youth. The future of Australian painting is in fine hands!”
“The Brett Whiteley Travelling Art Scholarship was the turning point and defining moment in my career. I quit my day job the same day I was awarded the scholarship. Then for the next six months I lived with my partner Kylie, in Paris, making art. The scholarship changed my life and I hope that Natasha Walsh gains as much as I did from this amazing opportunity,” Quilty added.
Walsh was a finalist in the 2018 Archibald prize and in addition to Quilty, fellow scholarship winners Mitch Cairns and Marcus Wills have also gone on to win the Archibald.
Dr Michael Brand, director of the Art Gallery of New South Wales congratulated Walsh on her win.
“Natasha is the 20th young Australian painter to be awarded the scholarship and a wonderful example of the talented artists the Brett Whiteley Travelling Art Scholarship was established to nurture,” he said. “Her striking small-scale self-portraits have made Natasha a three-time finalist in the Archibald Prize and I look forward to seeing the impact of the scholarship on her practice.”
Walsh was selected from a field that also included: Otis Hope Carey, Martin Claydon, Danica Firulovic, Holly Greenwood, India Mark, Jason Phu, Jordon Richardson, Monica Rohan, Nick Santoro, Adrian Smith, and Myles Young.
A selection of work by all the finalists s on show at the Brett Whiteley Studio until 7 October.
