Past exhibitions

Five artists awarded the 2020 Brett Whiteley Travelling Art Scholarship

Awarded for the past 21 years to a young Australian painter aged between 20 and 30 years, the Brett Whiteley Travelling Art Scholarship in its 22nd year has been awarded to five artists, each of whom receive $10,000 and the offer of a two-week residency at the Shark Island Institute in Kangaroo Valley, New South Wales.

Guest artist judge, Lucy Culliton, selected 11 finalists and five Scholarship recipients from 129 entries. Recipients include Charlie Ingemar Harding (Victoria); Emily Grace Imeson (NSW); Dan Kyle (NSW); Lily Platts (NSW) and Georgia Spain (Tasmania).

Curated by Wendy Whiteley, works from each artists’ winning body of work will be on display at the Brett Whiteley Studio in Surry Hills from 15 October until 15 November 2020. The exhibition will include works by finalists Amelia Carroll, Alice Palmer, Cosima Scales, Ondine Seabrook, Lilli Stromland and Christopher Zanko.

Alongside the 22 Brett Whiteley Travelling Art Scholarship works in this exhibition, visitors to the Brett Whiteley Studio will also be able to view the exhibition Feathers and Flight on until 2021.

In years past the annual $40,000 scholarship has been awarded to a young Australian painter aged between 20 and 30 years and has included a three-month residency at the Cité Internationale des Arts in Paris. Due to COVID-19 international travel restrictions, the Gallery is unable to host the 2020 recipient at the Cité Internationale des Arts.

About the scholarship

The annual Brett Whiteley Travelling Art Scholarship is now in its 22nd year and is open to Australian painters aged between 20 and 30 years. It was created from an endowment by Mrs Beryl Whiteley in 1999. The inspiration was the profound effect international travel and study had on her son, the artist Brett Whiteley, as a result of winning the Italian Government Travelling Art Scholarship in 1959 at the age of 20.

About the Brett Whiteley Studio

Brett and Wendy Whiteley first bought the former Surry Hills warehouse in 1985, converting it into a studio and exhibition space where Brett lived and worked from 1988 until his death in 1992. The space opened to the public in 1995, two years after it was purchased by the NSW Government.

The Brett Whiteley Studio offers visitors the unique opportunity to experience the atmosphere of the artist’s working space, with paintings, art materials, Whiteley’s collection of art books and objects that inspired him, alongside the graffiti wall covered with his quotes and images.

The Studio is managed and owned by the Art Gallery of NSW. Free admission is made possible by J.P. Morgan, principal sponsor of the Brett Whiteley Studio.

Presenting partner