The five young recipients of the 2022 Brett Whiteley Travelling Art Scholarship: Sarah Drinan, Miranda Hine, Drew Connor, Flin Sharp and Mark Maurangi Carrol; will show some of their work and speak about their art practice at a special ARTSLAB pop-up show at Upper River Hall Kangaroo Valley. The pop-up event will be introduced by artist, Ben Quilty, who won the scholarship back in 2002.

Since 1999, the Brett Whiteley Travelling Art Scholarship, which is administered by the Art Gallery NSW, was awarded to one young artist each year — a scholarship for an artist in their twenties and a three month residency at the Cité Internationale des Arts, in Paris.

Brett Whiteley’s mother, Beryl, generously allocated funds for the scholarship in memory of her late son, both to encourage excellence in painting and to offer young artists career development opportunities.

When COVID arrived in 2019, a Paris residency was not an option, so the award pivoted and with support from Shark Island Institute, five young artists were instead offered a scholarship and a two week residency, together, in Kangaroo Valley. It was such a success — with unexpected outcomes and benefits arising from artists working together in a shared studio space — it is now a yearly occurrence with the scholarship now championing six young artists instead of just one.

The 2022 group of artists are an example of the flow on effect from this opportunity. From their residency at Shark Island Kangaroo Valley a collective was born, and now we are delighted to be able to invite them back, as a group, for another residency, to create and explore their practice individually and together, and to share with the local community some of their work.

The ARTSLAB invites you to come and join us for afternoon tea at Upper River Hall, and to take this wonderful opportunity to get up close and personal with some new art and five talented young artists. The event will start at 2pm with some words from Ben Quilty.

Entry is by gold coin donation to cover afternoon tea costs.