12 June 2015

The Art Gallery of New South Wales is delighted to announce young Australian female artist Ashleigh Garwood is the recipient of the inaugural Eva Breuer Travelling Art Scholarship.

The Breuer Foundation established the scholarship, in collaboration with the Art Gallery of NSW earlier this year, to support young Australian female artists for the purpose of travel 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.

Garwood will spend a three month residency at one of the Art Gallery of NSW’s studios at the Cité Internationale des Arts in Paris, the Dr Denise Hickey Memorial Studio. The Eva Breuer Travelling Art Scholarship awards Garwood a $25 000 stipend for living and travel expenses associated to the residency.

The Gallery’s Head of Australian Art and member of the scholarship judging panel Wayne Tunnicliffe said Garwood’s work stood out from an impressive calibre of applicants for its articulated concept and refined aesthetic.

“The Gallery places great importance on helping to foster the careers of young Australian artists through providing research and travel opportunities dedicated to creative development. We are most grateful to the Breuer Foundation in allowing us to offer this wonderful scholarship and we wish Ashleigh all the very best for her time in Paris,” Tunnicliffe said.

Garwood said she was extremely grateful to the Breuer family and very humbled to accept the inaugural Eva Breuer Travelling Scholarship.

“The opportunity to travel to Paris for the very first time and spend three months working full-time on my practice there is incredibly exciting and an invaluable experience,” Garwood said.

“I am interested in exploring the relationship between photography and painting – and what better place to do so than the epicentre of art, history and culture. I cannot wait to take in all Paris has to offer!” Garwood added.

The Eva Breuer Travelling Art Scholarship attracted applications from across Australia. Garwood, who is in her 20s, is currently based in Sydney’s Redfern. Her practice centres on photography and researching the medium in a broader cultural context.

Garwood believes having the opportunity to directly access the historical collections of art housed in museums in Paris will enhance the development of her practice and rigour of her research.

About the Eva Breuer Travelling Art Scholarship
The announcement of Eva Breuer Travelling Art Scholarship will be made each year at a special event at the Gallery that brings together the family and close friends of Eva Breuer, in remembrance – and celebration – of her life.

The recipient of the scholarship is chosen from one of the winners of the Art Gallery of New South Wales’s existing residency scholarships that are awarded to up to ten Australian artists each year. Recipients of the scholarships stay at one of two of the Art Gallery of NSW’s studios at the Cite International des Arts in Paris – either two months at the Moya Dyring Studio or three months at the Dr Denise Hickey Memorial Studio.

The Eva Breuer Scholarship provides the winning artist, a female under the age of 35, a $25,000 stipend for travel and living expenses associated with their residency scholarship. The Scholarship will initially be offered annually for three years from 2015 to 2017.