George Mason Visual Art Scholarship

The George Mason Visual Arts Scholarship

Recipients

The objective of the George Mason Visual Arts Scholarship is to assist a senior secondary school student to continue their visual arts study at a tertiary level, including Māori visual art, design and architecture courses. The student must currently be studying a visual art subject, ngā toi, or DVC at a Taranaki secondary school, kura kaupapa or Te Aho o Te Kura Pounamu (Taranaki resident).

The Scholarship encourages not only academic achievers but also any student who demonstrates drive and motivation towards a career in visual arts. The Scholarship is awarded annually to the value of $3,000, to be paid as a one-off lump sum to the winning student on proof of enrolment for a visual arts tertiary education course.

The Scholarship is funded by the George Mason Trust and managed by the Govett-Brewster Art Gallery. This includes administering the application and award process and promoting the Scholarship to Taranaki visual arts teachers and students through the Gallery’s website and marketing.

 

2022 Applications

Scholarship applications for 2022 have now closed. Thanks to all those who expressed an interest.

 

Selection criteria

Selection focuses on one final artwork from the student’s school folio or mahi toi, clearly titled and dated in the file name, supported by five relevant images (these could be work in progress and may include video stills), and the student’s artist statement. Images should be supplied as JPEGS (min. 1MB, max. 2MB) individually attached to the application email.

Applications are scored on three criteria; quality of ideas (70%), aesthetic skill (20%) and artist statement (10%). The figures in brackets indicate the priority given to students with a unique, consistent and personal perspective to art.

 

Selection panel

The selection panel is Chris Barry, Educator at Govett-Brewster (BFA & MFA Auckland University, Cert Adult Ed WITT); Simon Gennard, Assistant Curator Contemporary Art and Collections (MA Art History, Victoria University of Wellington) and Chanelle Carrick, Curator Pictorial Collections at Puke Ariki (MA Art History and Theory, University of Otago).

No Taranaki school art teachers are on the panel to avoid any perceived conflict of interest.

 

Award of Scholarship

The Scholarship winner will be announced on Wednesday 26 October with the student receiving payment once they have supplied proof of their enrolment in a visual arts tertiary education course of a minimum of three years diploma status. An artwork and written statement from each year’s winning student will be ‘exhibited’ (and digitally archived) on the schools’ scholarship page within the Govett-Brewster Art Gallery’s website.

Winning students will be required to annually contact the Govett-Brewster Educator with proof of their continued enrolment in a visual arts tertiary education course, provide their grades for the previous year’s study and supply updated contact details. This is to enable tracking of the success of the Scholarship’s objective.