How did the experience affect you as an individual?
The scholarship allowed me to spend three months (mid-September to mid-December 2018) soaking up Italian culture and feasting my eyes on art—discovering the city was intoxicating! I’d travelled alone before but never this freely and without an academic institution or job to structure my time. It really tested my limits but opened my mind to new experiences which ended up being very healthy for my art practice.
What was the impact on your practice?
For me, the trip was about looking at as much as possible and trying out lots of new things. The scholarship money went towards short courses in printmaking, fresco, egg tempera, street art and Italian language. Experimenting with new painting techniques was a great way to expand my understanding of the boundaries of each type of paint, which helped me better understand the materiality of oil paint by comparison. I was also struck by the co-dependency of the visual arts and artisan production everywhere in Florence. I fell in love with the craftsmanship I saw in the stonework all around the city, notably the Pietra Dure mosaic-like stone technique. These stone techniques have often since been referenced in my paintings and are still feeding into my work now.
Gabrielle-Aimee, Sequin Baptism, 2019, oil, acrylic and spray paint on canvas, 90 x 64.3 cm
