Fauvette Loureiro Memorial Scholarship 2024 recipients announced

Artists Leigh Rigozzi and Szymon Dorabialski have been announced as the 2024 recipients of the Fauvette Loureiro Memorial Scholarship. Established in 1997, the scholarship supports Sydney College of the Arts (SCA) alumni who are practising artists by facilitating their professional development through a self-directed travel proposal. 

“The Fauvette Loureiro Memorial Scholarship continues to be one of the most significant prizes at Sydney College of the Arts,” said SCA Co-Director, Professor Julie Rrap. 

“In both categories, the opportunity for our graduates to travel and develop their research, practice and networks both nationally and internationally has produced career-changing results.”

The 2024 scholarships were judged by an esteemed panel including Associate Professor Andrew Lavery, SCA Co-Chair and Co-Director, Professor Mikala Dwyer from RMIT University, and Dr Mark Shorter, Senior Lecturer and Head of Sculpture at the Victorian College of Arts.

Hobart-based Leigh Rigozzi (Master of Visual Arts, 2007) received the mid-career/ established artist scholarship for his series of paintings The Complete Works of Pieter Bruegel, 2022-2024. Each piece adapts a painting or print by 16th century Flemish artist Pieter Bruegel, with some scenes including a version of Rigozzi or depicting the Lutruwitan/ Tasmanian landscape where he lives.

“Rigozzi’s reference to Pieter Bruegel’s original stories in his watercolour paintings is relentless and meticulous, yet at the same time his scenes incorporate his own stories, including those of his life in Tasmania,” said Associate Professor Andrew Lavery. “Connections between each image emerge to reveal a constellation of broader human experiences.”

Rigozzi will use the scholarship to embark on a viewing tour of the main collections of Bruegel paintings held at museums in Belgium, Italy and Spain.

Szymon Dorabialski (Master of Fine Arts, 2017) received the emerging artist scholarship for his sculptural installation titled Fallen From Grace, Hungover From Divine, 2024. Using materials such as cedar, glass, copper and L.E.D, Dorabialski explores the meaning of symbols in Slavic culture.

“The judges saw Dorabialski’s work as a compelling material manifestation of his yearnings for divinity,” Associate Professor Lavery said. “His use of glass lends itself to a depiction of transcendence as light passes through it, like a veil between worlds.”

With the scholarship funds, Dorabialski plans to embark on a residency to Poland to connect with his Slavic heritage, where he can immerse himself in the stories of Krakow and advance his art practice by more accurately reflecting the culture it’s influenced by.

You can view Rigozzi and Dorabialski’s prize-winning work, along with the outstanding work of the ten finalists, at the Fauvette Loureiro Memorial Scholarship exhibition.

• EXHIBITION DATES: 26 September – 2 November 2024
• WHERE: Sydney College of the Arts Gallery at the University of Sydney, Camperdown 
• OPENING HOURS: Monday to Friday, 11 am–5 pm and Saturdays from 12–4 pm

2024 Fauvette Loureiro Memorial Scholarship finalists: 
Mid-career/ established: Elizabeth Day, Andrew Hazewinkel, Anna John, Leigh Rigozzi, Tony Schwensen, Magnetic Topographies.
Emerging: Ciaran Begley, Szymon Dorabialski, Gillian Kayrooz, Charles Levi.

About the Fauvette Loureiro Memorial Scholarship
The Fauvette Loureiro Memorial Scholarship was established in 1997 through a gift from the estate of Renee Fauvette Erdos, an educator and founder of the History Teachers' Association of NSW, celebrating the memory of her mother Fauvette Loureiro. There are two categories of the award – an emerging artist receives a prize of $10,000, and a mid-career/established artist receives $30,000. The purpose of the scholarship is to support graduates of the Sydney College of the Arts to pursue a program of professional development through travel.

About Sydney College of the Arts
For more than 40 years, SCA has been a leading centre for education and research in the visual arts in the Asia-Pacific region, producing some of Australia’s most influential contemporary artists including Jane Campion, Ben Quilty, Rosemary Liang, Shaun Gladwell, Mikala Dwyer and Marc Newson. In 2020, SCA relocated to a state-of-the-art facility at Old Teachers’ College at the University of Sydney’s main campus, designed by renowned architects ARM.

Hero image: Installation view of Leigh Rigozzi's The Complete Works of Pieter Bruegel. Photo: Jessica Maurer.