Bachelor of Visual Arts student Charlie Tapper won the prestigious Robert Le Gay Brereton Memorial Prize by the Art Gallery of New South Wales (AGNSW). The prestigious prize was judged by a panel of Art Gallery of NSW curatorial staff.
Earlier this year Charlie found out about the call for submissions when one of her lecturers posted about the opportunity on the Sydney College of the Arts online student platform and encouraged her to apply.
“It caught my eye because of its emphasis on figure drawing, which is something I enjoyed when I was younger and re-discovered during the pandemic through online life-drawing sessions,” Charlie says. To succeed, she had to submit two life-figure drawings, a study of hands and feet, studies of a head, and additional sketchbook images.
Charlie, who is also an administration officer in the School of Art, Communication and English, was caught by surprise when she opened an email confirming that she had won the prize while working away in her office. One of her colleagues read out that notification to convince her that she had indeed clinched the award.
We sat down with Charlie to find out more about her studies and what drives her as an emerging artist.
