Otago Polytechnic graduate wins major UK art prize

Otago Polytechnic graduate wins major UK art prize

Dunedin School of Art at Otago Polytechnic congratulates Bachelor of Visual Arts graduate Holly Zanderbergen on winning the Best Young Artist Award at the UK’s prestigious National Open Art Awards (NOA) held at the Royal College of Art in London recently. Holly's work "Emergence" won first prize in the Young Artists Awards (23 years or under) and prize money of £5,000.

A total of 35 artists from across the UK and Ireland won prizes totalling more than £60,000.The winning artworks were selected from nearly 4,000 entries.

“I’m hoping that winning this award will have proven me to be an emerging artist and as someone who can be invested in for the long term. The prize money will go towards my London studio rent and pay for my larger works, some of which have cost me up to £800 on paint alone,” says Ms Zanderbergen.

Zanderbergen graduated from the Dunedin School of Art in 2013. Principal Lecturer Clive Humphreys remembers Holly as a having a fantastic work ethic, a love of painting and a real thirst for wanting to know more. “Winning this award hasn’t come as a surprise to us. She was very sponge like about new information, new knowledge, and really welcomed critical responses to her work.”

Zanderbergen says she chose to study at the Dunedin School of Art because of its emphasis on the practical side of art making. “The course gave me the opportunity to create in a space that was never dictated by current modes or ways of thinking. The lecturers always maintained an openness in their way of teaching which I found extremely refreshing after studying at a previous university that believed painting to be a dying art form. In this encouraging environment I felt more comfortable to find my voice as a painter, and with my teacher's guidance I grew in confidence most noticeably in my paint handling,” says Holly.

A major influence on Zanderbergen’s work is British artist Frank Auerbach who is renowned for his extremely impasto* oil paintings. “I was first told of his work by my lecturers in my second year and was excited by what he was and is still doing to this day. There is something about the way the paint sits almost as if frozen in its motion so that you really get a sense of his energy and thoughts in that moment,” says Zanderbergen. (*Impasto is a technique used in painting, where paint is laid on an area of the surface very thickly, usually thickly enough that the brush or painting-knife strokes are visible. Paint can also be mixed right on the canvas.)

Holly is hoping the award will secure representation by a London gallery.

“I think of my painting as a personal investigation of myself. By using subject matter that stimulates a subjective response, I use the paint in a very purposeful and instinctive way. The paint has become thicker due to a combination of things, but mainly it is a tactile way of understanding the world.”

ENDS

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