Siemens-RMIT Fine Art Awards support student talent

Eight RMIT University students have been awarded $32,000 in scholarships through the 10th annual Siemens-RMIT Fine Art Awards.

Xiao Yu Bai, who is in the third year of her Doctorate of Fine Art, won two prestigious prizes at the awards held last week.

Ms Bai won a $7,000 Postgraduate Scholarship to spend on books and materials for her large scale painting, It is a fountain, but beyond the fountain, it is…

She was also awarded the Siemens-RMIT Acquisition prize of $1,000.

"My work is part of a series of paintings about fountains that actually exist. I wanted to evoke an atmosphere of calmness, energy and contemplation for the viewer, combining Western techniques with Chinese philosophical concepts," she said.

Born in China, Ms Bai immigrated to Australia in 1996. A follower of the Daoist philosophy, her paintings seek to express Dao through the technique of blurring realism.

RMIT Gallery Director Suzanne Davies said the Siemens-RMIT Fine Art Awards gave outstanding art students the chance to exhibit in a premier gallery space, as well as offering winners $32,000 in scholarships to further their careers by assisting their research and production costs.

Siemens Australia have invested half a million dollars in the scholarships over the past decade. This successful partnership with RMIT was recently recognised with an Honourable Mention in the Business/Higher Education Round Table 2010 Award for Best Higher Education and Training Collaboration.

Since the awards began, more than 450 students have been short-listed for the exhibition and scholarships, enabling them to show their art work at RMIT Gallery.

"These are outstanding visual art works, from Australia's most progressive student artists," Ms Davies said.

Artist Sam Leach is a prominent previous winner of the Siemens-RMIT Award. The RMIT 2010 Alumnus of the Year won the award in 2007 and has gone on to win major art prizes including the Archibald and the Wynne landscape prize earlier this year.

Chairman and Managing Director of Siemens Australia and New Zealand, Mr Albert Goller, said: "Siemens has enjoyed a great partnership with RMIT School of Arts for the past 10 years and through this time we have been a great supporter of the work of the staff and students and the innovative and inspiring works they produce every year.

"RMIT University, the RMIT Gallery, the students and past winners of this award should all be proud of the contribution they are making to society in the world of art and innovation."

In addition to Ms Bai, two other students received Postgraduate Scholarship Awards of $7,000 each:

• Matthew Sleeth, PhD candidate in Fine Art (Photography), for his stereolithograph, Scale model for still life
• Nicole Slatter, PhD candidate in Fine Art, for her oil on board, Demolition

The 2010 winners of the five Undergraduate Scholarship Awards of $2,000 for spending on travel were:

• Sean Crossley, Bachelor of Arts (Fine Arts - Drawing) (Honours), for his drawing and video installation, Trial
• Yuria Okamura, Bachelor of Arts (Fine Arts - Painting) (Honours), for her acrylic on paper works, Space and Illusion 1 and Space and Illusion 2
• Estelle Joannou, Bachelor of Arts (Fine Arts - Photography) for her archival inkjet prints, Untitled 1, Untitled 2
• Hayley Scilini, Bachelor of Arts (Fine Arts - Painting), for her acrylic on canvas, Experimental Slippages
• Chun Ling Lai, Bachelor of Arts (Fine Arts - Painting), for his video, A man falling in a well (parts 1, 2 and 3)

Works by the winners and all the finalists in the Siemens-RMIT Fine Art Awards are on display at RMIT Gallery, 344 Swanston Street, Melbourne, until 8 January.

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