Former School of Art graduate wins fellowship

Former School of Art graduate, Melissa George, has been awarded the Stephen Procter Fellowship.  The award, named after fomer head of the Glass Workshop at the ANU School of Art, enables artists to travel overseas. 

Melissa George finished high school at Narrabundah College before completing her degree at ANU.  She has travelled the world in pursuit of her craft including having completed a glass art residency in Portland Oregan in 1998. She currently works at the Canberra Glassworks.

Gordon Bull, head of the School of Art, believes this fellowship represents an extremely important element of being an artist.  "When you actually stand in front of a work of art... the acutal experience of being in those places and seeing those things, you see things that you just can't otherwise see," he says.  

The fellowship was established 10 years ago in memory of Stephen Procter and the work he achieved.  Melissa is fittingly a former student of Procter's and hopes to travel to Istanbul and Venice to experience mosaics and their messages.  She flies out today in pursuit of her goal. 

Melissa credits Procter as an inspiration and notes how he often encouraged his students to discover their own journey.  The fellowship, encompasses many of his ideas such as travel and experiencing other cultures. It also helps foster a link between glass communities around the world, particularly between ANU and international communities.

Bull points out that between the School of Art's Glass Workshop and the Canberra Glassworks, Canberra has the strongest set of glass programs and George's receivership of this award, is testament to their strengths.