Louise Menzies announced as 2011 Iris Fisher Scholar 

Louise Menzies announced as 2011 Iris Fisher Scholar 

Te Tuhi Centre for the Arts, supported by the generosity of the Fisher family, are proud to announce Louise Menzies as the 2011 Iris Fisher Scholarship recipient. Louise is the fifth recipient of the Iris Fisher Scholarship, a Te Tuhi initiative that annually rewards an outstanding art student enrolled in an Auckland tertiary institution.

The scholarship was established in 2006 in the name of Iris Fisher, who was a driving force in establishing the Fisher Gallery, later to become Te Tuhi. Her original bequest has fostered contemporary art practice and education throughout the Auckland region since that time. 

Created for the purpose of supporting a tertiary-level art student, the Iris Fisher Scholarship awards a grant of $5,000 to one recipient annually. This year’s selection panel consisted of Te Tuhi Director, James McCarthy and Curator, Bruce E. Phillips.

An emerging artist with an impressive exhibition history, Louise Menzies has won this year’s award from the largest pool of applicants ever received by Te Tuhi. James McCarthy explains:

“We were delighted to have such a strong group of applicants, and to award the scholarship to an artist of Louise’s calibre. There is an elegant conceptual rigour to her practice, which combines film, photography and text.”

Louise said she was honoured to receive such a prestigious award and that she will use the grant to complete her Masters of Fine Arts from Elam School of Fine Arts. She states that her studio work this year will involve a series of experiments that explore the 'discursive possibilities of the individual gesture, through the mediums of film and print'.

In addition to the grant Te Tuhi will also work with her towards an exhibition in 2012. Te Tuhi Curator, Bruce E. Phillips comments:

"Louise is an intriguing artist who brings personal and little known social histories into currency through conceptual and research based practice. Her proposal demonstrated a strong and compelling project that will undoubtedly lead to a rich and engaging exhibition at Te Tuhi."

ENDS