Art for All: Visual Arts scholarships

It is now more than nine decades since Geelong Grammar School experienced its own artistic renaissance. During the exciting 1930s, a cultural drought was broken when a stream of well-known artists visited, gave demonstration lessons or loaned their works for display. In 1936, the Dining Hall even played host to an exhibition of the largescale works of Rupert Bunny, one of the most notable Australian artists of his generation. His paintings “remained for some time at the far end of the Dining Hall. During this time, it was interesting to see how people’s opinions changed”, noted the Corian, a remark that suggests the works were generating discussion among a schoolboy audience that was then, in general, nonchalant about the arts.

One of those boys was Geoffrey ‘Pop’ Fink (Cu’38), grandson of Theodore Fink, chairman of the Herald and supporter of the arts, who paid Pop’s school fees. At Corio, Pop came under the influence of the colourful and talented new art master, John Derrick, appointed to the staff in 1935. Pop was one of several enthusiastic students who willingly assisted Derrick with the fitting out of the impressive new Art School, opened at the end of 1937. In particular, he helped to build the long rectangular fishpond in the Art School garden, one end of which was fitted with a glass panel enabling electric lamps to illuminate the marine life for observation purposes. Pop received the Art Prize for his efforts.

Seventy years after Pop left school, the full impact of this stimulating time was revealed. Upon his death in 2008, he left an enormously generous bequest to Geelong Grammar School for the foundation of an art scholarship benefitting up to six Year 12 students each year. Pop was not an artist, nor had he pursued a career in the arts – after wartime service, he bred sheep and horses and ran a property –but the memory of those happy years in the Art School inspired him to hope that others might also benefit from involvement with the arts. From its commencement in 2011, the Geoffrey (Pop) R. Fink Scholarship has supported 57 students to complete their Year 12 studies through financial assistance and by encouraging creativity. Applicants for the scholarship are required to submit a portfolio of work on a chosen theme leading up to the submission of a final piece of artwork, as well as participating in an act of service to the Art School.

Piper Carter-Williams (Yr12 Ga) sees the scholarship as a great opportunity. “It provides incentive for me to follow my passions in artmaking outside school, and also provides a reason for me to aid the School’s Art department in ways that both interest me and are helpful to the art community. The GGS programme has influenced a massive change in my appreciation and practice of art. I enjoy all the teachers’ passion for the subject and practice; this is a trait which I think particularly rubs off on students, along with their hardworking and persistent nature. This school has a lot of wonderful resources to offer art students and it makes the experience of practicing and learning about art all that more enjoyable.”

William Patston (A’17) was pleasantly surprised when he was awarded the scholarship.

“Among the artistic community at GGS, it was quite a big deal and a special thing. With the support of the scholarship I was able to buy some camera equipment, which led me to develop my photographic skills further and move into the career I am in now. I am the marketing manager for a festival and events company that runs music festivals, mainly in Victoria but also across Australia. In the role there is a lot of creative elements and practical skills like filmmaking and photography. When I was at GGS, I was definitely encouraged to be adventurous and creative.”

In 2014, more opportunity for artistic students became available thanks to the generosity of John Simson (Cu’73) and his wife Belinda, the founders of Simson Cards. Passionate about encouraging creativity, they established the Sir Russell Drysdale Visual Arts Scholarship to support a new student in Year 10 or 11 who demonstrates outstanding ability in practical and theoretical aspects of the visual arts.

“John and Belinda Simson’s longstanding support for the Visual Arts has been simply outstanding”, said Head of Visual Arts, Dr Peter Bajer. “Apart from being the initiators and main donors of the Sir Russell Drysdale Scholarship, for over 15 years they have been exceptional supporters of our Visual Communication Design programme”.

“Many students have had guided tours of their design studio and warehouse and have learnt from John and Belinda about the design, production and distribution of greeting cards, stationery and paper products.”

Named after Geelong Grammar School’s most famous alumni artist, Sir Russell Drysdale (P’30), the competitive and means-tested scholarship established by the Simsons sets a high bar. Just two students have been awarded the scholarship since its inception. The first recipient, Tillie Pridham (Cl’19), is now in her final year of a Bachelor of Media and Communications at RMIT, and working part-time as a television production assistant. She would like to make documentaries in the future, and credits Geelong Grammar School, and especially her scholarship, with enabling her to identify this interest. “The scholarship completely altered the path I was going on. I thought I wanted to do architecture, but then I did media studies in Year 12 with Martin Beaver and loved it, and that led to my degree. That subject wouldn’t have been possible at my previous school. Having the experience of living at Geelong also made the world feel less scary, and meeting all the other creative students and communicating with lots of different people also made a big difference to my outlook on life.”

“Having the Sir Russell Drysdale Scholarship is extremely important”, explained Peter Bajer. “It enables an exceptionally talented visual arts student who could not otherwise attend Geelong Grammar School to commence study at our school. The scholarship enables the chosen students to explore their talent and to grow as a student. Because of their passion and commitment to the Visual Arts, students that have been scholarship recipients have led our classes. Tillie was among the top students in VCD Media and VCE Visual Communication

Design. She received the Mary Finnin Prize for Communication Design and the Noël Nicolson Prize for Outstanding Artistic Talent in Senior School. She was also our 2019 Visual Arts Captain.”

Peter is passionate about the Art School. An art teacher at GGS since 2001, he was appointed head of department in 2012. He is dedicated to promoting the visual arts within the School community and encouraging students to explore their creative interests. Through the highly anticipated annual Coriobald portraiture exhibition, and the Artistin-Residence programme, the visual arts are made accessible and inviting, benefitting not just students studying art but anybody with an interest in the arts. Two additional art buildings – the Sinclaire Centre and Hirschfeld-Mack Centre – support the greater number of students now studying art, but the original Art School building of 1937 remains in use, almost entirely unchanged since it was opened. The top floor painting studio, filled with a warm light and surrounded by wonderful HirschfeldMack frescos, is especially well suited to its purpose. Pop Fink would feel quite at home in it and pleased to see contemporary versions of his younger self, happily absorbed, as the Corian described in 1937, “not only in the creation of forms but also in the contemplation of beauty” – just as he had hoped.

Learn more about the Visual Arts programme https:// www.ggs.vic.edu.au/visual-arts