Prominent businessman, philanthropist and sports fan, Basil Sellers AM, last week launched the $50,000 National Sports Museum Creative Arts Fellowship to further foster a connection between art and sport in the community.
Mr Sellers also is patron of the Basil Sellers Art Prize, which was inaugurated in 2008 and is awarded biannually, culminating in an exhibition at the University of Melbourne’s Ian Potter Museum of Art.
Two of the finalists from 2008, Stewart Russell and Kate Daw, have been selected as the first recipients of the fellowship, which also will be awarded biannually but in the years between the art prize.
Their work in the Basil Sellers Art Prize, “A Simple Act”, was based on the story of Olympian Peter Norman who won silver in the 200m at the 1968 Mexico Olympic Games.
Stewart and Kate have recently been working with National Sports Museum collections and programs staff to develop a work (or works) of art inspired by the NSM and MCG heritage collections.
The artwork may take a variety of forms – painting, print-making, sculpture, photography, tapestry and so on. The artists will work with NSM staff in the development of public programs for both schools and general public participation.
Artwork produced under the fellowship will be shown in an appropriate space within the NSM and/or the MCG.
The fellowship winner(s) will be selected from candidates shortlisted for the art prize. Finalists will be invited to make a submission to the NSM to undertake a creative arts fellowship.
Future recipients will be chosen by a panel comprising representatives of the Melbourne Cricket Club, National Sports Museum, MCG Trust and the visual arts sector.
Legacies of the fellowship will include increased public and community awareness and access to our national sporting heritage, and the development of new content for the National Sports Museum.
Artists will also have access to, and the opportunity to interact with, sportsmen and women through sporting networks already established by the NSM.
