Otago Announces 2004 Arts Fellowship Recipients

Otago Announces 2004 Arts Fellowship Recipients

A Scotland-based novelist, a North Island multi-media artist and this year’s Mozart Fellow are the recipients of the University of Otago’s 2004 Arts Fellowships.

The Robert Burns Fellowship has been awarded to novelist Katherine Duignan, who is based in Edinburgh, completing her second novel. She will return to Dunedin as Burns Fellow to work on a new novel set in Edinburgh and Dunedin in contemporary and historic times “at the point where they touch”.

“It’s a huge endorsement to receive the Fellowship and it offers me the chance to connect to the area that will form part of my novel”, says Katherine.

Katherine holds a BA(Hons) in English Literature and an MA in Creative Writing from Victoria University. She received the Modern Letters Fellowship in 2001 and the Louis Johnson New Writers Bursary in 2002. Katherine published her first novel Breakwater in 2001 and has published several works of short fiction.

Sculptor and multi-media artist Mladen Buizumic will take up the Frances Hodgkins Fellowship in 2004, working on “site specific” pieces, inspired by the Otago area and Stewart Island in particular.

“”I’m still planning the details but my work will focus on location. It’s a fantastic opportunity and very good timing, as it keeps up the momentum in my work”, says Mladen.

Mladen graduated in sculpture from Elam School of Fine Art after immigrating to New Zealand from Yugoslavia nine years ago. He has held 30 exhibitions and is currently working on a multi-media project at Govett Brewster Art gallery in New Plymouth.

The Mozart Fellowship has been awarded to composer Noel Sanders, who also held the Fellowship in 2003. Noel will continue to work on an opera he has been writing this year, which he expects to complete. He will also compose works inspired by painter Eion Stevens, exploring how painting relates to composition.

Noel says the promise of a second consecutive Fellowship provides “valuable opportunities for continuity and expansion”.

Noel studied at Auckland and Harvard Universities and holds Masters degrees in English and Linguistics. He has performed with the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra and has composed more than 50 pieces of music. He was senior lecturer at the University of Technology in Sydney before taking up the Mozart Fellowship in 2003.

The Robert Burns Fellowship was established in 1958 to commemorate the bicentenary of the birth of Robert Burns. The Fellowship aims to encourage imaginative New Zealand literature and to associate writers with the University. Notable past Robert Burns Fellows include Janet Frame, James K Baxter and Michael King.

The Frances Hodgkins Fellowship was established by the University of Otago Council in 1962 to aid and encourage artists while associating them with the life of the University. Some of New Zealand's most renowned artists have been appointed as Frances Hodgkins Fellows, including Grahame Sydney, Ralph Hotere and Shona Davies.

The Mozart Fellowship was established in 1969 to aid and encourage composers of music and their association with the University. Successful applicants include all of New Zealand’s significant composers, including John Rimmer, Anthony Ritchie and Gillian Whitehead.

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