Sculpture highlights Studio Arts fellowships
Fine Arts Masters students will be eligible for funding
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Yves Trudeau, founding president of the Quebec Sculptors Association, poses in front of Trans-Earth, the massive bronze sculpture he created. It is now permanently mounted in the York Corridor of the EV Building.
Photo by sabrina ratté, iits creative media services
Nick Tedeschi has some advice for art collectors: Buy more than your walls can hold, because your tastes will evolve. And buy it because you like it, not as an investment.
He has committed to provide a substantial endowment to finance a series of new Studio Arts Fellowships in his name and that of his wife, Dale Tedeschi. They will go to students doing the Masters of Fine Arts (MFA) in Painting, Drawing or Sculpture.
The purpose is to support young, emerging artists on the cutting edge. “Without this kind of help, a lot of talent would go unnoticed,” Tedeschi said.
Dean Catherine Wild and President Claude Lajeunesse wholeheartedly agreed, and thanked Leonard Ellen for the role he played in introducing the Tedeschis to Concordia.
The founder of the Parisian Laundry, one of the city’s liveliest art centres, Tedeschi was modest as he acknowledged the gratitude of the Faculty of Fine Arts at a reception on May 23.
“I’m not an expert, but art gives me continued pleasure. It draws me in,” he said.
In the York Corridor of the EV Building, where the reception was held, a bronze mural had been installed as a gift from the Tedeschis to Concordia.
Trans-Earth (1981) is a large bronze bas-relief that evokes the interconnectedness of people everywhere. As the President noted, the mural also marries engineering skill with artistic vision — quite appropriate for the complex that houses those two disciplines.
The artist, Yves Trudeau, was present. He is the founding president of the Quebec Sculptors Association, and a member of the Royal Canadian Academy. He received the Order of Canada and taught for many years at UQAM.
At the reception, Randall Anderson (MFA 05) was named winner of the FOFA’s first Sculpture Court competition, which is open to current graduate students and recent graduates of the Faculty.
The commission will be installed in September 2006 and will remain on site for two years. The unveiling of the sculpture will take place at the same time as the inauguration of the new FOFA Sculpture Court and Gallery.