Emily Speed: 2001 Scholar

  • How did the experience affect you as an individual? Aside from the affirmation that comes with someone investing in your...
    Emily Speed, Sketchbook Roma, 2002. RSA Collection.

    How did the experience affect you as an individual?

    Aside from the affirmation that comes with someone investing in your work, the time spent in Florence just made everything broader for me, opened up endless possibility. The scholarship gave me the confidence to work and live abroad, which I have gone on to do several times since. I also got to spend time with other wonderful and fascinating artists.
  • What was the impact on your practice? To have this post-graduation experience, where I was removed from normal life, gave...
    Emily Speed, Facades Fronts (still from live performance), 2017.

    What was the impact on your practice?

    To have this post-graduation experience, where I was removed from normal life, gave me the chance to really think about where I wanted my work to go and to also have a period of just looking. That kind of pause, I realise now 19 years later, is so rare and luxurious and I really treasure the experience for that. Quattrocentro paintings remain a source of inspiration and feed into my work even now.  

     

    What would you say the long term impact has been on yourself and your work?

    I don't know if I can really sum this up, except to say that it's all still there.
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