residencies in Tuscany

The J.G.T. fund provides studio facilities, board and lodging, some art materials and local visits for 4 weeks in the summer/autumn at the Verrocchio Arts Centre in Casolé d'Elsa, a medieval hill village near Sienna in Tuscany, Italy. The value is approximately £1,600. The awards are available to artists over 23 and under 46.

The outlook of the school is traditional, focusing mainly on landscape and figurative work (including sculpture). Artists in residence work alongside tutored holiday groups or workshop groups and present seminars on their practice. We wish to encourage artists whose work stems from drawing and observation and those with a particular interest in Italy.

Successful applicants have included artists whose approach is essentially traditional but we do also select artists who work across media who fuse observation and conceptual practice when we feel they could benefit from the centro and the centro could benefit from them.

Short listed applicants are invited to come to London for interview and should bring an extensive portfolio of work. They are expected to outline their ideas and give an indication of what they hope to achieve during their period of residence at the Centro d'Arte.

In addition, short listed candidates may apply for the Janet Konstam Travel Fellowship which provides £500 for travel and research. This will be awarded to an outstanding applicant on the basis of the best plan and discussion at interview with the panel of judges.

the Janet Konstam Fund

Janet Konstam studied sculpture at Camberwell and was the co-founder and co-director of the Centro Verrocchio. She created the beautiful domestic environment of the school and established the excellent kitchen which goes on producing superb food today. She interviewed and welcomed many of the earlier artists sent by the fund. Late in her life she took up painting. After her sad, early death from cancer, her friends raised money through a sale of this work and this is used each year to enable one artist in residence at the Centro to undertake further travel and research in Italy.

Candidates who are short listed for a residency at the centro may apply to the Janet Konstam fund which provides up to £500 for further travel and research Italy. This award will be given to an outstanding applicant on the basis of the best plan and discussion with the judges at the interviews. £100 of the award is withheld and paid when the project is completed and a brief resumé and financial statement presented.