The Grace Butler Memorial Foundation Award at Ara
An artist-in-residence award for an artist who is Canterbury-based or has an association with the region. Inclusive of a three-month grant, studio facilities and access to related resources at the Ara School of Art and Design.
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About The Grace Butler Memorial Foundation Award at Ara
A contemporary art award established in memory of Waitaha Canterbury artist Grace Butler (1886 – 1962), the Grace Butler Memorial Foundation Award at Ara is a biennial three month residency, inclusive of a grant of $25,000 and a studio at Ara School of Art and Design. Established in 2017, recipients of the Award to date are Zina Swanson (2018), Louise Palmer (2020), Ana Iti (2022) and Melissa Macleod (2024/25).
The Award is for an artist who has an association with Waitaha Canterbury whose work gives consideration to place and environment – natural and/or built. The Award was established by the artist’s daughter, Grace Adams (1923 – 2012) and the Grace Butler Memorial Foundation to maintain the legacy of Grace Butler and to give the opportunity for contemporary artists and students of art to be able to focus on the realisation of a body of work.
For more than four decades Grace Butler captured the light and colour of Waitaha Canterbury and in particular, the Arthur’s Pass region and New Brighton. Her paintings bridged the divide between 19th century landscape painting and modernism in the 1930s. As a woman artist, working in the early decades of the 20th century, Grace Butler’s paintings provided a model for the generation that followed, giving credibility to landscape as an appropriate subject for women artists.
The Grace Butler Memorial Foundation and Ara Institute of Canterbury is 'honoured and excited to be supporting the work of contemporary Canterbury artists and for the legacy of Grace Butler to contribute to advancing the visual arts in Aotearoa New Zealand for generations to come.'
