Fellowship recipient raises bar on environmental art

A Churchill Fellowship recipient from Charles Darwin University will use the prestigious award to further his work in environmental art.

PhD candidate John Dahlsen was one of 106 applicants from across the country to receive a Fellowship from the Winston Churchill Memorial Trust.

Mr Dahlsen said the fellowship would help him create art that promoted positive messages about protecting and regenerating the environment.

“I want to make work that has not been seen before in Australia, work that helps to elevate environmental art to the highest levels,” Mr Dahlsen said.

He will travel to Japan and adopt elite Japanese art woodblock, and other Japanese printing methods, into his work.

“I hope to be able to raise the bar in the field of environmental art by incorporating elite printing practices into my own digital print works,” he said.

“I will be combining traditional print practices with contemporary ones.”

Mr Dahlsen will also fly to Europe for two weeks to study Vincent Van Gogh's work and how it was influenced by Japanese prints.

The Fellowship was awarded to five Territorians, including Mr Dahlsen and Mary Anne Butler, from the Batchelor Institute of Indigenous Tertiary Education.

Valued at an average $22,000, Churchill Fellowships provide recipients with opportunities to research their passions abroad and bring their findings back for the benefit of all Australians.

The Trust was formed with the main objective of honouring Sir Winston Churchill’s memory through the awarding of these Fellowships.