Last year, at the end of her first year at Chelsea, BA Fine Art student Bella Hull was the excited recipient of a £10,000 scholarship from The Worshipful Company of Painters-Stainers in honour of her painting work.
Generously awarded in recognition of her potential, the money will be given to her over the next two years of her undergraduate degree, and once she graduates she will become an honorary member of the company herself for a year.
Last week, the Painters-Stainers award winners, or ‘young scholars’ as they are known, came ogether from across the UK for a dinner at London’s Mall Galleries. We spoke to Bella about the evening, and about how the award has already had an impact on her work and degree at Chelsea.
Can you tell us a bit about the dinner and who else you met there?
It was an exhibition dinner at the Mall Galleries. I sat at a table with Chris Twyman (Clerk of the Worshipful Company of Painters-Stainers), John Deston (Gallery & Events Manager at the Mall Galleries), Toby Ward (painter) and the three other scholarship winners. We were given a four course meal followed by toasts to members of the royal family. After this, my name and the names of the other scholarship winners were called out and we were individually applauded. Then we were given an overview of the Lynn Painter-Stainers Prize exhibition by Andrew Wilton (honorary curator).
Image © Bella Hull
How has the award has impacted your study at Chelsea so far?
I have been able to invest in higher quality art materials and gained a lot from talking to the artists at the dinner and learning about their journeys as painters. I have become excited to try new things and play around with scale. I have also developed a good network with the other young scholars, Sarah Batey from the Slade, Emily Radish from Goldsmiths and Chris Steed from City and Guilds of London Art School.
Image © Bella Hull
You can see more of Bella’s artwork on her website.
Find out more about the Worshipful Company of Painters-Stainers on their website.
Find out more about studying BA Fine Art at Chelsea on our course pages.