Picture Perfect

The Contemporary Visual Arts Network (CVAN) South East, in partnership with four other flagship galleries in the south-east, named Tom Heatley as winner of the Platform Graduate Award 2015.

Tom, who graduated with a BA(Hons) Photography earlier this year, will receive a year-long professional development and creative mentoring award, led by renowned artist Jonathan Parsons and supported by the participating Platform Graduate Awards galleries, and a cash bursary of £2,500 to support creative and professional development.

Tom said: “I am so pleased … I would like to thank all of those in CVAN SE and the University of Brighton for their support, and look forward to making the most of this bursary and mentoring over the coming year. I am excited about the ways in which my creative practice will develop as a result, and to learn more about the arts sector I am just entering.

“I really enjoyed my time at the University of Brighton. All of the tutors and technicians were fantastic and they prepared me well for a future in the arts. I'd particularly like to thank those who turned up for the award ceremony; it was so nice to share this turning point with those to whom I owe such a lot.”

Tom Heatley

Duncan Bullen, Academic Programme Leader: Fine Art, at the University of Brighton’s College of Art and Humanities, said: “Awards such as this make study and real life opportunity come together in ways which are exciting, useful and meaningful.

“Platform provides early professional career opportunities for up and coming artists to exhibit in some of the most exciting contemporary art spaces, but it also provides mentoring and financial support, invaluable to the nurturing of any new and emerging talent.”

Now in its fourth year, the Platform Graduate Award recognises the best of young and emerging artists in the region. Tom, nominated by the De La Warr in Bexhill, was selected from 36 artists from 17 universities across the South East.

Directors and curators from Aspex, MK Gallery, Modern Art Oxford and the Turner Contemporary galleries, also nominated artists after their work was shown in a series of exhibitions over the summer. The programme offered the Platform graduate cohort the opportunity to work closely with gallery programme teams and they are all to benefit from ongoing support over the coming year.