Chloe is awarded £3,000 fine art prize at ARU

Published: 1 August 2023 at 11:08

Chloe Culley with her prize against a backdrop of one of her oil paintings

Dr Supanee Gazeley Art Prize recognises the best work by a final-year student

Chloe Culley has been named as the winner of the 2023 Dr Supanee Gazeley Art Prize, continuing a remarkable summer of success for the final-year student. 

The £3,000 prize is awarded to the best degree show by a third-year student on the BA (Hons) Fine Art course at Anglia Ruskin University’s Cambridge School of Art. 

Chloe won the Dr Supanee Gazeley Art Prize for her series of five large-scale untitled oil paintings, on canvas, which went on public display as part of the 2023 Graduate Showcase, the annual end of course degree show.  

Earlier this year, Chloe was named as one of the winners of the national Freelands Painting Prize 2023, which will see her work go on show at the North London gallery this autumn. And last month, Chloe graduated with a First Class honours degree from ARU during a ceremony at the Cambridge Corn Exchange. 

Chloe, who is originally from Tunbridge Wells in Kent, said:

“I feel so honoured and grateful to be this year's winner of the Dr Supanee Gazeley Art Prize. I am very thankful to the staff that gave me their time and valuable input throughout the past three years at ARU.  

“I’ve really enjoyed my time at ARU, and the facilities that the Cambridge campus has to offer. I joined ARU in the middle of the pandemic, but ARU kept our studios accessible where possible and ensured that we could still have tutorials but online. It was a weird time to start my degree, but the staff helped us all get through the pandemic and to finally graduate this year.” 
 

On her winning artwork, Chloe explained:

“This selection of work brings five different colours into a space where the light bounces of the surface and colour floods the room. The works are bigger than human size and play with sensation, time, colour, space and energy. Each painting was made in one single day at a time using one mixed colour in oils.”

Benet Spencer, Course Leader for the BA (Hons) Fine Art course, said:

“Chloe has been an outstanding student throughout her time at ARU. She has developed a sophisticated visual language and sensitivity to the medium of oil painting and has become increasingly prolific as she has progressed on the course. Her mature and professional approach has been continuously evident. 

“In addition to her studies, Chloe has been a truly wonderful ambassador for ARU and for the course, volunteering as a peer mentor on an outreach programme, helping at our Saturday Art Club programme for local 16–18-year-olds, as well as acting as a student rep in school meetings and for open days.” 

You can see more of Chloe’s work at www.chloeculley.uk or on Instagram @chloejess.art. Her work can also be viewed on Present, the online showcase for graduate artwork from across ARU. 

The Supanee Gazeley Fine Art Prize is supported by Supanee Gazeley, an alumna of ARU having graduated in 1962. She has held numerous art exhibitions in the UK, Thailand and Hong Kong, and became an Honorary Doctor of ARU in 2007. 

The prize recognises the value of the arts and the importance of nurturing new talent, and supports and encourages Fine Art students in further developing their work. Supanee Gazeley has very generously funded the Prize for a period of 50 years, from 2010 to 2060.