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Caitlin Brown achieved an outstanding scholarship in 13
 

Outstanding Scholarship in Year 13 Painting

Brenda Nightingale —

Caitlin Brown achieved an Outstanding Scholarship in Level 3 Painting in 2020, and her work will be touring New Zealand in the Top Art exhibition in 2021.

I interviewed Caitlin about her work and plans for 2021 shortly after she received the news about her scholarship and the exhibition.

Brenda:

Caitlin, it was very exciting to see you have achieved at such a high level in your painting portfolio, tell us about painting at Hagley College and tell us a bit about why you came to Hagley? Despite this impressive achievement in painting, I know your first love is music.

Caitlin:

Well I wasn’t originally going to audition for the School of Music but Nanako [Hagley Music teacher] saw I had lots of interest in it, so she pretty much told me that my audition was next week and that’s how I ended up in the School of Music. I was at Unlimited but because the new building hadn’t been finished yet there wasn’t very good resources and I was not doing too well so my base teacher suggested I come to Hagley.

Brenda:

What made you think about taking painting in Year 12?

Caitlin:

Yeah, so I have always had an interest in art and painting and drawing and I did a Level 1 folio at Unlimited and I knew that I always was going to do folios throughout high school, I just knew it.

Brenda:

You achieved Excellence in your Year 12 folio; however, compared to the performance you have achieved in 2020 there has been a huge leap in performance. What do you put that down to?

Caitlin:

I think getting into Level 2 at Hagley was quite a good warmup, because I had done my Level 1 folio in Year 10 not 11 so there was quite a gap between Level 1 and 2 folios, so I think getting back into it and being able to explore my own interests I was slowly able to find out my own style.

Caitlin Brown achieved an outstanding scholarship in 13 painting in 2020

Brenda:

Tell me about the process of deciding what you were going to make pictures about in 2020?

Caitlin:

I’ve definitely always known that I like to paint people and portraits and you gave me that photography book of the old man just doing daily things and I felt really connected to it and I thought 'I have grandparents'. I wanted to represent that in my own way.

Brenda:

Your folio is such a lovely homage to your grandparents and I know your relationship deepened with them because of the work you made. Tell me a little bit about that.

Caitlin:

Well because I had to take lots of photos, we ended up spending lots of time together and I think just the fact that I thought about using them as a subject matter made them…I’m not sure the word to use joyous - touched? Yeah, and I know we have lots of things in common.

Brenda:

Well your folio is certainly a wonderful tribute to them and I know this year you are starting a new journey at Jazz School where your true passion lies. How are you feeling about starting next week?

Caitlin:

I’m extremely nervous but I’m excited to start something new. I have been playing an instrument since I was 13 and I always kind of knew that I wanted to end up at Jazz School one day and yeah I’ve just always loved watching live jazz performances because my sister went there too, so yeah, I’m really nervous but excited.

Brenda:

Best wishes for your new adventures, Caitlin. And I’m very proud to be representing you and Hagley at the opening of the Top Art exhibition in Wellington next week.