Fine art graduate wins competition for up-and-coming artists.

Faye Green, who graduated with a first class honours degree in Fine Art this summer, made the final of the Converse/Dazed Emerging Artists Award. She beat off competition from more than 1,600 other entries to make the final five and on Friday, after a live performance in front of the judges and hundreds of members of the public, she was announced as the winner.

Performance artist Faye, said: “It was a really nerve wracking moment when I had to perform. I am so thrilled to be chosen as the winner, it’s crazy. It was really exciting as I have never shown my work outside of Newcastle before. It’s all a bit of a blur to be honest. The judges said they really enjoyed the rebelliousness of my piece.
 
“I’m a performance artist and my piece, NOT TO DISCOU(RAGE)  YOU is spoken word and dance.  I’ll be doing performances over the next two weeks.”

An exhibition of the finalists’ work goes on show at the Londonewcastle Project Space in, Whitechapel, London, from Saturday , October 26, and is on show until 7 November.

Her time at Newcastle University set her in good stead for a career in art. “It was a really good course and the staff were fantastic,” she said. “It taught me to be independent and self-reliant and that’s really important because if you want to be an artist you need to learn how to be those things.”
 
Professor Chris Jones was one of Faye’s tutors. He said: "This is fantastic news - a really wonderful achievement that acknowledges a highly individual and promising artist. This award not only recognises Faye as an artist to watch but will bring many more opportunities in its wake - opportunities that she is sure to take full advantage of as she develops what promises to be an exciting, distinctive practice and career.
 
"It is always fantastic to see serious and consistently hardworking students do well, and the best, of course, push themselves to another level when it counts. They work with risk and real ambition, both intellectually and in terms of how they form and realise their work – they put them themselves completely on the line. When it comes off, as with Faye, it is so good to see - not simply in enjoying the work she produced but also in terms of seeing the development that has taken place, and seeing resolve and adventure coming to fruition and being rewarded."
 
Faye will now head to Berlin where she will be in residency at Culturia for six weeks.
 
The Converse/Emerging Artist Award is open to unrepresented artists working in any medium, aged under 35. Judges on this year’s panel included journalist Miranda Sawyer, artist Paul Noble and gallery director Sadie Coles.

Picture of Faye Green by Colin Davison

published on: 24 October 2013