The Romany Eveleigh gift for students of the arts
Dawson students received an early holiday gift this week: a $50,000 donation to seed awards, scholarships and grants for students in the arts. Details of the first award, honouring the late filmmaker and Dawson Cinema | Communication鈥檚 alumni Jeff Barnaby, will be published in the new year. Open to all Arts, Literature and Communication students the award will grant $3,000 a year to graduating students for film production projects.
Benefactor Romany Eveleigh (1934 鈥� 2020) was a British-Canadian artist, known for her spare and affective abstract paintings and drawings, great whit, charm and erudition. Born in London, England on December 10, 1934 to the artist鈥檚 model Ivy Florence Beasley and painter and designer Henry Eveleigh, she was raised in Montr茅al, beginning her art training at 脡cole des Beaux arts de Montr茅al before returning to London in the mid-1950s to study at her father鈥檚 alma mater, the Slade School of Fine Arts. A visit to Italy in the early 1960s sparked a love affair with the country that never ended. Settling in Rome, Eveleigh spent the rest of her life travelling throughout Europe and Asia, and between Rome, New York and Montr茅al. 聽Eveleigh died at her home in Rome on March 26, 2020, with her long-time companion, the distinguished, Italian filmmaker and photographer Anna Baldazzi by her side.
An ardent historian, bibliophile and cinephile, prior to her death Eveleigh requested that a portion of the proceeds from future sales of her work be given to support students of the arts. The 鈥淩omany Eveleigh Gift鈥� at Dawson is an early beneficiary of this fund.
Eveleigh鈥檚 artwork is held in the collections of the Tate Gallery in London, the National Gallery of Canada, The Museum of Fine Arts and Mus茅e d’Art Contemporain in Montr茅al as well as numerous other public and private collections in Europe, the US and Canada. 聽Galeries Bellemare Lambert in Montr茅al and Richard Saltoun Gallery, in London and Rome, represent the artworks from Eveleigh鈥檚 estate.
More information on the Jeff Barnaby grant for cinema production will be published in the new year.
