Evan Shipard won the William Fletcher Travelling Fellowship & Rome Residency for 2025. This is his report.
I’m back on the ground here in my Sydney studio still processing the experience but what an amazing time my stay at the British School of Rome has been!
Attempting to capture a visual aspect of the Eternal City in three months was going to be a challenging endeavour. My project, Urbs Aeturna, was focused on this goal. I painted a mixture of the architecture and the natural environment, juxtaposed ruins with classical structures and the Tiber as a constant, bringing it all together. The locations were pretty familiar to me after a number of visits to the city, yet I had never really lived there. I hadn’t felt like a local – this residency made that possible. I feel part of myself is in Rome; it became another home.
My early mornings were spent painting in the city, and my days were spent at museums, the Vatican, galleries, and scouting for great painting locations – locations that reverberated with what I wanted to achieve with my time there. The spring weather was perfect for painting en plein air, with my sessions starting at dawn, returning to the BSR at around 11am, and studio painting in the afternoon. Having the Galleria Nazionale d’Arte Moderna e Contemporanea so close to our door was amazing, and I made multiple visits studying nineteenth century Italian works.
I’ve included images of some of my work below. Along with filling a sketchbook, these en plein air paintings have become a record of my time and experience.
An important aspect of my residency was the camaraderie with fellow artists and academics. Having a large group of diverse individuals from all over the Commonwealth to engage with was an amazing experience. The weekly lectures rekindled my love of history, architecture, the classical world and the Roman Empire. Add various other Academy trips and lectures to this, and it became a truly international experience, with visits to talks, rooftop drinks and end-of-year exhibitions. Our Open Studios were a success, with many visitors across the two evenings. I built strong friendships with colleagues, and have kept in touch on my return to Sydney.
The studio spaces were superb: the light perfect and the accommodations more than adequate, with the staff supporting our stay.
My studio work was a mix of larger landscapes, drawings, and a study of Caravaggio’s Deposition of Christ. I experienced it in the Pinacoteca in the Vatican Museums, and focused on reproducing Christ in my study.
In addition to my landscape painting, I attended regular life drawing and painting sessions at various ateliers and groups, keeping myself busy on evenings and weekends.
Alongside my en plein air work, I shot many rolls of black-and-white and colour film, documenting my time. I also captured video and will put together a short film and keep you posted.
Rome continues to inspire my work. I can’t thank the William Fletcher Foundation enough; my experience was truly life-changing, and I am planning to return for a project later this year that has come about in regard to my stay.
Thank you once again to the directors and the Foundation.
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