Gunter Nolte Commemorative Scholarship (OSOTF)

This scholarship was created in honour of Gunter Nolte

Award Overview

Value of the award:
Minimum $1,000
Number of awards:
Variable
Award frequency:
Annual
Level or program of study:
Undergraduate
Application Type:
Online Scholarship and Bursaries portal, accessible via uoZone.
Application Deadline:
November 3
Renewable:
No

Purpose of this Award

To provide financial assistance to students registered in the Department of Visual Arts. This fund is intended to emphasize excellence in drawing.

Eligibility Criteria

The candidate must:

  1. be a Canadian citizen, a permanent resident or a person with the protected/refugee status
  2. be registered as a full-time or part-time student in the second, third or fourth year of the Bachelor of Fine Arts program at the Department of Visual Arts of the University of Ottawa
  3. have drawing as their identified discipline
  4. be an Ontario resident, as per OSAP rules
  5. demonstrate financial need, as determined by the Financial Aid and Awards Service of the University of Ottawa
  6. be prepared to submit a drawing project
Note: Applicants could also be invited to participate in an exhibition.

How to Apply

Submitted in the Online Scholarship and Bursaries portal, accessible via uoZone, and must include:

  1. the Financial Questionnaire
  2. a description of the drawing project to be submitted (max. 500 words)

About this Award

Gunter Nolte was a professor in the Department of Visual Arts of the University of Ottawa from 1976 to 1996, and Director of the Department from 1991 until 1995. He was considered to be a brilliant teacher with a profound dedication to art and art education. Such was his devotion as a teacher that he continued to teach the General Art History course in the Department until two months before he died in March 2000, despite the toll it was taking on his health. Gunter was an influential sculptor whose works were widely exhibited both in Canada and abroad.

Gunter's life was a true Canadian story of hard work and dedication to achieving his vision. He began his sculpting career in Germany in 1957 making traditional stone carvings in sandstone and slate reliefs. He emigrated to Montreal in 1957 and first found work as a high fashion hairdresser by day and making and studying art in the evening. He received his B.A. (cum laude) in 1970 and Masters of Fine Arts in 1976. In the ensuing decades, his art flourished. During the mid-1960s, he won first prize in Sculpture at the Eleventh Winnipeg Show. In the early 1970s, he was a founding member of one of the first Aparallel galleries in Canada Véchicule Inc. and participated in group shows (Camerart and Quebec 75) which traveled nationally. In the 1980s, his solo exhibitions (Musée d'art contemporain, Montreal; the Bertha Urdang Gallery, New York; and the Canadian Cultural Centre, Paris) showcased pieces that combined metal forms and drawings characterized by strong geometric shapes and elements of reflection and repetition.

This scholarship was initiated in 2000 by a donation from the Dean of the Faculty of Arts. In 2004, the endowment now funding this scholarship was established by the Department of Visual Arts along with contributions from Gunter's family, colleagues, students and friends, to honour his memory and the significant impact he had on their lives.