User:Bette Mifsud/sandbox

Dr Bette Mifsud was born on Dharug Country (Western Sydney) in New South Wales, Australia. Bette studied, lived and worked in Sydney from 1981 until 1995. ​From 1985 to 2006, she worked as an artist, and educator. Bette also worked as assistant curator and administrator at The Australian Centre for Photography, Artspace Sydney, The Tin Sheds Gallery, Belvoir Street Theatre and The City of Sydney Sculpture Walk. Education In 1985, Bette graduated with a Bachelor of Visual Arts from Sydney College of the Arts, majoring in photography and painting. In 1996, she graduated with a Master of Fine Arts with First Class Honours from the University of New South Wales, majoring in photo-media and multimedia installations. In 2012, she graduated with a Doctorate of Creative Arts from the Western Sydney University, majoring in ecological art. Her research included indigenous ecologies, sacred architecture, eco-psychology, social ecology, landscape painting and photography, garden design, environmental and public art. Her doctoral exegesis is entitled, Coming to Ground: the Work of Art in Ecohumanism. Career Highlights and Awards Bette Mifsud has exhibited in numerous solo and group exhibitions, including in Amsterdam, Berlin, Malta, Tokyo, and other countries. In 1989, Bette was awarded the Australia Council for the Arts’ Tokyo residency. She spent the first six months of 1990 in Tokyo. While there, Fuji Film I&I sponsored her major work Mute, a cutting edge installation of giant suspended colour photographic transparencies. Later that year, Mute was exhibited for three months as a solo exhibition at the Art Gallery of New South Wales. Bette's many solo and group exhibitions include: the Lady Fairfax Prize for Photography, Australian Perspecta 1991, Citigroup Private Bank Australian Photographic Portrait Award; National Photographic Portrait Prize, Olive Cotton Photographic Portrait Award (twice) and the Hazelhurst Award for Art on Paper.

As well as the Tokyo studio, Bette received four grants from The Australia Council for the Arts, and a Project Grant from the Australian Network for Art and Technology. In 2002, she was awarded a New South Wales Ministry for the Arts, Inaugural Western Sydney Artist Fellowship. In 2003, she won the Hazelhurst Art Award Major Prize. In 2006, she was awarded an Australian Postgraduate Award from the Western Sydney University. ​ Bette’s artworks are held in private, corporate and public collections in Australia and overseas.