Sam Leach named RMIT Alumnus of the Year

Artist Sam Leach, winner of this year's Archibald and Wynne prizes, has been named RMIT University's Alumnus of the Year for 2010, in recognition of his distinguished and colourful career.

Mr Leach was working at the Australian Tax Office when he decided to study art in the evenings at RMIT - a decision that led him to win some of Australia's most prestigious art prizes, including the Archibald Prize for Portraiture.

He was named Alumnus of the Year at a breakfast event at Storey Hall this week, after being selected from more than 240,000 RMIT graduates in more than 130 countries for the award.

RMIT Vice-Chancellor and President, Professor Margaret Gardner AO, congratulated Mr Leach on the award and his many achievements.

"In just a handful of years, Sam has already begun to make a contribution to contemporary art and a unique impression on Australian cultural life," she said.

Mr Leach had been working as a full-time artist for less than five years when he won both the Archibald and Wynne prizes earlier this year, joining Brett Whiteley and William Dobell as the only artists to have won both awards in the same year.

His Archibald-prize winning portrait of comedian Tim Minchin was as striking as it was diminutive (at just 40cm x 60cm) and was described by the Archibald judges as a beautiful work that "stands out among giants". He has been a finalist in the Archibald four years running.

Mr Leach, who completed a Bachelor of Arts (Fine Art) with Honours (2004) and a Master of Art by research (2007) at RMIT, said the Alumnus of the Year award was fantastic recognition from the University.

"Obviously there are thousands of people who graduate from RMIT each year and there are so many people doing great things so it's a real honour," he said.

"It certainly took me by surprise! I'm really chuffed."

Mr Leach thanked his lecturers in the School of Art including Peter Ellis, who supervised his Masters, David Thomas and Sally Mannall.

"The course gave me access to lecturers who are excellent artists and great at what they do," he said.

"I was privileged to have the same lecturers for over half a decade and having that continuity of teaching was fantastic."

Mr Leach has won a string of awards during his studies and career, including the Metro 5 Award and the Siemens-RMIT Fine Art Award, an innovative scholarship scheme that enables RMIT students to further their careers in fine arts by assisting their research and production costs.

He won the Siemens prize in 2007 soon after starting his Master of Art, in which his research focused on 17th century Dutch painting.

Mr Leach used the prize money to travel to the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam to see the works and speak to Pieter Roelofs, Curator of 17th century painting.

"The paintings I won prizes for this year, especially the Wynne landscape prize, were directly influenced by these experiences," he said.

"Being able to consult the number one expert in the field in the world on 17th century Dutch painting at that stage of my career was a massive gift. If I hadn't won the Siemens prize I would never have been able to make that trip."

Mr Leach has come a long way from the day when he first applied to RMIT's Diploma of Art program in 1998.

"They asked me to present my folio - at the time I had no idea what a folio even was," he said.

He has forged a distinctive style during his career, including a reputation for producing small-sized works.

Mr Leach describes his art as "like a one-on-one conversation between me and the viewer".

He is heavily influenced by 17th century Dutch art as well as fellow RMIT alumni Tony Lloyd and Juan Ford.

The other finalists for the RMIT Alumnus of the Year 2010 were:

• Dr Cherrie Che, award-winning business leader in healthcare at Ernst and Young, China
• Fiona Healy, social entrepreneur and founder of FebFast, a health and charity initiative to raise funds and create awareness about alcohol and substance use
• Toni Matičevski, internationally renowned fashion designer
• Christian Thompson, acclaimed artist and photographer and first Indigenous PhD candidate at Oxford University
• Dr Hugh Williams, a Vice-President at online auction house, eBay.

Mr Leach joins previous Alumni of the Year, Engineers Without Borders founder Daniel Almagor (2009), award-winning nanotechnology researcher Dr Amanda Barnard (2008) and five-time Olympic rower and business leader James Tomkins (2007).

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