Shelagh Cluett was an inveterate traveller and her travels, mainly in India and the Far East, were a great source of inspiration for her work. Her sculpture, print, film and digital work reflects an open, yet thoroughly researched relationship with place, travel and image.

How would a small amount of money help you, or someone else you can think of, develop their work in a way that reflects this? The trustees invite people from Britain and abroad to write briefly to us with ideas, however small and apparently strange. We do not have strict criteria for our travel award, but prefer to follow recommendations and look at options on a case by case basis.

So far the trust has helped Ayesha Zulfiquar to come from Pakistan and enlarge her experience in Europe by studying at Chelsea and then as a guest artist at the Rijksacademie in the Netherlands.


Alice Boner House

The Shelagh Cluett Residency at the Alice Boner House in Varanasi

The trust has set up a series of residencies for artists at the Alice Boner Institute which is located on the Assi Ghat at Varanasi in India. The house is the former home of the Swiss painter, sculptor and art historian who lived in Varanasi intermittently from 1936 to 1978 and is run in collaboration with the Goethe institute in Zurich.

Download the Alice Boner Institute information leaflet.

The residency, which is by invitation only, offers two artists a year the opportunity to spend six weeks at the house. Whilst there they are provided with a small studio space and contact with local academic and cultural institutions, galleries and craftspeople.

Nicola Durvasula and Dorothy Cross were the first two residents. They both visited Varanasi early in 2018.

Please click on their names to share their reflections on their experience.