About the Winners : The Hnatyshyn Foundation William and Meredith Saunderson Prizes for Emerging Artists
November 15, 2022
Get to know the laureates of this year's Saunderson Prizes.
The William and Meredith Saunderson (formerly Charles Pachter) Prize for Emerging Artists consists of three awards of $5,000 each to support a young emerging visual artist whose practice shows potential and is deemed to have the determination and talent to contribute to the legacy of art in Canada.
Read on for bios and quotes from this year's impressive cohort.
Darcie “Ouiyaghasiak” Bernhardt
Darcie Bernhardt is an Inuvialuk/Gwichin artist from Tuktuyaaqtuuq, NT and an alumna of NSCADU in 2019 (BFA).
Bernhardt was raised in Tuktoyaktuk where the ocean’s harsh winds carve into the Western Arctic landscape, an ecosystem that fosters transformation and nurtures powerful familial bonds. Their work explores visual storytelling as tradition, as birthright, as decolonial memory preservation - building their role as a memory-keeper.
Bernhardt has been actively participating in residencies and festivals internationally. Recently, they received the Indigenous Artist Recognition Award from Arts Nova Scotia (2020). Their first painting solo show titled Akisuktuaq was shown at Feheley Fine Art gallery in June 2021.
“I feel so proud to be one of the recipients for the 2022 William and Meredith Saunderson Prizes for Emerging Artists. I am touched to be a part of this award and especially feeling affirmed to continue making work for my community and people that have shaped who I am. My intention is to always give representation and attention of my roots, ancestors and memories through my art practice. Quyanainni, mahsi cho.”
Guná
Guná is a Tlingit artist, dancer, language learner, and lifelong student of Northwest Coast design. She is of Dakhká Tlingit and Tagish Khwáan Ancestry from the Dahk’laweidi Clan which falls under the wolf/eagle moiety. Her family has made the beautiful southern lakes area of the Yukon their home for numerous generations.
Since the moment she was introduced to formline a decade ago, her practice has been dedicated to preserving and understanding a highly esteemed art form. She acknowledges she will never stop learning and growing as a Tlingit artist.
Guná recently graduated with a Bachelor of Fine Arts at Emily Carr University of Art and Design with a major in Visual Arts. With a passion for learning through the arts, it is Guná’s mission to help dismantle the colonial processes enveloped in society and education. She actively participates in deconstructing and interrogating Eurocentric pedagogy and methodologies in order to build a new foundation stemming from values of diversity, cultural receptivity, empowerment, encouragement, and affirmation. These values are embodied through Guná’s painting practice, proactive participation in language revitalization, and working as an art facilitator to assist students in becoming in tune with their inherent artistic abilities.
In her contemporary practice, Guná plays with the relationship of ancient Lingít designs that merge into contemporary and often ironic materials. Guná’s visual art practice centres dominantly in canvas painting that often incorporates Tlingit formline. The irony of her work is activated through the historical context of using European materials such as oil paints, along with utilizing realistic techniques in her works with portraiture. Visually and symbolically, she engages in a discourse with historical European artists in their efforts to assert and maintain power and domination among other nations, and the eventual consequences of the colonial project reaching the shores of her Tlingit ancestors.
“As a Tlingit woman, I am very honoured to receive one of the William and Meredith Saunderson Prizes for Emerging Artists. To be given this award is to also be giving my grandparents and ancestors an award, as I would not be who I am and doing the work that I do without them. They guide my footsteps, and I am sure they are so happy seeing the work our people across turtle island are doing to lift our people up. For me, this work manifests greatly in my practice.”
“Being an artist is like breathing to me, I need it to survive and my art needs me. Receiving this award is a reminder to me that being an artist is a part of my life path and I have to make a conscious effort to nurture my practice every day. Receiving this award will enable me to have more time to create space for reflection and creation - something that is never easy in our current world. I have immense gratitude for receiving this award at a pivotal point in my life where I am acclimating into the role of an assistant professor of Northwest Coast Art. I will carry this award with me and have it as a reminder to never stop exploring, never stop creating and never stop dreaming. In turn, my work eventually always goes back to the community and our people. Inevitably this award impacts them as well. Gunalchéesh (thank you) for this gift.”
Jessica Winters
Jessica Winters is an Inuk painter, printmaker, textile artist, and emerging curator from Makkovik, Nunatsiavut, NL. She received her artistic start at an early age thanks to her family of accomplished craftspeople, including her grandmother Nellie Winters, a celebrated textile artist who made a living through art and craft and has recently received an honorary doctorate from Memorial University for her contributions to Inuit art. Despite attending residential school and being forced to relocate south, Winters' grandmother has passed down her creativity and traditional knowledge to many of her 11 children and generations of grandchildren. Winters' mother, Blanche Winters, is a traditional craft teacher at our school in Makkovik, and in 2019 designed and produced a line of jackets for Canada Goose's Project Atigi.
Winters has been heavily influenced by her studies in biology, and uses her work to advocate for the preservation of Inuit culture, values and surrounding environment.
Primarily a painter, she also challenges herself to work with traditional mediums such as seal skin.
Winters has exhibited in groups shows, including Nunatsiavut: Our Beautiful Land at La Guilde gallery in Montreal (2019), Of Myths and Mountains (2020) and The Wish150 Newfoundland & Labrador Mosaic (2017), both at The Rooms in St. John’s, NL, Qautamaat (2022) at the Art Gallery of Guelph, and Tether (2022) at the Yukon Arts Center. She was the first recipient of the Arts and Minds Canada Tilting Invitational Artist in Residency Award.
“I am so humbled to be chosen as a recipient of the 2022 William and Meredith Saunderson Prize for Emerging Artists. This prize money will give me the time and headspace to focus on work, distraction and barrier-free. Thank you, The Hnatyshyn Foundation, for recognizing my work and giving me a newfound sense of confidence as an artist.”
