The William and Meredith Saunderson Prize for Emerging Artists
The William and Meredith Saunderson Prizes for Emerging Artists (formerly Charles Pachter) consist of three awards of $10,000 each (formerly $5,000 each), to support young emerging visual artists whose practice shows potential and is deemed to have the determination and talent to contribute to the legacy of art in Canada.
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The 2025 call for nominations is open!
Who can submit a nomination
Representatives of public and private galleries, fine arts training institutions, and artist-run-centres, are invited to submit a nomination. An institution may only nominate one candidate per year.
Deadlines
Deadline to nominate a candidate: April 14th
Deadline for candidates to submit their materials: May 7th
Candidate criteria
We are pleased to announce that going forward, the age limit for this program has been increased from 30 to 35.
To be eligible for a Saunderson Prize, candidates must be:
Canadian citizens or permanent residents of Canada;
Aged 35 years or less as of December 31 of the current year;
Emerging professional artists, which we define as having approximately 3 to 7 years of professional practice.
Candidates must also have:
A body of work that incorporates specialized training (not necessarily gained at an academic institution);
A public presence and peer recognition;
The determination and talent to contribute to the legacy of art in Canada;
Had their work featured in at least two curated shows or public collections in Canada in the last five years.
Current undergraduate and college students are not eligible for a Saunderson Prize.
How to submit a nomination
Representatives from qualified institutions are invited to send a letter of nomination to the Foundation at director@rjhf.com with the subject line “Saunderson Prize Nomination (Candidate Name)” by April 14th 2025.
The letter of nomination must include:
The nominator’s title at the institution;
The nominator’s phone number;
The candidate’s current city of residence and/or work;
The candidate’s email address and phone number;
A brief bio of the artist and/or a web link where their bio may be found;
An explanation of why, in the nominator’s opinion, the candidate is deserving of a Saunderson Prize;
Confirmation that the candidate has been notified of their nomination and consented to the nominator sharing their information with The Hnatyshyn Foundation;
How the nominator heard about the program.
Adjudication
Laureates will be selected by an independent jury composed of a Canadian mid-career artist and a Canadian mid-career curator. All selections are final. All candidates will be contacted with their results in June or July of 2025.
Runner-up prizes
For the first time, in addition to the three first-place prizes of $10,000, the three runners-up will receive a finalist’s award of $3,000.
Additional criteria
The Saunderson prizes are awarded each year and a person may receive the award only once.
Eligible categories in the visual arts include painting, drawing, printmaking, sculpture, photography, three-dimensional installations and multi-media installations.
Candidate submissions
Once they are nominated, candidates will be invited by the Foundation to upload the following documents to SlideRoom:
10-15 digital images/videos of completed work, at least 8 of which must be self-initiated (meaning: they cannot be projects completed in the context of training at an artistic training institution);
An artistic CV highlighting their exhibition history, education, publications, acquisitions, arts-related employment, grants received, awards received, commissions, residency programs, and any other relevant professional experience as an artist;
Links to an artist website and/or social media (optional);
1-5 installation images from exhibitions featuring their work;
Letter of recommendation (optional);
An artist statement (300-800 words);
A short bio (300-500 words).
Submissions may be in English or French.
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2024
Laurena Finéus (she/her)
Photo: Geghani Panosian (2021)
Laurena Finéus is a Haitian-Canadian interdisciplinary artist based in Brooklyn, NY. She was born and raised in Gatineau and Ottawa. Her work focuses on representations of black geographies, maroon history, and migration through an array of painterly imagined landscapes. She describes her current work as follows: “In my works, I depict ‘Zones of refuge’ (Freedom as Marronage, Neil Roberts, 2015) which most accurately describe maroons' regions of existence . This has prompted me to explore depictions of mountain ranges, swamps, forests, and arid plains - all landscapes found within Quilombo/Maroon topographies.”
Laurena Finéus , Unearthing : stones in the sun, 2023, Oil on canvas, 48x72’’. At CCCADI (Caribbean Cultural Center African Diaspora Institute). Photo: Stefany Lazarre.
Finéus earned a Master of Fine Arts from Columbia University (2024) and a Bachelor of Fine Arts from the University of Ottawa (2020). Her work has been exhibited at Fridman Gallery (2024), CCCADI (2024), Jenkins Johnson (2023), The Next Contemporary (2023), Gallery 101 (2022), Karsh-Masson Gallery (2021), the Ottawa Art Gallery (2021), and Art mûr (2019), among others.
Laurena Finéus, Archive of your breathing, 2023, Oil , soil and Mica on canvas, 48x60’’, At The Next Contemporary.
Finéus has work included in private and public collections internationally including the Canada Council Art Bank, the City of Ottawa Art Collection and Google. She was the recipient of the Helen Frankenthaler fund (2023), the Elizabeth Greenshields Foundation Grant (2022-2023), the Ottawa Arts Council IBPOC Emerging Artist Award (2022), the Edmund and Isobel Ryan Visual art scholarship (2020), and the Ineke Harmina Standish Memorial Scholarship (2019). As an educator, she has facilitated a range of bilingual workshops for the Ottawa art gallery, Arts Network Ottawa, Haitians United for Progress, Diaspora Community Collective, and l’Association Canadienne-francaise de l’Ontario.
Laurena Finéus, Rooted and Routed, 2024, Oil, mica and ink on canvas, 60x68’’.
“I am profoundly grateful and honored to have been awarded a Saunderson Prize. This generous recognition will play a crucial role in funding a project that stands as the most ambitious endeavor I have undertaken to date. The significance of this award extends beyond mere financial support; it marks a pivotal moment in my career.
Currently, I find myself at a transitional juncture, navigating a crucial phase where expanding my studio space has become imperative for the continued growth and evolution of my work. My current studio limitations have begun to constrain the scope and scale of my creative projects, and a larger space is essential for accommodating the increased demands of my production.
As a 2024 grantee, I am excited that the Prize will significantly alleviate this financial burden and cannot thank The Hnatyshyn Foundation enough for its support.
I would like to extend a heartfelt thank you to Tiffany April, Erin Crowell, and Wall Space Gallery for their steadfast support. I am deeply appreciative of Emma Steen for recognizing my administrative potential and providing me with the opportunity to temporarily financially support my practice through my first full-time position at the ICCA in 2022. This allowed me to take a leap of faith and focus on my practice.
My sincere thanks also go to Martin Golland and Daniel Côté for recognizing my potential early on during my academic years. I want to acknowledge my current mentors, friends, and collaborators, including Sarah-Mecca Abdourahman, as well as The Ottawa School of Art for giving me the opportunity to present my first solo exhibition. I am profoundly grateful to the Ottawa arts community for its unwavering generosity and kindness towards my emerging practice. So many have been instrumental in my journey, and I am truly thankful.’’
Find Laurena on Instagram @laurenafineus or at www.laurenafineus.com
Séamus Gallagher (they/them)
Photo: Rita Taylor
Séamus Gallagher is a media artist that has spent most of their life living on Mi’kma’ki, the unceded and unsurrendered land of the Mi’kmaq people. Through infusing drag aesthetics with self-portraiture, video game engines, and set construction, Gallagher is interested in camp, limits of representation, and failure as a form of liberation. Their practice often takes the form of a video work, a series of photographs, an installation, and occasionally a VR project. Their work has been exhibited at the National Gallery of Canada, the Museum of Contemporary Art in Toronto, the Museum of Fine Art of Leipzig, the Portrait Gallery of Canada, as well as the Locarno Film Festival in Switzerland, among others. In 2023 they had their first solo museum exhibition at the McCord Stewart Museum in Montreal, as part of that year’s MOMENTA biennale de l’image.
Séamus Gallagher, A Slippery Place 5, 2021, archival inkjet print, 40”x60”.
Gallagher is the recipient of the Scotiabank 2022 New Generation Photography Award, the 2022 Nova Scotia Emerging Artist Recognition Award, and the 2019 BMO 1st Art Award. In 2023 they were shortlisted for the Sobey Art Award, presented by the National Gallery of Canada.
Séamus Gallagher, A Slippery Place installation, 2023, photo courtesy of the National Gallery of Canada.
Gallagher takes inspiration from a multitude of artists, writers and performers including Sin Wai Kin, Jonas Van Holanda, Jose Esteban Muñoz, Mark Fisher, Ursula K. Le Guin, and more.
Séamus Gallagher, A Geography of Elsewhere Disappearing Into Air, 2023, lenticular print, 40”x60”.
“It is such an honour to be recognized through this prize. I am so touched to be included among a long list of incredible artists, many of whom I look up to and admire deeply, like Tau Lewis, Sara Cwynar, Bridget Moser, and Lan “Florence” Yee. Being a working artist, particularly in 2024, feels so perpetually precarious, so support from the Hnatyshyn Foundation really means the world.”
Séamus Gallagher, You Be Good!, 2023, archival inkjet print, 90”x60”.
Find Séamus on Instagram at @shameusseamus or at seamusgallagher.ca
Joyce Joumaa (she/her)
Photo: Clara Lacasse
Joyce Joumaa (she/her) is a visual artist working in both Beirut and Montreal. After growing up in Tripoli, she pursued her studies in Film at Concordia University.
Joyce Joumaa, Mutable Cycle II, Digital video, in A Temporary Loss of Consciousness, Eli Kerr Gallery. Photo: Simon Belleau.
Working primarily with video, Joumaa’s work engages with histories shaped by conflict and crisis while specifically investigating the phenomenology of political performance, often rooted in her native Lebanon or diasporic experiences. Through documentary and experimental filmmaking, archival research, and photography, her practice attempts to create narratives that reimagine our relationship to past events, historical figures, or emblematic sites, examining how they continue to act upon us in the present.
Joyce Joumaa, Thresholds of Insight, 2024, solo exhibition at Plein Sud Centre d’Exposition. Photo: William Sabourin.
Joumaa has exhibited at the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts, Stewart Hall Gallery, the Sharjah Architectural Triennial, the 60th Venice Biennial and the 35th edition of Ljubljana Biennale of Graphic Arts. Recent solo exhibitions have been held at the Canadian Centre for Architecture, Centre d’exposition Plein Sud and Eli Kerr Gallery. She is currently working on her next film with the support of the Periculum Foundation.
Joyce Joumaa, Memory Contours, 2024, in Foreigners Everywhere, 60th International Art Exhibition of La Biennale di Venezia. Photo: Valentina Mori.
With the support of the Saunderson Prize, Joumaa will be attending the De Ateliers Residency in Amsterdam, during which she intends on building a new body of work relating to the economic crisis in Lebanon.
Find Joyce on Instagram at @joycejoumaa or at www.joycejoumaa.com
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2024
Bridget Moser, artist, 2023 laureate of The Hnatyshyn Foundation Mid-Career Award for Excellence in Visual Arts and 2015 laureate of a Saunderson Prize
John G. Hampton, Executive Director and CEO of the MacKenzie Art Gallery and 2016 laureate of The Hnatyshyn Foundation – TD Bank Group Award for Emerging Curator of Contemporary Canadian Art
