Artists Tau Lewis, Jordan Loeppky-Kolesnik and Nicole Kelly Westman win $5,000 William and Meredith Saunderson Prizes.
October 30, 2017
Gerda Hnatyshyn, C.C., President of The Hnatyshyn Foundation, announced today the recipients of the 2017 William and Meredith Saunderson Prizes for Emerging Canadian Artists. Tau Lewis, Jordan Loeppky-Kolesnik and Nicole Kelly Westman take home the $5,000 prizes, which are intended to nurture emerging talent in the visual arts in Canada.
The prizes, initiated in 2012, are now made possible by William and Meredith Saunderson and will continue through 2019. In recognition of the Saunderson’s support, Gerda Hnatyshyn, C.C., President of The Hnatyshyn Foundation, said:
“We would like to express our gratitude to the Saundersons for sustaining this very important prize program and for encouraging emerging Canadian artists at a time in their careers when financial support and recognition are critical for their development.”
The award winners were selected by a jury of arts professionals, including Andrea Fatona, curator and Associate Professor, Graduate Studies, Ontario College of Art and Design; curator John Hampton, of Brandon, Manitoba; and visual artist Jinny Yu, of Ottawa.
“These three artists represent an exciting future for the visual arts in Canada. Their work opens up new artistic possibilities and prompt a reimagining in our cultural conscious.” – Jury statement.
Tau Lewis is a Jamaican-Canadian artist living and working in Toronto, Ontario. A self-taught sculptor, her work is bodily and organic, with an explicit strangeness and subtle morbidity. Her current practice relies heavily on her surrounding environment; she constructs sculptural portraits using found objects, repurposed materials and live plants sourced from urban and rural landscapes. She considers the history and symbolism of each material, exploring the political boundaries of nature, identity and authenticity. Lewis connects these acts of repurposing and collecting with diasporic experience and black bodies. Her portraits are recuperative gestures that counter persistent tendencies to erase or peripheralize black artists and narratives within Canadian art and history.
Jordan Loeppky-Kolesnik’s installation projects utilize sculpture, architecture, and video to create a type of cinema, leading the viewer through a series of stories, affects, and sensations. Recent exhibitions of their work took place at VALET (Richmond), articule (Montreal), and 8eleven (Toronto). They are based in Montreal and Richmond, USA, where they are currently completing an MFA in Sculpture + Extended Media at Virginia Commonwealth University. They have an upcoming solo exhibition at Modern Fuel in Kingston, Ontario in January 2018.
Nicole Kelly Westman of Calgary, Alberta, is a visual artist of Métis and Icelandic descent. She grew up in a supportive home with strong-willed parents – her mother, a considerate woman with inventive creativity, and her father, an anonymous feminist. Her work culls from these formative years for insight and inspiration. Nicole Kelly Westman, has had the privilege to be included in exhibitions curated by; Peta Rake, Katarina Veljovic, Kimberly Phillips, Ginger Carlson, Leila Timmins, cheyanne turions, and John Hampton. Westman holds a BFA from Emily Carr University, is the current Director of Stride Gallery, and has been published in Inuit Art Quarterly, C-Magazine, and Luma Quarterly.
The Hnatyshyn Foundation offers its sincere congratulations to this year’s recipients.
