Category Archives: Award

Ed Drahanchuk and Robin Hopper C.M.,R.C.A. Surprise Me

11 Replies

I recently received two bits of ‘good’ news. One from Ed Drahanchuk and another from Robin Hopper.

Ed Drahanchuk. From Alberta Comes of Age Catalogue

Ed Drahanchuk. From Alberta Comes of Age Catalogue

Ed recently wrote me that he is planning on getting back into ceramics. For the past many years Ed has been working in his other artistic love, painting. As Ed puts it:

“I’ve been out of touch for some time now (years), but plan for my last stab into pottery for 2017 if all goes well. Just a matter of building my fifth kiln.”

Ed is still on Quadra Island coping with internet outages, snowstorms, mice chewing through water lines, and the arrival, or return, of a large mural once on the RBC head office in Calgary. Ed is contemplating how to uncrate and restore it. So nice to see that RBC preserved art rather than just discarding it for ‘progress’.

I interviewed Ed Drahanchuk many years ago and had planned a page on him. So expect to see that page on Ed here in the future.

Thank you Ed for connecting.

Robin Hopper and Judi Dyelle in their Metchosin garden

Robin Hopper and Judi Dyelle in their Metchosin garden

The other surprise was from Robin Hopper. I had noticed a surge in readers and followers. After a bit of digging I found out it was because of a post on Robin’s facebook page. Here is the post:

“I’m getting too shaky to write much and answer questions, so please don’t ask. Instead. I’m going to put you in the hands of Barry Morrison, editor of an information on-line Canadian ceramic topic. Barry is a brilliant scholar and ceramic historian who I’ve known for over 30 years. He has been well aware of my personal trajectory as well as other authors in giving the best overview of my multiple workstyles, technical info and techniques. You can find Barry’s amazing coverage at :

Studio Ceramics Canada.Com

If you want to know anything about Canadian ceramics and its major practitioners, this is definitely the best place to go.

Robin.”

Wow! Thank you, Robin. I think I’m going to have to increase my hat size by a few sizes.

By the way, Robin is still waiting  for the final details of the location for his Order of Canada investiture.

Let’s welcome Ed back to ceramics and continue to congratulate Robin on this recent honour.

Amélie Proulx wins the 2016 Winifred Shantz Award for Ceramics.

Leave a reply

 

Amelie Proulx. Metaphores Mortes. Photo source: Canadian Clay and Glass Gallery

Amélie Proulx . Metaphores Mortes. Photo source: Canadian Clay and Glass Gallery

The Canadian Clay & Glass Gallery has announced that Amélie Proulx has won the 2016 Winifred Shantz Award for Ceramics. The award will be presented at the Canadian Clay & Glass Gallery on November 12, 2016. The ceremony will feature a brief artist talk.

  • Amélie Proulx from Lévis, QC, is a multidisciplinary artist working primarily with porcelain. She is interested in the possible shifts of meanings in language and in the perception of natural phenomena. She received a BFA from Concordia University in Montreal (2006) and an MFA from the Nova Scotia College of Art and Design University in Halifax (2010).
  • Her artwork has been presented in solo and group exhibitions in Canada, the United States, Australia and France. In 2013, she received the RBC Emerging Artist People’s Choice Award at the Gardiner Museum in Toronto. She has participated in several residencies, notably at the European Ceramic Work Centre (The Netherlands, 2014) and the Guldargergaard International Ceramic Research Centre (Denmark, 2015). She teaches ceramics and visual arts at La Maison des métiers d’art de Québec and at Cégep de Sainte-Foy. She is represented by Galerie 3 in Quebec City.
  • Proulx has been chosen for the Arts/Industry Program at the Kohler Company in Sheboygan, Wisconsin. There she will research and produce a new body of work that will convey ideas of technological translations of ceramics.
  • Proulx will use the Shantz Award to prepare for this residency; she will generate 3D printed moulds at the artist-run centre La Chambre Blanche in Quebec City and CNC milled plaster moulds with Epic Welding in Medicine Hat, Alberta.

The award was juried by Laura Kukkee, Rory MacDonald and Aaron Nelson.

Proulx will receive $10,000. This prestigious national awards allows early career professionals to undertake a period of independent research, or other activities that will advance their artistic and professional practice at a key moment in their careers.

The Winifred Shantz Award for Ceramics is supported by the Keith and Winifred Shantz Fund for the Arts, held at The Kitchener and Waterloo Community Foundation.

  • About Winifred Shantz: The late Winifred Shantz was a driving force for the arts in Waterloo Region for more than 40 years. A successful ceramist, entrepreneur and visionary philanthropist, she was committed to finding ways to enable artists to reach their full potential.
  • About The Kitchener and Waterloo Community Foundation: The Kitchener and Waterloo Community Foundation (KWCF) improves the quality of life in Kitchener-Waterloo and the surrounding area, now and for generations to come, by building community endowment, addressing needs through grant making, and providing leadership on key community issues.
  • The Canadian Clay & Glass Gallery’s mission is to showcase the most innovative, influential contemporary Canadian ceramic, glass, and enamel artworks and to make them accessible to all through acclaimed exhibitions that address issues and themes relevant to our times, through an impressive selection of artworks in our Gallery Shop, and through intriguing public programs that engage, educate, and inspire.

For information about the Awards contact: William D. Poole, Executive Director, Canadian Clay & Glass Gallery; director@theclayandglass.ca • 519.746.1882 x231

A Canadian Clay and Glass Gallery Page Added to Studio Ceramics Canada

Leave a reply
The Canadian Clay and Glass Gallery Logo

The Canadian Clay and Glass Gallery Logo

I have added a page on the premier Canadian public gallery devoted to ceramics, enamel and glass.

Galleries, permanent and study collections, the Winifred Schantz and RBC awards coordination, archives, a library, and community programs are available to researchers and the public.

Based in Waterloo, Ontario, the Canadian Clay and Glass Gallery is a must see stop for ceramic and glass enthusiasts and researchers.

Debra Sloan, One Busy Lady

2 Replies

 

Sloan mek posterOver the past several months Debra Sloan has been non-stop. Honouree for Craft and Design for this year’s Mayor’s Art Award, she also had work at SOFA in Chicago in the MEK Gallery.

She was accepted into the Ceramics, Residencies, Exhibitions, Teaching and the Arts (C.R.E.T.A) – Rome residency, supported by the Hilda Gerson Award.

sloan gone roamingShe will be guest artist with the All Fired Up group in Victoria this spring, including a wood firing at Gordon Hutchen’s place on Denman Island. Currently she is also in the Best B4 Collective Exhibition, – Telling Stories.

Whew, I’m getting tired just writing this. Congratulations, Debra!

Alwyn O’Brien Wins the 2015 Winifred Shantz Award for Ceramics

Leave a reply
Raunch 2014. Alwyn O’Brien. 2015 Winifred Shantz Award for Ceramics Winner

Raunch 2014. Alwyn O’Brien. 2015 Winifred Shantz Award for Ceramics Winner

The Canadian Clay and Glass Gallery in Waterloo, ON, will celebrate Alwyn O’Brien and her work, and present to her the 2015 Winifred Shantz Award on Saturday, November 14.

“O’Brien, from Saltspring Island, BC. creates  ceramic sculptures to push the medium as a vehicle to explore the metaphorical and literal question “What is the Vessel?” With an extensive knowledge of the history of decorative arts and a passion for the baroque, O’Brien’s objects challenge the definition of the vessel through the use of lacey hand-rolled coils in a deliberate yet chaotic way to construct volume and shape. Pinching, rolling and fingerprints are evidence of the hand and connect the material to the body.”

O’Brien  received her MFA in 2010 from the University of Washington in Seattle and her BFA from Emily Carr Institute. Her work is featured in the collections of the Seattle Art Museum, the Surrey Art Gallery, and the Mackenzie Art Gallery. She divides her time between Saltspring Island, B.C. and Vancouver, where she is currently an instructor at both Emily Carr University of Art and Design and Langara College.

Alwyn will receive $10,000. This prestigious national awards allow early career practising ceramic and glass artists to undertake a period of independent research, or other activities that will advance their artistic and professional practice at a key moment in their careers.