Student Success

Annual Art Open House celebrates 23 student award winners

A year’s worth of creativity and dedication was on display Monday, April 8 at the annual Department of Art Open Studio exhibition and award reception. Works created by advanced and senior art studio students adorned the walls of the 8th level Centre for the Arts as 23 talented students were recognized for their achievements. The annual student art awards recognize excellence and commitment to Art Studio and Art History/Museum Studies.

Recognizing excellence in their program of study or creative practice, the following award recipients were announced:

-        Excellence in Art Studio: Danin Lawrence
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Excellence in Art History/Museum Studies: Katie Thomas
-        Art History/Museum Studies Gallery Award: Stephanie Wilson and Kirstan Schamuhn
-        Excellence in Indigenous Art Studio: Wayne Provost and Serene Weasel Traveller
-        Excellence in Printmaking: Daylen Chupik and Shery Macardy
-        RHE Sculpture Award: Nikki Maruschak

The SAAG Award went to Courtney Faulkner, who also received one of five Roloff Beny Photography Awards. This year’s Roloff Beny Photography Award recipients included Faulkner, Alicia Barbieri, Kylie Fineday, Stephanie Wilson and Arcana Shanks.

The Roloff Beny Photography Awards recognize academic and artistic achievement of students with an interest in Photo-Arts. The funds are used to offset costs incurred by travel, photography equipment, supplies or tuition fees. The five travel projects funded this year include trips to Western Canada, Montana and Idaho to interview meat farmers; to Mexico City to research painter Frida Kahlo and architect Luis Barragan; to India to “pursue the idea of documenting subjects that might be considered banal in a different cultural context”; and to Ireland to capture a personal journey through the Irish landscape and the “organic authenticity in the struggle to live a simplified life.

Laurel Scott had her artwork purchased by the Department of Art.

The Student Union Art Award went to Meghan Venables. The Art Society Award went to Danin Lawrence and Stephanie Wilson. Wilson, along with classmates Amy McAllister and Eric Almberg, received the Student of Art Endowment for their project Karamat Wilderness Survival Course. They used the Art Endowment to participate in activitites that “expand worldviews, art practice and skill development through new exposures… creating circumstances of contemplation and meditation in natural environments while enforcing an art practice based on experience.”

The David Lanier Memorial Award was presented to McKenzie Bond-Holloway and Alicia Barbieri for demonstrating excellence in photo-arts. They also received the Founding Faculty Artist Residency Prize, established by alumna and artist Mary Annis. The award supports two students in their pursuit of the arts by funding an artist residency at the Gushul Studio and Writer’s Cottage in Blairmore, Alberta. Barbieri and Bond-Holloway will spend May 2019 in the scenic and historic Crowsnest Pass with the final result on display in an Art Department exhibition.

The award ceremony also announced the recipient of the 2019 Faculty of Fine Arts Medalta Residency Award: Gary Uchikura. He’ll spend one month with art students from across Canada in a dynamic group setting at the Medalta Artist Residency and Historic Clay Works located in Medicine Hat, including 24-hour personal studio access, exhibition opportunities, firings, use of shop glazes, accommodations at Medicine Hat College and an exhibition of work in the Art Department.

For 2019, a new one-time award was created to honour a former assistant professor in the Department of Art. The Jennifer Gordon Award went to four deserving students: Wendy Jorgenson, Hannah Aubie, Francisco Luna and Leah Koutroumanos.

Finally, the Department of Art selects one piece of student art work to purchase each year for their collection. The 2019 student artwork was purchased from Laurel Scott.