BMO 1st Art! celebrates the best of Canada’s recent visual arts graduates, from coast to coast. Congratulations to this year’s national and regional winners, who demonstrate the excellence and promise of our newest generation of artists!
See the winning works at the 1st Art! Exhibition, Museum of Contemporary Canadian Art, October 2 – 27, 2013.
NATIONAL WINNER: Erika Dueck, University of Manitoba
Erika Dueck, The Ephemeral Mind. Mixed media installation, 203.2 x 203.2 cm; 80 x 80 in. Image courtesy of the artist.
REGIONAL WINNERS:
AB Tiffany Wollman, Alberta College of Art & Design
BC Sam Knopp, Emily Carr University of Art & Design
MB Hillary Smith, University of Manitoba
NB Carson Isenor, Mount Allison University
NL Whitney French, Grenfell Campus, Memorial University of Newfoundland
NS Alexis Bulman, Nova Scotia College of Art & Design
NU Silas Qulaut, Nunavut Arctic College
ON Eshan Rafi, York University
PE Valerie LeClair, Holland College
QC Laura Rokas-Bérubé, Concordia University
SK Charles Brendan Schick, University of Regina
YK Derian Blake, Yukon School of Visual Arts
The national winner receives $10,000 and the regional winners each receive $5,000. As the ultimate accolade, the national winner’s artwork becomes part of the BMO Corporate Art Collection, which includes works by historical and contemporary Canadian masters such as Kenojuak Ashevak, Emily Carr, Paterson Ewen, Marc-Aurèle Fortin, Lawren Harris, Wanda Koop, Micah Lexier, Kent Monkman, Ian Wallace and many others.