Ceramic artist Walter Ostrom named recipient of 27th Saidye Bronfman Award
Gatineau, Quebec, October 3, 2003 — Walter Ostrom of Indian Harbour, Nova Scotia, one of Canada’s most highly respected ceramic artists, has been named the 27th recipient of the $25,000 Saidye Bronfman Award. The announcement was made yesterday by Phyllis Lambert, on behalf of the Samuel and Saidye Bronfman Family Foundation, at a gala award ceremony at the Canadian Museum of Civilization. The Samuel and Saidye Bronfman Family Foundation, the Canadian Museum of Civilization and the Canada Council for the Arts are partners in the Award. An additional highlight of the award ceremony was the premiere of a video produced by the Canadian Museum of Civilization that profiled Mr. Ostrom at work in his studio.
The peer assessment committee, which selected this year’s laureate, wished to recognize Walter Ostrom’s outstanding practice and career as an acclaimed artist, teacher and mentor. From Beijing to Amsterdam and New York, Walter Ostrom is considered one of the most profoundly influential ceramists of his generation and a giant in the field of contemporary ceramics.
Walter Ostrom’s 40-year career in ceramics is reflected in a vast body of work that ranges from some highly conceptual pieces of the 1970s to a recent series of plates that explore function and ritual. Widely recognized as a seminal teacher for generations of ceramic artists and for the revival of low-fired maiolica, Walter Ostrom has been instrumental in reviving the tenets of craft, such as utility, decoration and function, and he continues to champion the role of fine craft within the visual arts.
Walter Ostrom has exhibited extensively across Canada and around the world. Ostrom’s pieces can be found in the permanent collections of the Victoria and Albert Museum, London; the Academy of Art and Design, Tsinghua University, Beijing; the Boston Museum of Fine Arts; the New York State College of Ceramics at Alfred University, New York; the Art Gallery of Nova Scotia; the Burlington Arts Centre, Ontario; the Dalhousie Art Gallery, Halifax; the Claridge Collection, Montreal; and the Canadian Museum of Civilization.
The exhibition Saidye Bronfman Award 2003: Walter Ostrom, on display at the Canadian Museum of Civilization from October 4, 2003 to August 17, 2004, presents works by Mr. Ostrom as well as pieces he has selected from the Museum’s collections to complement his own.
Celebrating its 27th anniversary this year, the Saidye Bronfman Award was established by The Samuel and Saidye Bronfman Family Foundation to provide leadership in recognizing and honouring the high levels of excellence achieved by Canadian craft artists. The Canada Council for the Arts administers the nomination and adjudication processes. The $25,000 annual award is one of the largest individual visual arts prizes in Canada.
In addition to the cash prize awarded to the recipient, the Canadian Museum of Civilization, through a further grant from The Samuel and Saidye Bronfman Family Foundation, acquires works by the Saidye Bronfman Award recipient for its permanent collection. In recent years, The Samuel and Saidye Bronfman Family Foundation has contributed over $250,000 for the purchase of works by previous Award recipients. The Canadian Museum of Civilization’s fine craft collection is the largest public contemporary craft collection in Canada, with over 2,000 works by artists from across the country.
For further information on the Saidye Bronfman Award and profiles of previous recipients, visit http://www.civilization.ca/arts/bronfman/brint01e.html
Media Information:
Heather Hatch-Dinel
The Haley Group
Tel.: (416) 961-2220
E-mail: haleyart@interlog.com
Media Relations Officer
Canadian Museum of Civilization
Tel.: (819) 776-7169
Fax: (819) 776-7187
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