Five Finalists Announced for the 2005 Saidye Bronfman Award
Toronto, June 15, 2005 — Canadian artists Michael Hosaluk, Louise Lemieux Bérubé, Gordon Peteran, Peter Pierobon, and Anna Torma have been named finalists for this year’s $25,000 Saidye Bronfman Award for Excellence in the Fine Crafts. The announcement was made today by The Samuel and Saidye Bronfman Family Foundation, in association with the Canada Council for the Arts and the Canadian Museum of Civilization — both partners in the Award.
The Saidye Bronfman Award is one of the largest individual visual arts prizes in Canada. In addition to the cash prize, works by the Award recipient are acquired by the Canadian Museum of Civilization 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.
The Saidye Bronfman Award recipient will be announced at an awards ceremony at the Canadian Museum of Civilization on Thursday, September 29, 2005. An exhibition presenting works by this year’s recipient will be on display at the Canadian Museum of Civilization from September 29, 2005 through April 2, 2006. The Award recipient will also be featured in a 30-second Artspots profile, created by the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC) and presented on the national television network.
The finalists for this year’s Saidye Bronfman Award, profiled below, are truly masters of their respective crafts.
Michael Hosaluk lives near Saskatoon, and is recognized as one of the world’s most creative woodturners. In 2004, he was awarded the Saskatchewan Lieutenant-Governor’s Award for Innovation in the Arts. Hosaluk is a member of the Royal Canadian Academy of Arts and, earlier this year, became an Honorary Lifetime Member of the Saskatchewan Crafts Council. Hosaluk was active on the Steering and Advisory Committees of the Furniture Society and, since 1982, has been the coordinator of the biennial International Wood Furniture/Turning Conference. His work has been exhibited throughout Canada, the United States, England, Germany and Japan. Hosaluk’s pieces can also be found in the permanent collections of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II at Buckingham Palace; Zhao Xiu, Governor of Jilin Province in China; the Idemitsu Corporation in Tokyo; the Los Angeles County Museum of Art; the Detroit Institute of Arts; the Yale University Art Gallery; the Minneapolis Institute of Arts, and the Royal Ontario Museum. Hosaluk is the author of Scratching the Surface: Art and Content in Contemporary Wood, released in 2002 by Guild Publishing. He has lectured and demonstrated extensively throughout Canada, the United States, Australia, New Zealand, Great Britain, France, Norway and Israel.
Louise Lemieux Bérubé, who lives in Montreal, is a distinguished pioneer in the innovative use of jacquard techniques in textile weaving. Lemieux Bérubé is the Founder of the Montreal Centre for Contemporary Textiles, where she has taught students from around the world, and which she continues to direct. She was the Chair of the Conseil des metiers d’art du Québec from 1990 to 2000, and is a member of the Conseil des arts textiles du Québec. Louise Lemieux Bérubé has exhibited her work throughout Canada and the United States, as well as in Belgium, Finland, France, Germany, Japan, Korea and Spain. Her work is represented in many public collections, including the Canadian Embassy in London; the Deutsches Technikmuseum in Berlin; Loto Québec; the Société de développement des entreprises culturelles du Québec; the City of Lasalle, Quebec, and Temple Emanu-El-Beth Shalom in Westmount, Quebec. Lemieux Bérubé’s work has been profiled on Artspots on CBC television and in numerous publications, including Patchwork (France) and Craft Arts International (Australia) magazines, as well as Shuttle Spindle and Dyepot. She regularly works with universities and schools, teaching textile work through courses and conferences in Canada, Australia, Germany, Japan, New Zealand and the United States.
Gordon Peteran is one of Canada’s leading artists, creating site-specific works of art and furniture for public and private spaces. Based in Toronto, Peteran has exhibited his work throughout Canada and the United States. He is a member of the Royal Canadian Academy of Arts, and in 2001 received the Jean A. Chalmers National Craft Award: one of Canada’s most prestigious visual arts prizes. Peteran has been an active lecturer and educator at the Rhode Island School of Design, the California College of the Arts, the Sheridan College School of Art and Design and the Ontario College of Art and Design. Peteran’s public art commissions include work for the City of Toronto; the Glenn Gould Foundation in Toronto; the Canadian Crafts Museum in Vancouver; the University of Toronto, and the Whitby Mental Health Centre. His work is represented in numerous private and corporate collections.
Peter Pierobon is an outstanding Canadian artist who has expanded the boundaries of furniture design beyond function, material and technique. Based in North Vancouver, Pierobon was a founding member of the Furniture Society: the voice of the studio furniture movement in the United States and Canada. He is an active member of the Wood Co-op in Vancouver, and is president of the advisory committee for the fine woodworking programme at Selkirk College in Nelson, B.C. In 2004, Pierobon was inducted into the Royal Canadian Academy of Arts. Peter Pierobon has exhibited his work throughout Canada and the United States and Ireland, and is represented in public collections, including the Smithsonian Institution; the Museum of Arts and Design in New York City; the Philadelphia Museum of Art; the Newark Museum, and the City of North Vancouver, as well as in corporate collections such as MCI World Headquarters in Washington, D.C. and Blue Cross and Blue Shield in Rochester, N.Y. Pierobon’s work has been profiled in numerous publications, including American Craft, Turning Points and New York Review magazines, as well as The New York Times. He has been an active educator and lecturer, with positions at the California College of the Arts in San Francisco, and the University of the Arts in Philadelphia.
Anna Torma, lives in Baie Verte, New Brunswick and is one of Canada’s leading quiltmakers. In 2005, Torma received a UNESCO Aschberg Bursary to attend a two-month residence at Cooperation in Wiltz, Luxembourg, to complete her embroidery project with local mentally handicapped artists. This year, she won the Best of Show Award at the National Quilt Show in Athens, Ohio. In 2006, the Art Gallery of Hamilton will produce a one-person show of Torma’s work, with an accompanying monograph by exhibition curator Shirley Madill. Anna Torma has exhibited her work throughout Canada and the United States, as well as in England, Hungary and the Netherlands. Torma’s work is represented in public collections, including the Ministry of Culture in Hungary; the Contemporary Textile Collection in Szombathely, Hungary; the Library and Gallery in Cambridge, Ontario, and the New Brunswick Art Bank. Torma’s work has been profiled in numerous publications, including Fibrearts, Walrus and Ontario Craft magazines, as well as The Globe and Mail and The National Post.
Celebrating its twenty-ninth anniversary this year, the Saidye Bronfman Award was established in 1977 by The Samuel and Saidye Bronfman Family Foundation to honour the eightieth birthday of Saidye Bronfman, O.B.E., a long-time supporter of the arts, and to provide leadership in recognizing and honouring the high levels of excellence achieved by Canadian craft artists. The peer assessment committee that adjudicates the Award considers all aspects of aesthetics, including creativity, innovation and technical mastery, as well as the nominee’s contribution to the development of the fine crafts in Canada over a significant period of time. The nomination and adjudication processes are administered by the Canada Council for the Arts.
For further information on the Saidye Bronfman Award and profiles of previous recipients, please visit The Bronfman Collection Virtual Gallery
Information (media) :
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