Ceramic artist Léopold L. Foulem named recipient of 25th anniversary Saidye Bronfman Award
Hull, Quebec, November 21, 2001 – Léopold L. Foulem of Caraquet, New Brunswick and Montreal, one of Canada's most highly respected ceramic artists, has been named the 25th anniversary recipient of the $25,000 Saidye Bronfman Award. The announcement was made yesterday by Her Excellency the Right Honourable Adrienne Clarkson, Governor General of Canada, 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 CBC Television, narrated by Patrick Watson, which celebrates 25 years of the Saidye Bronfman Award.
The peer assessment committee which selected this year's laureate wished to recognize Léopold L. Foulem's extraordinary career as a world-renowned ceramic artist whose work is represented in important public and private collections in North America, Europe and Japan. Although the conceptual base of his practice originates from within a craft tradition, his work deals primarily with contemporary issues of post-modern aesthetics, thus elevating the current discourse about ceramics and challenging generally held perceptions of what is craft.
In addition to maintaining a rigorous studio practice, Léopold L. Foulem has been teaching, lecturing in Canada and abroad, and extensively writing on contemporary ceramic practice and craft theory. Foulem is also a highly respected authority on Picasso's ceramics.
Mr. Foulem's work is included in the exhibition Excellence: Saidye Bronfman Award Recipients, 1997-2001, on display at the Canadian Museum of Civilization from November 20, 2001 to March 24, 2002. The exhibition presents works by the five most recent Award recipients from the Museum's fine craft collection.
Celebrating its 25th 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 nomination and adjudication processes are administered by the Canada Council for the Arts. The $25,000 annual award is one of the largest individual 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 $200,000 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.
FACT SHEETS
Further information on the Saidye Bronfman Award and profiles on previous recipients can be found on the Museum's Web site :
http://www.civilization.ca/arts/bronfman/brint01e.html
For more information: Heather Hatch-Dinel
The Haley Group
Tel: (416) 536-1566
Email: haleyart@interlog.com
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