- BMO Financial Group announces one national winner and 12
regional winners for its annual BMO 1st Art!
competition
- $15,000 is awarded to the
national winner; $7,500 is awarded to
each regional winner
- All selected works will be showcased in a virtual exhibition
hosted by The Art Museum at the University of
Toronto from September 15 to October
16 at artmuseum.utoronto.ca
TORONTO, Sept. 15, 2020 /CNW/ - BMO Financial Group today
announced the winners of its 18th annual BMO 1st
Art! competition celebrating outstanding achievements in
visual arts among undergraduate artists from coast to coast.
In the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic and for the safety of its
artists and patrons, BMO 1st Art! is taking its annual gallery
exhibition virtual. Hosted by the Art Museum at the University of Toronto on their Virtual Art Museum
site artmuseum.utoronto.ca, the exhibition will showcase all 13
winning works from September 15 to October
16. The award recipients will receive cash prizes of
$15,000 for the national award and
$7,500 for each regional winner,
spanning Canada's diverse
provinces and territories.
"It's a privilege to honour the inventive and complex work of
Canada's top post-secondary
students, a generation that represents the future of art in
Canada," said Cameron Fowler,
Chief Strategy and Operations Officer, BMO Financial Group. "BMO is
committed to supporting the creativity and talent of our rising
artists and we're proud to be part of this distinguished
initiative. Congratulations to the 2020 winners on all of their
accomplishments."
"We are thrilled to spotlight these remarkable artists as they
transition from art school to art practice," said Dawn Cain, Curator, BMO Art Collection. "In
moving the exhibition to a virtual format we are able to share
these innovative and timely works with new audiences in
Canada and beyond."
The annual competition invites deans and instructors from 110
undergraduate art programs across Canada to nominate three students from each of
their studio specialties to submit a recent work. An esteemed panel
of jurors selected this year's winning works from a pool of 295
submissions. Submission guidelines allow for time-based media
including video, film, audio, and computer technologies, in
addition to mediums of drawing, printmaking, photography, painting,
sculpture, glass, ceramics, textiles, mixed media, and installation
works.
Full list of 2020 BMO 1st Art! winners:
National Winner
- Simone Elizabeth Saunders,
"It Matters", Alberta
University of the Arts (Alberta)
Regional Winners
- Jasmine MacGregor,
"Anishinaabekwe (Ojibway woman)", Alberta University of the
Arts (Alberta)
- David Ezra Wang,
"Practicum", University of British
Columbia (British
Columbia)
- Gabriel Roberts, "A Closet
Painted Blue", University of
Manitoba (Manitoba)
- Matthew Cripps, "4 Crawling
Vases", New Brunswick College
of Craft and Design (New
Brunswick)
- Kathleen Elliott, "Well
Seasoned", Grenfell Campus,
Memorial University of Newfoundland
(Newfoundland and Labrador)
- Alex Sutcliffe, "A Finger
Cuts Light", NSCAD University (Nova
Scotia)
- Ellie Tungilik, "Finding
Hope", Nunavut Arctic College (Nunavut)
- Tian Cao, "2020 Surfing the
Internet", OCAD University (Ontario)
- Duncan Brooks, "Empty
Steps", Holland College
(Prince Edward Island)
- Mikael Lepage, "Dénué",
Université du Québec à Montréal (Quebec)
- Rey Francis Dominic B. Tatad,
"Chosen Land", University of
Regina (Saskatchewan)
- Nicole Favron, "5.5 hours of
shovelling so I can walk in the path of a moose", Yukon School
of Visual Arts (Yukon)
Highlighted works include:
- "A hand-tufted textile portrait of a Black civilian in western
society during the COVID-19 pandemic. This colourful patchwork
focuses on the quality and importance of Black life (matters) in a
time where the pandemic has eradicated social normativity, further
isolating marginalized communities and resulting in amplified
racial biases toward Black and Brown
people." (Simone Elizabeth Saunders,
National winner)
- "Inspired by the artist's observation of 'poor images' on the
internet including static memes, low-resolution short videos,
tawdry commercial images and manipulated self-images, this
interactive 3D project, created using the game engine Unity,
explores issues of accessibility, democracy, mass reproduction,
culture conflict, self-identity and consumerism." (Tian Cao, Ontario winner)
- "An oil on canvas portrait of a man dressed in a white shirt;
symbolizing masculinity and social class. Going against all
conventions the artist has turned the shirt backwards and wrinkled
it, offering the viewer more questions than answers." (Mikael
Lepage, Quebec winner)
- "This mixed-media installation featuring cyanotypes on paper,
linen, denim and cushions is a contemplative exploration into the
artist's own sexuality within the constraints of a closeted
relationship." (Gabriel Roberts,
Manitoba winner)
The 2020 Selection Committee:
- Melanie Colosimo,
Director/Curator, Anna Leonowens Gallery, NS
- Francisco-Fernando Granados,
Faculty of Art, OCAD University, ON
- Marie-Eve Beaupré, Curator, Musée d'art contemporain de
Montréal, QC
- cheyanne turions, Curator SFU Galleries, BC
To view images of the winning works on BMO Financial Group's
website, please visit: 1stArt.bmo.com
To access the virtual exhibition please visit:
artmuseum.utoronto.ca
About BMO Financial Group
Serving customers for 200
years and counting, BMO is a highly diversified financial services
provider - the 8th largest bank, by assets, in North America.
With total assets of $974 billion as of July 31,
2020, and a team of diverse and highly engaged employees, BMO
provides a broad range of personal and commercial banking, wealth
management and investment banking products and services to more
than 12 million customers and conducts business through three
operating groups: Personal and Commercial Banking, BMO Wealth
Management and BMO Capital Markets.
SOURCE BMO Financial Group