Emergence 2024
June 1 to September 8, 2024
Emergence celebrates the winners and finalists of the Canadian Clay & Glass Gallery’s awards for emerging ceramic and glass artists. Demonstrating the talent, passion, and vision of these artists, this exhibition showcases the best of the next generation of ceramics and glass artists in Canada.
In recognition of the work of promising young ceramic artists, the Winifred Shantz Award for Ceramics is presented this year to Lael Chmelyk of Calgary, Alberta. Benjamin Oswald (Edmonton, AB) was selected as the runner-up and the finalists are Nichol Marsch (Stonewall, MB), Alejandra Vera (Markham, ON), Sami Tsang (Toronto, ON), and Tomo Ingalls (Surrey, BC).
The RBC Award for Glass celebrates the outstanding work of emerging glass artists in a variety of mediums including blown, fused, and stained glass. This year, the RBC Award for Glass is presented to Charlie Larouche-Potvin of Montréal, Quebec. The exhibition also includes runner-up Jérémie St-Onge (Montréal, QC), and finalists Dorothée Bouliane (Montréal, QC), Gordon Boyd (Oakville, ON), and Leia Shijie Guo (Calgary, AB).
The Winifred Shantz Award for Ceramics and RBC Award for Glass are presented annually by the Canadian Clay & Glass Gallery with the support of The Keith and Winifred Shantz Fund for the Arts held at Waterloo Region Community Foundation and RBC Emerging Artists, respectively. The only national awards for emerging ceramic and glass artists in Canada, these prestigious prizes provide each winner $10,000 to undertake a period of independent research and other activities that advance their artistic and professional practice. Each runner-up receives $5,000 and finalists receive a prize of $1,000 each. The Winifred Shantz Award for Ceramics was juried by Marissa Y Alexander, Carole Epp, and Judith Schwartz. The RBC Award for Glass was juried by Susan Edgerley, Tyler Rock, and Aaron Schey.
Form and Reform: Bruce Cochrane
May 25 to September 8, 2024
Guest Curated by Jonathan Smith
Bruce Cochrane is an internationally known and respected ceramic artist with more than 50 years in the field. In the last decade, he has forged ahead in an increasingly complex direction. Recognized as a gifted potter with a superb technical background, he has taken the traditional wheel work of his youth and has pushed and pulled, cut and sliced his forms. These large-scale dynamic pieces are often now more in line with contemporary architecture. While still in touch with its functional predecessors, his work has turned the common vessel into an exploration that unites ceramics, architecture, and sculpture into a cohesive whole.
Patterns that Bind Us: Priscilla Kar Yee Lo
May 25 to September 8, 2024
Curated by Peter Flannery
Drawn to glass following a career in health care, Priscilla Kar Yee Lo was enamoured by the paradoxical qualities of this medium. Fragile yet strong, ephemeral yet permanent, glass mimics the constraints that have been placed on women of colour for centuries. Growing up in a Chinese immigrant family in Canada, Lo experienced firsthand the patriarchal standards and controlling images enforced upon Asian women. Through her work, she aims to use recognizable symbols like Hello Kitty and Chinoiserie to illustrate the ways in which women of colour have been, and continue to be, controlled by dominant societal standards.
As Priscilla Kar Yee Lo shows us, pop culture icons like Hello Kitty may be more than just playful images and toys for children. By subtly infusing them with her own twists and creative uses of glass, these internationally recognizable images reveal her acts of defiance.
This exhibition is presented as part of the Emerging Talents Series and is generously supported by The Musagetes Fund held at Waterloo Region Community Foundation and The Pottery Supply House.
