RBC Award for Glass
The Canadian Clay & Glass Gallery is thrilled to announce that Laura Hudspith of Montréal, QC is the winner of the 2026 RBC Award for Glass. Hudspith will receive a $10,000 prize, which will support the development of her career at this critical time.
The only national award for emerging glass artists in Canada, the RBC Award is a prestigious honour. Presented through an ongoing collaboration with RBC, winners and finalists of the award are recognized as the best and brightest of the future of Canadian glass art.
We are pleased to celebrate this year’s RBC Award runner-up, Bram Locknick (Toronto, ON), who will receive a $5,000 prize. We also celebrate the achievement of the finalists for this year’s award: Alexi Garneau (Dorval, QC), Nadira Narine (Toronto, ON), and Eleni Papkov (Toronto, ON). Each finalist will receive a prize of $1,000 to further their practice.
This summer, the Canadian Clay & Glass Gallery will feature the winner and finalists in our annual Emergence exhibition alongside the winner and finalists of the Winifred Shantz Award for Ceramics. This exhibition provides a rare opportunity for these emerging artists to share their work with an extensive audience while helping to build their careers. An opening reception presenting the 2026 awards will be held on Thursday, May 28, 2026, from 6-8pm. All are welcome.
The 2026 RBC Award for Glass was juried by Katherine Gray, Sarah Hall, and Cheryl Wilson-Smith. On the jury process for the 2026 award, the jurors state:
“It is always such an honour to be asked to jury an award, and this occasion was no different. Seeing what emerging artists are experimenting with and thinking about, seeing how they are developing their unique voices, and for the RBC Award, witnessing that voice come alive through the medium of glass, is exciting and revelatory. The range of techniques used to express diverse and complex ideas of place, time, and personal history impressed us all. The RBC Award for Glass is somewhat unique in that there are awardees for runner-up and finalists, so it is a relief that we did not have to settle on a single winner, and instead, we are able to show support for a range of deserving artists.”
“As runner up, Bram Locknick’s sculptures in cast glass exemplify precision in every facet—from seamless join lines to crisp edge work while the material’s translucence reveals a careful layering of form and light that invites viewers to inspect texture, depth, and shadow.”
“The work of Laura Huspith’s thoughtful blending of historic stained glass techniques with a fresh, contemporary, narrative offered the jury a richly layered, visually arresting story, that is technically proficient and conceptually engaging, placing her as this year’s winner of the RBC Award for Glass. Kudos to all!”
Short List
Emerging glass artist Alexi Garneau graduated from the craft program at Espace Verre in 2022. He specializes in lampwork glassblowing, creating jewelry, functional objects, and unique glass pieces, while also exploring neon and plasma art to produce sculptural works powered by gas and electricity. His work has been recognized with several grants from Espace Verre, including the Faire la différence scholarship (2022, 2023, 2025), the Chalumeau scholarship (2024), and the Univerr OSBL scholarship (2024). He also received the Summer Classes scholarship from the Corning Museum of Glass for two consecutive years, allowing him to study with Simone Crestani and Colton Baker. In 2025, he was awarded the GAAC x Pilchuck 2026 scholarship to attend a course at the Pilchuck Glass School. Since 2023, Alexi has been an instructor at Espace Verre, teaching Flameworking 1 in the college-level program at Cégep du Vieux-Montréal.
Born 1990, Toronto, the work of Montreal-based sculptor Laura Hudspith explores the personal health and socio-cultural possibilities that might arise through cultivating a practice of turning inwards. Working primarily in glass and copper, her work articulates a reorientation toward molecular concerns and in/organic animacies, and toward questions on the nature of being and the mattering of matter. Recent solo and group exhibitions include Wanderer at Zalucky, Toronto (2025); Entre les craques du trottoir at McBride Contemporain, Montreal (2025); Internal Circumstances at CIBC Square, Toronto (2024); Enduring Emanations at Mrs., Maspeth NY (2024); and Thump, Whoosh, Rumble at The Miller ICA, Pittsburgh (2023). Her work has been recognized by the Frank-Ratchye Studio for Creative Inquiry, Toronto Arts Council, Canada Council for the Arts, Ontario Arts Council, and the Elizabeth Greenshields Foundation. Hudspith holds a BFA from Concordia University (2013), and an MFA from Carnegie Mellon University (2023).
Bram Locknick is a Canadian glass artist and sculptor based in Toronto, Ontario. He works primarily with cast glass, integrating clay, wax, and digital modeling to develop forms that are translated into glass through mold-making and kiln-casting processes. His practice explores how material, perception, and structure shape human experience, drawing on architectural references and the embodied qualities of gesture and movement. Glass plays a central role in his work due to its optical and structural properties, allowing internal form and distortion to remain visible and actively shape perception. Through this material, Locknick investigates how structures that appear stable can be internally complex, provisional, or fractured. He holds a Bachelor of Craft and Design (Glass) from Sheridan College and is currently an Artist-in-Residence at the Harbourfront Centre Glass Studio.
Nadira Narine (Hyper Precious) is a Panamanian-Canadian artist whose work explores cultural identity, memory, and storytelling. Raised in Panama City and now based in Toronto, she reflects on childhood memories and the experience of living between cultures. Her practice blends glass with elements of magical realism to transform narratives into sculptural form. Nadira was an Artist-in-Residence at Harbourfront Centre (2018 – 2023) and is currently an Artist-in-Residence at the Living Arts Centre in Mississauga. Most recently, she has been recognized as a finalist for the RBC Glass Award in 2023 and as runner-up in 2025.
Eleni Papkov is a sculptor and experimental glassblower based in Toronto. Her work centres around forming visual experience into a moment of discovery, approaching sculpture as a vessel for reflection. With a foundation in traditional glassblowing techniques, her work challenges the boundaries of the medium, incorporating mixed-media, shortening the gap between glass and its relationship with disparate materials. Her work explores concepts of self through rhythm, gesture, tension and space – elements that shape her process and influence how her work interacts with the environment it inhabits. She is driven by creating technically precise, emotionally resonant and spatially aware work to provide an uninterrupted experience. Whether through standalone pieces or integrated installations, her practice invites deeper engagement with material, form and space.
Jurors
Katherine Gray’s artwork has been exhibited at the Heller Gallery and at Urban Glass in New York, and in solo shows at the Craft Contemporary (formerly the Craft and Folk Art Museum) in Los Angeles and the Toledo Museum of Art. She was the recipient of the Libenský/ Brychtová Award from the Pilchuck Glass School for her artistic and educational contributions to the field and she has also been inducted into the College of Fellows of the American Craft Council and is a Fellow of the Corning Museum of Glass. Gray can be seen in the Netflix series Blown Away as the Resident Evaluator. Her work can be found in the collections of the Corning Museum of Glass, the Toledo Museum of Art, the Asheville Museum of Art and the Museum of Glass in Tacoma, WA, among others. Currently, she lives in Los Angeles, CA, and is a Professor of Art at California State University, San Bernardino.
Sarah Hall, CM, RCA studied architectural glass in Canada, the UK and Middle East before establishing her own studio in Toronto in 1980. Her studio practice comprises contemporary installations with each project an original artwork for specific architectural environments. She has created over 800 large-scale artworks for public, private, and institutional settings. In the process, she has gained international recognition and numerous awards for her creativity and uncompromising artistry. Sarah is a respected educator and writer in the field of architectural glass. She was awarded the Order of Canada in 2019 for her innovations and contributions to solar and bird-friendly glass.
Cheryl Wilson-Smith is a Canadian glass artist from Northern Ontario, whose deep connection to the boreal forest profoundly influences her artistic vision. With over 20 years of experience, she specializes in kiln-formed glass, creating gossamer fine layers of glass to explore themes of transformation, fragility, and the passage of time. Her evocative sculptures reflect on geological and emotional erosion, addressing memory and the natural world. Wilson-Smith has held prestigious residencies at North Lands Creative in Scotland, Sheridan College, and the Corning Museum of Glass. Her work has been showcased internationally, including exhibitions in Scotland and Bulgaria, and notable displays at The Studios of Key West and La Guilde in Montreal. A highlight of her career is a recent three-meter commission for a designer in England. As the recipient of the RBC Award for Glass, her art has been included in the Corning Museum of Glass’ New Glass Review, celebrated for capturing “the texture of time.” She actively engages in discussions on sustainability in contemporary art.
About the RBC Award for Glass
The RBC Award for Glass is presented annually by the Canadian Clay & Glass Gallery and is supported by RBC. With $18,000 in prizes available, this prestigious award allows practising early-career glass artists to undertake a period of independent research or other activities that advance their artistic and professional practice. The winner of the RBC Award for Glass receives $10,000 and one of their artworks is acquired for the Gallery’s Permanent Collection. One runner-up will receive a prize of $5,000. Up to 3 finalists will also be selected, each receiving a $1,000 prize. Each year, the winner and finalists of the RBC Award for Glass and the Winifred Shantz Award for Ceramics will have their work presented in an exhibition held at the Gallery.
Recipients of the award represent some of the best emerging glass artists in Canada. Gordon Boyd of Oakville, Ontario, was the winner of the 2025 RBC Award for Glass. To learn more about the previous winners, click here.
About RBC
RBC is proud to support a broad range of community initiatives through donations, community investments and employee volunteer activities. See how at rbc.com/peopleandplanet.
Past RBC Award for Glass Brochures
Contact
For additional information, contact Peter Flannery, Senior Curator & Collections Manager, at 519.746.1882 x235 or peter@theclayandglass.ca.