2022 BMO 1st Art! BC Regional Winner



Ali Cayetano, cope, 2022

Congratulations to recent graduate Ali Cayetano (BA Visual Art minor, 2022) who is the regional winner (BC) of the BMO 1st Art Prize with her work cope (gouache, watercolour, pencil crayon, and gel pen on watercolour paper, 30×91 in; 76×231 cm).

Cayetano’s work is currently on view alongside fellow winners in the BMO 1st Art! 2022 exhibition at the Justina M. Barnicke Gallery at the University of Toronto until November 19, 2022. When Ali attended the University of British Columbia completing her major in psychology, she pursued a minor in visual art, specializing in painting and drawing, and was an active member of our department community, editing for the Undergraduate Journal of Art History and Visual Culture (UJAH) and presenting at the Art History Undergraduate Symposium. Congratulations on your accomplishments, Ali!

Each regional winner received $7,500.

BMO 1st Art! celebrates the creativity of art school students from over 100 post-secondary institutions across Canada. Every year BMO Financial Group invites the deans and instructors of undergraduate-level certificate, diploma, or degree programs in studio art to select from their graduating classes three students whose ability and imagination place them 1st among their peers. A selection committee then reviews the submissions.

The selection committee this year consisted of Emily Falencki, Artist and Educator; Sequoia Miller, Chief Curator, Gardiner Museum of Ceramic Art; Michelle Jacques, Chief Curator, Remai Modern; and Anne-Marie St-Jean Aubre, Curator of Contemporary Art, Musée d’art de Joliette.

Please visit 1stArt.bmo.com to view images of the winning works.