Dana Claxton and Ken Lum. Photo: Katie Bowen/Paloma Lam.
Two AHVA-affiliated artists, Kenneth (Ken) Lum and Dana Claxton, have been awarded major Canadian art prizes.
Both were awarded the Governor General’s Award in Visual and Media Arts, Canada’s foremost distinction for excellence in visual and media arts. Laureates receive a medallion, cash prize of $25,000, and will have their work showcased at the Art Gallery of Alberta in summer 2020.
Ken Lum completed his MFA at UBC in 1985 and was a formerly a Full Professor and Head of the MFA program from 2000 to 2006 at UBC.
“Ken works across a variety of media, including painting, sculpture, photography and public art, and is known for his poignant depiction of contemporary society,” says his nominator, Brian McBay, Co-Founder and Executive Director of 221A.
Ken Lum’s Monument to East Vancouver (2010)
In addition to being awarded the Governor General’s Award, Dana Claxton, current AHVA Associate Professor and Department Head, was also awarded the Hnatyshyn Foundation Visual Arts Award, as well as longlisted for the Scotiabank Photography Award.
“[Dana] is a restless artist who continues to expand the representational and relational possibilities of each medium and format that she takes up, as she works to redress, provoke and expand the visual arts landscape of this country—and beyond,” says her Governor General’s Award nominator, Denise Ryner, Director and Curator of Or Gallery.
The Hnatyshyn Foundation Visual Arts Award is an annual $25,000 prize that recognized Dana as a mid-career artist who has demonstrated excellence and innovation in her body of work, and shows promise of outstanding artistic achievement in the years ahead.
The Scotiabank Photography Award is a peer-nominated and peer-reviewed honour that recognizes the very best in Canadian contemporary photography. The shortlist will be announced on March 31.
Dana Claxton’s Lasso (2018)
