Fifteen emerging visual artists—five from each of Western Canada, Eastern Canada and Central Canada—have been announced as finalists in the 2014 RBC Canadian Painting Competition.
The finalists announcement was made earlier today as part of Canadian Art‘s Montreal Hop.
This year, the competition will award a total of $55,000 in prize money. The winner will receive a cash prize of $25,000, while two honourable mentions will each receive $15,000. Works by both the winners and runners-up will be added to RBC’s collection.
The finalists from Western Canada are: Ashleigh Bartlett of Calgary; Ufuk Gueray of Winnipeg, Tiziana La Melia of Vancouver; Laura Piasta of Vancouver; and Robert Taite of Winnipeg.
The finalists from Central Canada are: Jennifer Carvalho of Toronto; Wallis Cheung of Toronto; James Gardner of Toronto; Gavin Lynch of Ottawa; and Megan McCabe of Toronto.
The finalists from Eastern Canada are: Carly Butler of Halifax; Teto Elsiddique of Halifax; Karine Fréchette of Montreal; Nicolas Lachance of Montreal; Elysanne Tremblay of Montreal.
The winner and two honourable mentions will be announced at a gala at the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts on October 1. All the finalists’ paintings will also be displayed at the gallery between September 9 and October 8. Paintings will then be on exhibit at Art Toronto from October 23 to 27.
Established in 1999, the RBC Canadian Painting Competition, administered with the support of the Canadian Art Foundation (publisher of Canadian Art), is a unique initiative to help nurture and support promising new artists in the early stages of their careers—a time when they need both recognition and financial support.
Recent winners of the RBC Canadian Painting Competition include Colleen Heslin, Vanessa Maltese and Rebecca Brewer.