Mika Goodfriend's winning work, Benoit et Suzanne, Reynald et Mary lda from the Snowbirds series
Concordia University graduate Mika Goodfriend has won the national $10,000 BMO 1st Art! Award for 2012. The win marks the 10th anniversary of this graduating students prize.
Twelve regional winners also receive $5,000 each. These regional winners include Noor ul Ain of the Alberta College of Art & Design, Yi Xin Tong of Simon Fraser University, Agnes Neufeld of the University of Manitoba, Nathan Cann of Mount Allison University, Diana Chisholm of Sir Wilfred Grenfell College and Memorial University, Jessie Babin of the Nova Scotia College of Art & Design University, Lavinia Van Heuvelen of Nunavut Arctic College, Sarah Beattie of Brock University, Adnan Saciragic of Holland College, Jean-Michel Leclerc of l’Université du Québec à Montréal, Anita Miles of the University of Regina and Kristen Poenn of the Yukon School of Visual Arts.
For this 10th anniversary of the award, BMO Financial Group doubled the prize monies up for grabs. Selection committee members this year included Montreal artist jake moore, National Gallery of Canada curator Candice Hopkins, Vancouver Art Gallery curator Kathleen Ritter, independent curator Nicholas Brown, BMO Private Client Group president Gilles Ouellette, and BMO Financial Group curator Dawn Cain.
Works by this year’s national and regional winners will be on exhibit at the Museum of Contemporary Canadian Art in Toronto from October 3 to 28, 2012.
