Five up-and-coming Canadian artists who work with clay have been nominated for the $10,000 RBC Emerging Artist People’s Choice Award.
The award is decided by public votes that are cast both online and at a related, just-opened exhibition at Toronto’s Gardiner Museum.
The five nominated artists are Zimra Beiner (born in Toronto, lives in Pennsylvania); Jess Riva Cooper (born and based in Toronto); David R. Harper (born in Toronto; based in Wisconsin); Robin Lambert (born in Powell River, lives in Red Deer); and Jordan McDonald (born in Milton, based in Pennsylvania).
Works by all five of the nominated artists can be viewed by clicking on the Photos icon above.
Each of the nominated artists has been out of school and practicing professionally with clay for seven years or less. Beiner was nominated by Montreal Museum of Fine Arts curator Diane Charbonneau; Cooper was nominated by Sheridan College craft and design coordinator Gord Thompson; Harper was nominated by Tom Thomson Art Gallery director Virginia Eichhorn; Lambert was nominated by ACAD instructor Mireille Perron; and McDonald was nominated by former NSCAD professor Walter Ostrom.
Public voting, which is open now, will continue until October 12, while a related exhibition is at the Gardiner until October 14. On the final day of the exhibition, the winner will be announced at a public ceremony.
