In April VAG presented BC's Most Prestigious Visual Arts Prizes

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VAG Awards 2016

At a special ceremony on April 19, the Vancouver Art Gallery announced this year’s recipients of the most prestigious awards in this province: the Audain Prize for Lifetime Achievement in the Visual Arts and the VIVA Awards. Three distinguished individuals working in the field of visual arts were honoured: Paul Wong has been awarded the fourteenth Audain Prize, an annual reward of $30,000 funded by the Audain Foundation. Kelly Lycan and Raymond Boisjoly are the winners of the VIVA Award, each receiving $12,000 from the Jack and Doris Shadbolt Foundation for the Visual Arts.

“The Vancouver Art Gallery is very proud to be the presenting organization for these distinguished awards, and we are honoured to partner once again with the Audain Foundation and the Shadbolt Foundation to continue this important British Columbia tradition. These awards speak loudly to the outstanding artistic talent and achievement in this province,” said Kathleen S. Bartels, Director of the Vancouver Art Gallery. “On behalf of this year’s Audain Prize jury, we are so proud to present this prize to Paul Wong, a pioneering artist in visual and media art. Wong is recognized for his distinguished, multifaceted and influential art career spanning four decades. In addition, he has been instrumental in founding and cultivating some of the most interesting and innovative artist-run spaces in the city, such as On Main, VIVO Media Arts Centre, as well as Vancouver Art and Leisure Society.”

“The jury was unanimous in their support for Raymond Boisjoly and Kelly Lycan as this year’s VIVA Awards recipients. We acknowledge these two artists’ outstanding contributions as committed and increasingly visible members in the local, regional and national art communities. The jury additionally noted that Boisjoly's discursive and teaching practice has made a mark in BC, and that Lycan's artistic endeavors as a community member is significant to our cultural ecology,” said Melanie O'Brian, Director of Simon Fraser University Galleries and Trustee of the Shadbolt Foundation.

Report courtesy of Vancouver Art Gallery.