Lael Chmelyk, “Soft Bulk,” 2023, soda-fired limeware, slip transfers, underglaze, cobalt inlay, 10" x 10" x 4.3" each (photo by Matthew Huitema, courtesy of the Canadian Clay & Glass Gallery)
Calgary artist Lael Chmelyk has won the 2024 Winifred Shantz Award for Ceramics, the Canadian Clay & Glass Gallery has announced. The Shantz Award is the only national award for emerging ceramic artists in Canada.
As this year's winner, Chmelyk will receive $10,000 to support the development of her career.
A recent graduate of the Alberta University of the Arts, Chmelyk works in both clay and fibre. “My work considers identity and personal history through craft process," she says. “Recently, my work investigates being a woman in the modern world, and how ideas of femininity diverge from ideas of mothering as womanhood.”
This year a runner-up prize of $5,000 has been awarded to Edmonton's Benjamin Oswald.
And Nichol Marsch (from Stonewall, Man.), Alejandra Vera (from Markham, Ont.), Sami Tsang (from Toronto, Ont.), and Tomo Ingalls (from Surrey, B.C.) have all been named as 2024 Winifred Shantz Award finalists. Each will receive $1,000 to further their careers.
Launched in 2001, the Shantz award is the only national prize for emerging ceramic artists in Canada.
This year's award was was juried by Marissa Y Alexander, Carole Epp, and Judith Schwartz.
Source: The Canadian Clay & Glass Gallery, laelchmelyk.com
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