DISCOVERY GALLERY PAGE 12 - 19 & 22

Split Disc Necklace, 2021 sterling silver

55 Folded Tea Service, 1991, sterling silver, ebony teapot 18 x 16 x 12, sugar 7.5 x 13 x 8, cream 7.5. x 13.5 x 8 cm, stand 26.5 x 18.5 x 4.5 cm 2.42 Photo Kim Griffiths Photography

2021 Craft Awards

EARLY ACHIEVEMENT AWARD

The Early Achievement Award gives $1,000 to an emerging craftsperson or student to recognize their achievement to date, and/or potential.

Pamma FitzGerald, Calgary

Pamma FitzGerald utilizes clay and mixed media to look at history and specific events from alternate points of view. She focuses on the individual, not the statistic. She has extensive degree studies including a 2017 BFA Ceramics (with distinction) as well as a 2009 BFA Drawing (with distinction) both from Alberta University of the Arts, in Calgary, Alberta.

Based in Calgary, she currently exhibits in Canada and Europe and her work is in private as well as public collections.

I live clay. I love it, I love learning about any aspect of it, I love the feel of it in my fingers and I continually want to push the boundaries of what I can do with it and, very importantly, what I can say with it.

Quote from nomination:

Something that I found really interesting about Pamma’s development while with us, was to watch as she methodically pursued her desire to integrate ceramics’ form and technology work with her drawing and painting ambitions. She was always trying some new slip or glaze in the kiln to inform the developments in her ceramic palette. This always led her to make decisions about her own use of material, processes and technologies that continually moved her incrementally toward her larger, long term goals.

Greg Payce Professor Emeritus, AUArts

AWARD OF EXCELLENCE

The Excellence Award gives $1,000 to an established craftsperson who excels in their area of craft. Alberta Craft Council Members in the student, general or professional categories are eligible.

Sharon Rose Kootenay, Vilna

A life-long maker of traditional art forms and owner of Four Lodges Gallery and Studio, Alberta-based artist Sharon Rose Kootenay finds her inspiration in the northern prairie landscapes she calls home. As a Cree-Metis artist, Kootenay is one of Alberta’s principal interpreters of geometric and floral beadwork design. Influenced by her Indigenous family connections, and living and material culture, her studio practice reflects both personal and community perspectives.

Sharon’s vibrant pieces tell a story of cultural identity and place. Utilizing hide, beads, thread and needle, she creates fine craft that illustrates regional history, significant family events, and collective values.

Quote from nomination:

Influenced by her Indigenous family connections, Sharon’s studio practice reflects both personal and communal points of view, rendered with an expert use of colour, symmetry and form. An artist of Cree and Ojibway ancestry, she has incorporated into her artwork both traditional designs and symbols with those of her own invention.

Mary-Beth Laviolette

LINDA STANIER & FAMILY MEMORIAL AWARD

The Linda Stanier & Family Memorial Award for Excellence in Ceramics celebrates the life of Linda Stanier and honours excellence in ceramics, and gives $2,000 to to a craftsperson who works and resides in Alberta, and is primarily a studio-based, full-time professional ceramic artist

Kaleb Romano, Edmonton

Kaleb Romano is an Edmonton based artist, primarily working in clay, wood and painting.

Working in clay, he creates functional objects that entice the beholder by featuring unique and quirky details such as the heavily patterned bottoms or pops of colour in the interior of a handle. A graduate of AUArts (2016) with a major in ceramics, he is the owner of The Shop: Art and Ceramic Studio where he makes his own work, teaches classes, and rents out space to twenty other artists. He is also the co-owner and designer for Pink Sasquatch, a cannabis merchandise company.

Quote from nomination:

My experience with Kaleb goes back to when he started attending classes in the Visual Art Diploma program at RDC in 2011. From his very first class in Ceramics, it was evident to me that he showed an exceptional dedication to his training and education. The breadth and depth of his artistic practice is inspiring, and I am sure that Linda Stanier would be proud of the accomplishments and excellence of this fellow Red Deer College graduate.

Trudy Golley Head of Ceramics, Red Deer College

FIBRE ARTS AWARD

The Fibre Arts Awards - Hand Weavers, Spinners and Dyers of Alberta Endowment is a new award celebrating the legacy of the Hand Weavers Spinners, and Dyers of Alberta, and honours fibre artists sharing skills and creativity with a broader community. It gives $2,000 to an established individual, collective, or guild, for a project completed between August 2019 and August 2021.

Fern Facette, Edmonton

Jessica Fern Facette is a Level II Master Weaver and photographer based in Edmonton, Alberta, who has been weaving for nearly two decades. Her textile work is a modern spin on traditional techniques and patterns. She has initiated growth in the textile community by founding Fern’s School of Craft in 2017, a community space where fibre artists from across Canada meet to sharing skills and knowledge.

The nominated project is Weaving to Reclaim: A Kaffiyeh Study - A year-long weaving mentorship and collaboration with artist and new weaver Fatme Elkadry as a study of cultural reclamation through Palestinian textiles.

Quote from nomination:

What I think makes Fern’s School of Craft a particularly special and generative project is the ways that Fern aims to diversify the Fibre Arts world in Alberta. Though textiles are an important cultural tool for communication and cultural expression to every culture world over, some communities have access to and are represented in fine craft more than others.

Leila Sidi