The small community of Saltspring Island is offering big money to the winners of a new national juried art prize.
The Salt Spring National Art Prize will provide $25,000 in awards every two years to artists who demonstrate originality, quality, integrity and creativity.
“The goal of it is basically to share the arts with the rest of Canada from Saltspring Island,” said founding director Ronald Crawford. “We look at it as an opportunity to show and see work from across the country.”
A jury of art professionals will select 50 artists for an exhibition this fall. The artist whose work is deemed best in show will receive the $10,000 Joan McConnell Award, as well as a residency valued at $5,000.
Between $3,000 and $1,000 will also be awarded to the top three people’s choice artists, the best Saltspring artist and each of the jurors’ choice artists.
The Saltspring Arts Council initiated the award, which was made possible by a $34,000 bequest by late artist Rosemarie Behnke, as well as several other donations.
“Rosemarie was part of the island colour and crowd for many years,” Crawford said.
Online entries will be accepted Jan. 15 to May 31. They will be judged based on samples alone and jurors will not be provided with the names of the artists.
Artists can submit two- and three-dimensional works in any media except new media, which cannot be accommodated in the exhibition space.
The inaugural jury members are Vicky Chainey Gagnon, a contemporary curator based in St. John’s, N.L. and director of The Rooms (provincial art gallery division); Holger Kalberg, a Winnipeg-based artist who teaches at the University of Manitoba; and Ian Thomas, a long-time member of the Saltspring Island artists’ community.
Full details are available at Saltspringartprize.ca.
Jon Tupper, director of the Art Gallery of Greater Victoria, said art awards offer valuable recognition to artists, most of whom don’t make a living wage from their work alone. “I think it’s fantastic. We need to have this and acknowledge the important role artists play. And if this is one way we can do so, this is great,” he said.
While it is not among the largest art awards in Canada, Tupper said the prestige of the award will become evident after the first year, depending on the artists selected.
Among the largest national art prizes in Canada are the RBC Canadian Painting Competition, which offers $115,000 in total prize money, and the Sobey Art Award, which offers $50,000 to a young Canadian artist biennially.
