GUELPH – The 2020 Jane Graham Memorial Award will be shared by Anita Cazzola, a textile and installation artist, and Abby Nowakowski, a multidisciplinary artist currently focusing on illustration.
The recipients live and work in Guelph, and submitted requests to Guelph Arts Council for assistance to pursue specialized professional development opportunities to further their skills in these challenging times.
Cazzola has a site-specific natural dye project titled Botanical Reclamation where she will be harvesting colours from plant species, infusing them into natural cloth and creating an open-air public installation as a “symbol of botanical resilience and a proud emblem of reclamation.”
Nowakowski is concentrating on expanding her artistic practice through digital illustration and with the award, will pursue an online digital illustration class through the Emily Carr University of Art and Design where she will learn tools and techniques to take illustration work from sketchbook to finished digital illustration.
She believes that this course will allow her “to gain the confidence to create a finished digital piece,” and push illustrations to the forefront of her artistic career.
Both Guelph Arts Council and the jury panel were extremely pleased with the applications for the 2020 Jane Graham Memorial Award.
They were also impressed with the various, interesting opportunities that artists are seeking to help them meet the challenge of successfully practising art during a pandemic.
The award was established in memory of local artist Jane Graham who died in 2005, to assist visual artists in Guelph or Wellington County to pursue professional development opportunities that will contribute to individual personal artistic growth.
More information can be found at guelpharts.ca.
