hilde gerson award
award & exhibition opportunity
status
closed
deadline for applications
tba in 2024
Established by the Craft Council of BC in honour of Hilde Gerson, who was a long-time employee of CCBC, textile artist and an enthusiastic craft supporter, this new prize is awarded biannually to a craftsperson who has demonstrated excellence, innovation and leadership in the BC craft community.
In 1998, the family of Hilde Gerson initiated a fund in her memory. In 2000, the Board of Directors chose to dedicate further monies to the fund, and establish an award. Hilde was a CCBC Board member, and for 16 years was the CCBC’s bookkeeper. A tapestry artist, Hilde wove the seat covers for the office’s Francis Lemieux chairs, adding to the CCBC’s permanent collection.
The winning submission is awarded $1000 and the opportunity to exhibit a retrospective of their work within two years of being awarded the prize.
Please note that there is an application fee for this award – $35USD – as this allows us to use Slideroom to engage master jurors from around the province to view, assess and discuss each submission.
awardees
Hilde Gerson 2022 Awardee Jan Smith is widely recognized as an accomplished enamel and jewellery artist. She is dedicated to honing her practice and to exploring new innovations in her work and committed to her respective living and working communities, giving generously, and participating as an educator, mentor and visionary.
Born in Vancouver, Jan now lives on Saltspring Island. She holds a BFA from NASCAD, Halifax, N.S. She studied metalsmithing and enamelling in the US.
Hilde Gerson 2018 Awardees Keith and Celia Rice-Jones
Celia Rice-Jones had initial Art School training in England with Arthur Griffiths and David Leach, within the Leach, Cardew, Davis traditions. She is primarily interested in vessels for everyday use and tries to retain evidence of the clay’s plasticity throughout the process, including the use of slips and always wanting to go beyond the thrown form. Time away from the wheel allows for explorations into more figurative work both modeling and working with slabs.
Keith Rice-Jones trained as a woodwork teacher in England, where he was influenced by the Arts and Crafts tradition, the Bauhaus and modernist ideas. He discovered clay in the early 1970s and continues to maintain an active studio practice. He has exhibited in Australia, Japan, and Canada, including a major retrospective at the Evergreen Cultural Centre in 2013.
Hilde Gerson 2015 Awardee Debra Sloan attended the Vancouver School of Art and Emily Carr College of Art and Design, graduating with honours in ceramics and sculpture in 1982. She attained her BFA from ECUAD in 2005. She has exhibited, taught, adjudicated and served on all the regional craft Boards, and she has served on the NWCF Board since 2008.
She has published in Ceramics Art and Perception, Technical, Fusion, Studio Ceramics Canada, and Ceramics Now. Represented by MEC Gallery at SOFA, Chicago, her work has been exhibited and collected nationally and internationally, and it appears in six LARK 500 books. Debra was the 2015 Honouree for the Mayor’s ARTS Award [Vancouver] for Craft and Design.
Hilde Gerson 2009 Awardee Barbara Heller is an artist who feels passionate about tapestry. Her art defines her life. She has exhibited widely locally, nationally, and internationally for the past thirty years and her tapestries have been featured in several books and been the subject of numerous articles.
She has represented Canada overseas and lectured on Canadian tapestry and her own work. She sat on the Board of the American Tapestry Alliance for eight years. She still volunteers with ATA as chair of their distance learning mentorship program and personnally mentors two people. She founded the British Columbia Society of Tapestry Artists and is co-editor of the Canadian Tapestry Newsletter.
Hilde Gerson 2008 Awardee Jane Kenyon was born in Canada in 1953 and currently works in her home studio in Vancouver BC. She began her working life in medicine but had always been drawn to a career in visual arts. In 1993, she began working as an artist full-time.
The majority of Jane Kenyon’s art career has been in the medium of fibre, concentrating on hand and machine embroidery. Her work has been shown in solo and group exhibitions in Canada, US, Europe, Korea and Beijing, and has been published in fibre journals and books internationally. Kenyon’s artwork, including fibre, works on paper and on canvas, can be found in public, corporate and private collections in Canada, US and Korea.
Hilde Gerson 2006 Awardee Lou Lynn is an artist and sculptor based in Winlaw, British Columbia.
Ms. Lynn’s sculpture has been exhibited nationally and internationally and can be found in numerous public collections including: Canadian Museum of History (Gatineau, QC), Canadian Clay & Glass Museum (Waterloo, ON), Claridge Collection (Montreal, PQ) Foreign Affairs Canada – Berlin Embassy Collection (Berlin, Germany) Glasmuseum (Ebeltoft, Denmark), Northlands Glass Centre (Lybster, Scotland), Kamloops Public Art Gallery (Kamloops, BC), Xerox of Canada Collection (Toronto, ON), Yunnan Hanrongxuan Art Museum (Kunming, China), Montreal Museum of Fine Arts (Montreal, PQ), Two Rivers Gallery (Prince George, BC) and the Corning Museum of Glass (Corning, NY).