BMO Financial Group has announced the winners of its 17th annual BMO 1st Art! competition, recognizing visual arts excellence among undergraduate artists across Canada.
The invitational competition presents emerging artists with cash awards of $15,000 to one national winner and $7,500 to 12 regional winners from coast to coast. A panel of jurors selected the 13 outstanding works from a pool of 291 submissions. All winning pieces will be showcased from November 21 to December 16 at the Museum of Contemporary Art, 158 Sterling Rd, Toronto, following a private exhibition opening on November 20.
Hanna Matheson is named Prince Edward Island’s regional winner for their original work entitled Red Eye. The piece is a work of self-reflection created with acrylic on canvas that uses vibrant colours and white space to represent the cause and effect of physical and mental health struggles.
Once again, Deans and instructors of 110 undergraduate student art programs were invited to select three graduating students from each of their studio specialties to submit a recent work.
For the first time in the competition’s history, the 2019 submission guidelines allowed for time-based media including video, film, slide, audio and computer technologies, in addition to the previously accepted mediums of drawing, printmaking, photography, painting, sculpture, glass, ceramics, textiles, mixed media, and installation works.
The 2019 BMO 1st Art! winners are:
National Winner Luther Konadu, University of Manitoba (Manitoba); Preston Pavlis, MacEwan University (Alberta); Cheyenne Rain LeGrande, Emily Carr University of Art & Design (British Columbia); Marie-France Hollier, University of Manitoba (Manitoba); Clara Patterson, Mount Allison University (New Brunswick); Emily Hayes, Grenfell Campus, Memorial University of Newfoundland (Newfoundland and Labrador); Séamus Gallagher, Nova Scotia College of Art & Design University (Nova Scotia); Kaleigh Rose Tagak, Nunavut Arctic College (Nunavut); Christopher Dela Cruz, University of Toronto at Scarborough (Ontario); Hanna Matheson, Holland College (Prince Edward Island); Charline Dally, Université du Québec à Montréal (Quebec); Jimuel Belarmino, University of Regina (Saskatchewan); Robyn McLeod, Yukon School of Visual Arts (Yukon).
To view the winning pieces on BMO Financial Group’s website, visit 1stArt.bmo.com.
