Office of the Premier
VANCOUVER - Premier Christy Clark and British Columbia Achievement Foundation Chair Keith Mitchell are pleased to announce the four recipients of the seventh Annual Carter Wosk BC Creative Achievement Awards for Applied Art and Design.
"I congratulate these talented British Columbians for inspiring us with their work in applied art and design," said Premier Clark. "They demonstrate the strength and vitality of our applied arts and design community and highlight our Province's record of creative achievement."
This year's recipients will join 26 previous recipients who have been honoured since the launch of the award in 2005.
"From jewellery to handcrafted chairs, wood furniture and glass art, today's recipients have applied their ingenuity to create innovative designs with a function," said Mitchell.
The recipients of the 2011 Carter Wosk Creative Achievement Awards for Applied Art and Design are:
- Joel Berman, Vancouver - Glass
- Brent Comber, North Vancouver - Wood
- Shawn Place, Prince George - Furniture
- Dina Gonzalez Mascaro, Vancouver - Jewellery
Each recipient will be recognized at a presentation and exhibition event in the fall at Shaw TV Studios. The award recipients will receive $5,000 and a British Columbia Creative Achievement Award seal to signify their creative excellence.
Dr. Robert Belton, associate professor of art history at UBC Okanagan and a director of the BC Achievement Foundation, chaired an independent jury panel that selected the 2011 award recipients. The jurors included Sam Carter, professor emeritus at Emily Carr University of Art and Design, Omer Arbel, past recipient and industrial designer, Nancy Bendtsen, of Inform Interiors and Angelika Werth, past recipient and instructor, Kootenay School of the Arts.
The Carter Wosk British Columbia Creative Achievement Awards for Applied Art and Design are named in honour of B.C. philanthropist, academic and visionary Dr. Yosef Wosk, whose financial support makes these awards possible and for Sam Carter, B.C. educator, designer and curator.
The British Columbia Achievement Foundation is an independent foundation established and endowed by the Province of B.C. in 2003 to celebrate community service, arts, humanities and enterprise. For information on British Columbia Achievement Foundation, visit www.bcachievement.com
A backgrounder follows.
Backgrounder
Brent Comber, North Vancouver
Wood Design
Building on a deep connection with the materials he uses and with his natural surroundings, for over 20 years Brent Comber has designed and created original wood furniture pieces. Self-taught, he has conscientiously used salvaged, scavenged and historically significant wood to create modern urban forms, including his iconic 'Alder Cube'. Comber has received international and national commissions and his work has been displayed from New York to Dubai to Shanghai.
Dina Gonzalez Mascaro , Vancouver
Jewellery
Dina Gonzalez Mascaro received a BFA from the Universidad de La Plata in Buenos Aires, later attending the Banff Centre. Dina's unique designs combine the materials and techniques of a jeweller with the eye of a sculptor and the sensibility of an architect. Award-winning Mascaro has recently formed a jewellery collective in the Mount Pleasant area of Vancouver, inviting other jewellers who challenge the norm of the craft as she does to share her studio space.
Shawn Place, Prince George
Furniture
Shawn Place designs and hand builds high-quality furniture. From the shaping of the timber to the hand weaving of the cane, each piece showcases traditional craftsmanship wrapped in a modern aesthetic. Place is a self-trained skilled craftsman who is adept at all forms of millwork, joinery, finishing and caning. His product line includes a side table and a group of unique chairs.
Joel Berman, Vancouver
Glass
For more than 30 years, Joel Berman has created functional work in glass that explores texture, light, pattern, colour, shape and form. He is an internationally recognized designer who has reinvented the world of glass design by exploring new techniques for use in a wide range of applications in corporate, commercial, hospitality, retail, governmental and residential environments worldwide. Joel Berman Glass Studios is located on Vancouver's Granville Island.
Detailed information about the awards and a list of past winners is posted on the foundation's website at www.bcachievement.com.
Contact:
Chris Olsen
Press Secretary
Office of the Premier
604 220-1640
Nora Newlands
Executive Director
BC Achievement Foundation
604 618-6949
