Call for Nominations for 10th Anniversary of Sobey Art Award

The Sobey Art Award is officially accepting nominations for the 10th anniversary of Canada’s premier visual art award. The $50,000 award is given annually to a Canadian artist age 40 or under who has exhibited in a public or commercial art gallery within 18 months of being nominated.

The five finalists of the 2012 Award will be announced in June, 2012. Selected work from the shortlisted artists will be featured in Toronto in an exhibition hosted by the Museum of Contemporary Canadian Art (MOCCA) from October to December, 2012. The winner of the 2012 Sobey Art Award will be announced during a gala event at MOCCA in Toronto in November, 2012.

Curator of the Sobey Art Award, Sarah Fillmore says:

“The call for nominations is open to Canadian artists 40 and under. We welcome this opportunity to survey the Canadian art landscape and see the wealth of work being produced therein. Curators, artists, galleries, critics – we call on you to bring forward those names you feel most passionately should be on everyone’s lips. Let this tenth anniversary of the Award be its best yet.”

The 2012 curatorial advisory panel is made up of five distinguished representatives from a Canadian art gallery in each of the five regions: the Atlantic Provinces, Québec, Ontario, the Prairies and the North, and the West Coast and Yukon.

The deadline for nominations is March 1, 2012.

For more information and nominations guidelines please visit www.sobeyartaward.ca

BACKGROUND

The Art Gallery of Nova Scotia is responsible for accepting nominations for the 2012 Sobey Art Award, from recognized agents and institutions. A panel of curatorial advisors, consisting of a representative from a noted gallery in each of five regions (Atlantic, Québec, Ontario, Prairies /North, and West Coast/Yukon), develops the shortlist for the Award. The curatorial panel creates a list of five artists from each region; these are selected from the list of nominated artists, and based on their professional knowledge of their regions and of the national art scene. The curatorial panel then meets and chooses one representative from each region to be included on the national shortlist. The panel will choose the winner in November 2012.

In 2002, the Sobey Art Foundation created the largest art award for a Canadian artist age 40 or under. Since its inception the Sobey Art Award and accompanying exhibition have been organized and administered by the Art Gallery of Nova Scotia. This year marks the 10th anniversary of the Sobey Art Award.

Sobey Art Foundation
The Sobey Art Foundation was established in 1981 with a mandate to carry on the work of entrepreneur and business leader, the late Frank H. Sobey, of collecting and preserving representative examples of 19th and 20th century Canadian art. One of the finest private collections of its kind, the Sobey Art Foundation has assembled exemplary examples from Canadian Masters like Cornelius Krieghoff, Tom Thomson and J.E.H MacDonald. The collection is housed in an intimate setting at Crombie House, the former home of Frank Sobey and his wife Irene in Pictou County, Nova Scotia. Tours are regularly scheduled throughout the summer months and by appointment year round.

Art Gallery of Nova Scotia
The Art Gallery of Nova Scotia strives to act as a gateway for the visual arts in Atlantic Canada by bringing the art of the world to Nova Scotia and the art of Nova Scotia to the world. It is an agency of the Province of Nova Scotia responsible for the preservation, exhibition and education of art through its branches in Halifax and Yarmouth.