Rebecca Belmore receives Hnatyshyn Award

Artist Rebecca Belmore was recognized by her peers as the 2009 Hnatyshyn Foundation Visual Arts Award recipient for outstanding achievement.

January 7, 2010: Volume 36 #1, Page 5

“It’s an honour to be recognized by your peers for the work you have completed over time,” said the Lac Seul band member who has lived in Vancouver since 2001 and represented Canada at the 2005 Venice Biennale, a major contemporary art exhibition that takes place every two years. “It’s good to be acknowledged.”

Belmore’s work has been exhibited internationally since 1987 and can be found in the collections of the National Gallery of Canada, Art Gallery of Ontario, Canada Council Art Bank, and many others. In 2004, Belmore received the prestigious VIVA award from the Jack and Doris Shadbolt foundation.

Belmore wants young people to realize that being an artist and doing artwork is a profession.

“It’s something you can do with your life,” Belmore said. “It’s given me a good life. I get to travel. I get to think about the world we inhabit as human beings, to actively participate in community and society and think about the planet.”

Rebecca Belmore leads a workshop at the Thunder Bay Art Gallery.
-Rick Garrick - Wawatay News

Belmore received the $25,000 prize for outstanding achievement by a Canadian artist while Anthony Kiendl, director/curator of the Plug In Institute of Contemporary Art, received the $15,000 award for curatorial excellence in contemporary art.

“The financial (prize) helps me to buy a new computer or something like that,” Belmore said. “Making art can be expensive, so every bit of support can help.”

Although Belmore grew up in northwestern Ontario with a familiarity with the Woodland Art style, she said she started out “a little late” as an artist when she attended art school in 1984.

“Going to art school in Toronto was an eye opener,” Belmore said, “meeting people from all over the world.”

Belmore said she is interested in her community, her Aboriginal community, and that her work is usually responding to something specific.

“As a First Nations people, I definitely see that our world view is as solid as any world view on the planet,” she said.

Belmore works in a variety of media including sculpture, installation, video and performance.

A jury of arts professionals from across Canada selected Belmore and Kiendl for the awards.

The jury highlighted the impact of Belmore’s artistic practice during their recommendation.

“Since the late 1980s, Belmore has challenged romantic conceptions of Aboriginal cultures through a remarkable series of performance art pieces and mixed media installations. Her work combines passionate thinking and a brilliant use of materials with a deep cultural knowledge drawn from her Anishinaabe heritage.”

Belmore received the award Dec. 1 at a ceremony and reception hosted by the Lieut.-Gov. of Manitoba Philip S. Lee.