VANCOUVER – The BC Achievement Foundation announced today the 2021 Awardees of the Carter Wosk Applied Art and Design program.
“Even during a time of challenges, this year’s awardees of the Carter Wosk program have delighted us with artistic works and designs that demonstrate the vigour of BC’s creative economy,” said BCAF chair Anne Giardini. “These award-winning creations blend art and function with ingenuity and imagination. It is always an honour to showcase objects that are both beautiful and functional,” she added.
BC Achievement is pleased to announce the establishment of The Judson Beaumont Emerging Artist designation. Named in honour of the late BC-based furniture designer, the award celebrates Judson’s legacy, talents and entrepreneurial creativity. Known for his enthusiasm, kindness and generosity, Judson had an insatiable drive for excellence which fuelled his ability to commit 110 percent to every task he undertook. The recognition aims to support, mentor, and highlight emerging talent within BC’s thriving cultural community of artists and designers.
Recipients of the 17th annual award program are selected by an independent jury and include:
Elen Danielle, Judson Beaumont Emerging Artist, textile art and design
Janaki Larsen, ceramics
Nicholas Purcell, furniture design/making
The board of the BC Achievement Foundation named Ann McLaren as the 2021 Award of Distinction Laureate honouring her career and lifetime achievement in craniofacial prosthetics.
BC Achievement is grateful for the generosity and ongoing support of the Yosef Wosk Family Foundation. The Carter Wosk Award in Applied Art + Design is named in honour of BC philanthropist, academic and visionary Yosef Wosk, OC, OBC, Ph.D. and Sam Carter, BC educator, designer and curator.
The above artists and designers were selected by the 2021 jury: past recipients, 2010 Awardee Toby Barratt, Propellor Design a multi-disciplinary design studio; 2015 Awardee Renée Macdonald, Westerly Handmade Shoes, and 2018 Awardee Claudia Schulz, hat design. BC Achievement is grateful to the leadership of Ron Kong, BC craft advocate, who served as an advisor to the 2021 jury.
Awardees will be celebrated in an online campaign culminating in a recipient film and a tribute production to the 2021 Award of Distinction.
BC Achievement is an independent foundation established in 2003 to celebrate community service, arts, humanities and enterprise. For information on BC Achievement, visit www.bcachievement.com.
Contact:
Rup Kang, Communications Director
BC Achievement Foundation
rup@bcachievement.com | 604.261.9777 Ext 102
2021 Carter Wosk Award in Applied Art + Design – Awardee Backgrounders
Elen Danielle, textile art and design, Roberts Creek
Judson Beaumont Emerging Artist
Danielle is a textile artist and designer with over fifteen years of experience creating clothing, accessories, and other soft treasures. Having grown up steeped in nature, the wild and pristine environment of the West Coast instilled in Danielle a devotion to natural beauty, spirituality, and preservation, and a desire to create physical manifestations of these values to share with others.
While studying Industrial Design at Emily Carr University, Danielle focused on sustainability and the challenge of applying it to her growing interest in fashion. Following graduation, she worked in the local industry gaining hands-on experience in responsible production methods resulting in thoughtful, zero-waste “slow fashion”. In 2018, Danielle began her own entrepreneurial practice, Elen Danielle, using old-world techniques and her interpretation of goldwork embroidery to create wearable works of art.
Each of Danielle’s handmade pieces is one-of-a-kind, feather-light, and has a timeless look consistent with her “slow living” design principle. Through her designs, Danielle savours the opportunity to share the healing power of art with those who have invited her into their lives.
Janaki Larsen, ceramics, Vancouver
Janaki is a ceramist and founder of Janaki Larsen Studios or as she refers to it Studio of Imperfection. It’s where she creates graceful bowls, plates and vases that reconnect users with the physicality of their world.
Influenced by the Japanese Wabi-Sabi philosophy, Janaki sees her role not to change or control the material but merely to observe it, honour it and coax out its unique essence. While her collections might suggest similarities, each piece is unique, made to be used daily, showing their traces of time and recording their history of use. Janaki is often inspired by a single visual concept – a flash of light across the wall, the colours along the decaying edge of a leaf – and her passion lies in producing functional objects imperfect in nature.
Janaki has collaborated with world-renowned chefs to bring their vision to life and had her work featured in major publications. She is also the mastermind and co-owner of the beloved Vancouver coffee shop – Le Marché St. George. Under Janaki’s creative direction Le Marché has become the launchpad for multiple artisans and entrepreneurs.
Nicholas Purcell, furniture design/making, North Vancouver
Owner of Nicholas Purcell Furniture, Nicholas’ dedication to his craft is evidenced in the exacting joinery and meticulous attention to detail given to each piece he creates. Both design and quality of making are paramount in the work he produces.
With an early background in painting, woodwork and graphic design Nicholas would later pursue furniture making full time, studying in England under renowned tutor and maker David Charlesworth. Believing in the intrinsic value of good design and the handmade object, Nicholas creates bespoke work for discerning clients as well as exhibition pieces for select galleries and showrooms.
Most recently Nicholas has been experimenting with new materials, forms and techniques and values collaborating with the local community of gifted makers. Nicholas believes in the need to encourage emerging artists to seek out constructive criticism, strive for original design, be thoughtful in the development of concepts and to carefully edit their ideas so that they are producing their best work and can find their own voice in the design community.
Ann McLaren, craniofacial prosthetics, Vancouver
Award of Distinction
Ann studied figurative sculpture at the Emily Carr University of Art and Design. A former co-owner of Third Dimension Studios, Ann specialized in making life-like recreations for international museums such as the Florida Museum of Natural History, the DNA Learning Center in Cold Springs New York, and the NASA Space Center in Houston, Texas. For 16 years Ann worked as a special make-up effects artist on A-list feature films and television productions and helped create memorable characters such as X-Men’s Mystique. In collaboration with FXSmith Studio in Toronto, Ann helped pioneer silicone filled prosthetics which revolutionized the entire effects industry. She later explored new avenues of her medium by studying forensic facial reconstruction and employed these skills in creating portraits for a Missing Persons Unit.
As an instructor in the Media Arts Department at the Art Institute of Vancouver, Ann introduced real-world sculpture skills to 3-D computer students. In her own art practice, Ann combines her love of figurative sculpture using different materials. Her pieces, which reference art history, prehistory, and popular culture, have been exhibited at Vancouver’s Artropolis, the SAG and the Community Arts Council of Vancouver.
Ann found her passion in anaplastology while visiting a clinic in the U.S. where she learned to make custom breast prosthetics. She later volunteered her skills back home in Vancouver at the BC Cancer Society’s Wig and Breast Prosthetic Bank. More recently, Ann joined the Craniofacial Prosthetic Unit at Sunnybrook Health and Science Centre where she’s taken her lifelong experiences and applied them in a practical way that makes people’s lives better.