Saturday, October 20, 2007

The Kingston Prize 2007

There were over 200 submissions to The Kingston Prize 2007. Of those, just over 30 went to the 3 person jury. At the Opening Gala on October 5th, the jury met, saw the fabulous pieces, and celebrated the winner.
Artist Joshua Choi of Etobicoke Ontario won The Kingston Prize for "Emily," and the generous, supportive commitment of the W. Garfield Weston Foundation.
Honorable mentions were given to Miklos Legrady's "OCAD Student 2225233" and Jennifer Walton's "Self Portrait."
The Kingston Prize, Canada's National Portrait Competition, raises so many questions, chief among them is why the federal government stopped renovation of the Ottawa building that was to house a national portrait gallery. Clearly this federal government has no commitment to Canada's portrait heritage.
In fact, this federal government has as little commitment to Canada's artists, writers, and sport heritage as it is possible to imagine. Few members of these communities speak aloud of this government's commitment to "culture" for fear of being on the receiving end of the PM's wrath. The fact is, however, that Steven Harper is doing all he can to have less and less government involvement in what Canadians believe to be part of the country's "personality."

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