GUELPH – Guelph Arts Council is pleased to announce that the 2021 Jane Graham Memorial Award will be shared by multidisciplinary artist Emma Ongman and painter Meredith Blackmore.
The recipients submitted requests for assistance to pursue specialized professional development opportunities to further their artistic skills and professional networks.
Emma Ongman is a multidisciplinary artist who enjoys working collaboratively with her computer.
Interested in the evolution of technology and its influence on the human condition, Ongman uses digital and analog media to probe how the 21st century’s immersion into the digital world can have personal, political, environmental, and social implications.
She submitted a request for support for attending the 2022 MUTEK Festival of media art in Montreal. MUTEK includes exhibitions, live performances, panel discussions, and workshops focused on art, technology, and the human existence in physical and digital spaces.
Attending MUTEK will allow Emma to learn and be inspired by new work, engage in critical discussions about the future of art, and build meaningful national and international professional relationships.
Meredith Blackmore has a Fine Arts degree from the University of Guelph but these days she is building on her training as a teen airbrush artist at Canada’s Wonderland.
The love of airbrushing returned in full force recently after two decades of focus on portrait-painting, mural-painting, and arts education. She’ll use the award to attend customized workshops about the materials used in airbrushing non-porous surfaces.
See her airbrushing work to date, mostly on t-shirts, @dreamboatairbrushing on Instagram.
Both GAC and the jury panel were impressed with the various, interesting opportunities that artists are seeking to help them advance their artistic practices.
Established in memory of local artist Jane Graham following her untimely death in March 2005, the Guelph Arts Council Jane Graham Memorial Fund is managed by The Guelph Community Foundation.
As a result, GAC is annually able to assist visual artists residing and actively practising in Guelph-Wellington in pursuing professional development opportunities that will contribute to their artistic growth.
For more information about the Jane Graham Memorial Award program and Guelph Arts Council, visit guelpharts.ca, phone 519-836-3280 or email administration@guelpharts.ca.
For more information about Emma Ongman or Meredith Blackmore, visit their websites at emmaongman.com or meredithblackmore.com.
