TORONTO – Montreal curator Louise Dery has discovered major artists in Canada and abroad, so she knows a thing or two about what it takes to succeed as one.
On Tuesday, her career was celebrated as this year’s eight winners of the Governor General’s Awards in Visual and Media Arts were announced.
This is the 15th anniversary of the awards, which recognize outstanding career achievement with a $25,000 cash prize.
The Canada Council for the Arts funds and administers the prizes, which are decided upon by independent peer juries.
On finding success in the arts, the 59-year-old curator says “some young artists believe it’s magical, that someone will knock at your door and you will be famous. It’s not the way it works.”
In order to make it as an artist, she suggests having “some obsessions.”
“No matter the time, the money, the investment it will take, we have to go further,” says Dery.
“They also have to be determined, they also have to be smart. They have to know that the way the artists can develop their practice today, it’s a kind of jungle.”
By “jungle” Dery is referring to the plethora of arts programs, schools, activities and residencies that are available.
“They have to be educated, they have to know the works of other artists. They have to be well-informed, I find,” she says.
“They are part of a complex arts scene and so, depending on the kind of work they are doing, they have to find their qualities by themselves.”
Other honourees this year include Montreal media artist Rafael Lozano-Hemmer, Toronto jewelry designer Paul McClure and two visual artists from Toronto — Robert Houle and Micah Lexier.
The others are Victoria painter Sandra Meigs, Montreal multidisciplinary artist Rober Racine and Winnipeg new media artist Reva Stone.
Dery, who is getting the Outstanding Contribution Award, is director of the Galerie de l’UQAM (Universite du Quebec a Montreal). She is also an associate professor at the Ecole des Arts Visuels et Mediatiques.
She has organized some 30 exhibitions around the world and worked with artists including Dominique Blain, Raphaelle de Groot and Manon De Pauw.
She says the Canadian artists she’s excited about these days include Shary Boyle, Kent Monkman, Aude Moreau, Jean-Pierre Aube and David Altmejd.
Dery has been working with Altmejd since he was an emerging artist and she curated his exhibition in the Canadian pavilion at the 2007 Venice Biennale.
She says he’s a good example of how hard work and determination can pay off in the art world.
“When I met with him he was still a student and I was able to see how much he was dedicated to his work — and it’s still like that for him 15 years later,” says Dery, who also received the Hnatyshyn Foundation Award for Curatorial Excellence in 2007.
“The only place he feels very, very good is in the studio. He always wants to go back to the studio.”
A ceremony for this year’s awards recipients will be held at Rideau Hall on April 8.
Selected works by this year’s winners will be in an exhibition at the National Gallery of Canada from April 9-30.
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