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Kingston Prize is a biennial national competition for
contemporary portraits of Canadians by Canadian artists,
with an exhibition of 30 finalists chosen by a
distinguished jury of three nationally recognized
experts.
The main prize is $10,000, presented by the W.
Garfield Weston Foundation to the winner chosen by the
jury. In addition there are two Honourable Mentions and
a People’s Choice Prize based upon ballots submitted by
visitors, which has been found to make a visit to the
exhibition a highly interactive experience.
The competition began in 2005, with an exhibition at
the Thousand Islands Playhouse in Gananoque, near
Kingston. The competition attracted 150 entries in 2005,
and 209 entries in 2007, from locations across Canada.
The Kingston Prize was enthusiastically received by the
Kingston community and by the participating artists.
The 2009 exhibition will be held in the newly
renovated Grand Theatre in Kingston. Locating the
popular Kingston Prize exhibition in Kingston’s premier
arts facility will contribute to the overall success of
the competition by increasing public awareness of the
Prize.
The mission statement for The Kingston Prize is:
To encourage and reward the creation of contemporary
portraits by Canadian artists, through a biennial
national competition for paintings and drawings.
To be eligible, an entry must be a painting or
drawing of a specific Canadian person, produced within
24 months of the closing date, and must be based upon a
meeting between artist and subject. The competition is
not limited by age or professional status.
The Kingston Prize competition is similar to other
portrait prizes held in Australia, Great Britain, the
United States and New Zealand. These highly popular
events attract block-buster crowds, and the large
monetary prizes encourage artists to develop new
approaches to portraiture free of the restrictions of
portrait commissions.
The Kingston Prize is organized through the Kingston
Arts Council. Following its opening show in Kingston,
the 2009 exhibition will travel on a national tour
across Canada, visiting Acadia University in Wolfville
Nova Scotia; Waddington’s Auction House in Toronto; and
the Art Gallery of Calgary. At each tour location, there
will be a People’s Choice Prize, reflecting the varied
responses of visitors across the country.
The Kingston Prize website www.kingstonprize.ca
contains the rules and the entry form, as well as a
gallery of previous finalists.
Co-founders: Kaaren and Julian Brown.
Artistic Director: Lorraine Pierce-Hull.
Enquiries: 613-544-6329 or julian@kingston.net
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