Brenda Draney became the third winner of the Eldon and Anne Foote Edmonton Visual Arts Prize Brenda Draney SUSPENDat a short ceremony last night (June 19th, 2014) at Visual Arts Alberta Gallery. The prize is worth $10,000 and is awarded to a visual artist from the greater Edmonton region for an artwork exhibited in the 2013 year. Brenda Draney was nominated by the Art Gallery of Alberta (AGA) for an exhibition called SUSPEND exhibited there between December 14th, 2013 and March 9th, 2014.

Visual Arts Alberta – CARFAC along with our partners the Edmonton Arts Council and the Edmonton Community Foundation would like to congratulate Brenda Draney. The Eldon and Anne Foote Edmonton Visual Arts Prize is the result of the generosity of the Foote family. The award is meant to celebrate the vitality of the visual arts scene in the Edmonton area and Edmonton has many great artist to recognize.

Allen Ball (nominated by the Multicultural Public Art Gallery) along with Sean Caulfield + Royden Mills (nominated by Strathcona County Art Gallery @ 501) were awarded cheques for $500.00 for being part of the short list for the Eldon and Anne Foote Edmonton Visual Arts Prize.The jurors for this year’s Eldon and Anne Foote Edmonton Visual Arts Prize were Tina Martel (artist and professor at Grande Prairie Regional College), Vincent Varga (Museum Director of the Whyte Museum of the Canadian Rockies, Banff) and Renato Vitac (Executive Director of TRUCK Contemporary Art in Calgary).

The two previous winners of the Eldon and Anne Foote Edmonton Visual Arts Prize were Paul Freeman (last year) and the late Arlene Wasylynchuk (winner of the inaugural award in 2012).

The Eldon and Anne Foote Edmonton Visual Arts Prize is clearly a major arts award that recognizes and promote talent in the municipality of Edmonton. Visual Arts Alberta – CARFAC is proud to administer this prize for greater Edmonton’s Visual Artists.