Prairie Excellence is a unique and ground-breaking joint project of the Manitoba, Saskatchewan and Alberta Craft Councils. The competition and exhibition, accompanied by awards, a catalogue, a website, and a multi-province tour, involved several years of idea generation, negotiation, planning, fundraising, administration, shipping and handling, photography, design and other duties by boards, staff and volunteers from all three councils. It entailed the participation of more than 160 craft artists across three provinces. Indeed, there were a few occasions when the entire idea seemed simply too much. But the risk and the work of countless people paid off.
Since the late 1990s the Provincial Craft Councils have been meeting annually and developing exciting projects through, or catalyzed by, the Canadian Crafts Federation / Fédération canadienne des métiers d’art. Craft Year 2007 generated a country-wide festival of more than 700 fine craft events. Canada at the Cheongju International Craft Biennale in South Korea in 2009 presented work by more than 300 Canadian craft artists and took about 100 of them to South Korea. These national and international ventures have also encouraged new inter-provincial and regional craft events. Prairie Excellence is part of this growing legacy. The project was first imagined at a Canadian Crafts Federation conference where the concept grew out of the rare and valuable personal contact between prairie councils and their senior staff and board members.
The “call for entry” for Prairie Excellence was widely distributed throughout Manitoba, Saskatchewan and Alberta in late 2009. The response was both exciting and daunting—276 pieces were submitted by 163 artists. A selection committee consisting of one curator from each province was assembled. In their first round of review based on submitted photos, resumes, and print material, the committee selected 50 pieces. An in-person selection stage was held at the Alberta Craft Council Gallery in Edmonton and 35 pieces were eventually chosen for the exhibition. The committee was challenged to look at work in all craft media, ranging from jewellery to large sculptural pieces. They discussed and sometimes argued about issues of conceptual, creative and technical excellence. They were further challenged to choose recipients for best of province awards, and recipients for best emerging, mid-career and established artist awards. To reflect the breadth of the submissions, the committee members also opted for an honourable mention in each of the emerging, mid-career, and established artist categories. Truthfully all 35 pieces deserve awards.
The Prairie Excellence exhibition premieres at the Alberta Craft Gallery in Edmonton (October 2 - December 18, 2010). It then goes to the Saskatchewan Craft Council’s Affinity Gallery in Saskatoon (January 14 - February 28, 2011), Winnipeg and other locations. Prairie Excellence is being proposed to public galleries across Canada and in the United States. The exhibition is accompanied by interpretive material, a full-colour catalogue, a virtual exhibition (www.prairie-excellence.ca), guest artist events and award presentations in several locations.
Prairie Excellence has generated an on-going conversation amongst the directors and staff of the three provincial craft councils. No doubt this dialogue will continue and expand as the exhibition tours and engages participating artists, audiences, media coverage, etc. The principle question—what do individual pieces, or the entire collection, say about contemporary craft practice in Canada’s prairie provinces? The 35 pieces in the exhibition (and all 276 pieces submitted to the competition) suggest that craft arts in the prairie region have never been more innovative, individualistic, even eccentric. This diversity certainly challenged the selection committee. They weren’t just comparing apples and oranges, they were examining every possible fruit of the creative imagination.
An exhibition like Prairie Excellence, 10 or 20 years ago, would have included more recognizable, more domestic, more functional objects. Although individual pieces in this exhibition can be worn or used, generally the work is more conceptual in its intent. While various traditions of craftsmanship are still apparent, many pieces push well beyond the conventions, shifting toward more experimental uses of materials and techniques, and even forms. Technical and conceptual excellence vie for attention.
About one third of the craft artists included in Prairie Excellence live in small-town or rural locations, but their work shows little of the agrarian character that might have been prominent in the past. For the two thirds who live in Edmonton, Calgary, Saskatoon, Regina or Winnipeg, the work shows urban and urbane influences. Although natural materials and elements are still prominent, references to American imperialism, gay politics, aboriginal affairs, climate change, and anti-consumerism are also elements of creative comment in this exhibition.
Does Prairie Excellence accurately represent fine craft in Manitoba, Saskatchewan and Alberta? Will the exhibition, or individual pieces, reflect trends or shifts in the craft arts sector? What else does the exhibition say about artist’s self-perceptions, the selection committee’s attitudes, or public interest? Does this exhibition indicate a shift in the roles and activities of the sponsoring craft councils? Answers may be revealed as Prairie Excellence tours and gathers momentum.
Many individuals contributed to aspects of this project. In particular, Judy Haraldson, exhibitions and education coordinator at the Saskatchewan Craft Council and Joanne Hamel, exhibitions coordinator at the Alberta Craft Council, need to be thanked. The board members of all three craft councils deserve thanks for their enthusiasm about pursuing this unusual project. The participating artists, as well as those whose work was not selected for the exhibition, also deserve thanks and encouragement.
Prairie Excellence is a big and significant project for the three craft councils as well as for the participating artists. It is a critically, financially and popularly successful project which explores the breadth, originality, sophistication and growing culture of contemporary craft arts.
Tammy Sutherland, Programme Coordinator, Manitoba Craft Council
Mark Stobbe, Executive Director, Saskatchewan Craft Council
Tom McFall, Executive Director, Alberta Craft Council