ACAD Awards the prestigious 2011 Board of Governors’ Alumni Award of Excellence to Norman Faulkner, Alex Janvier and Chris Cran
May 17, 2011 (Calgary, Alberta) - The Alberta College
of Art + Design (ACAD) is pleased to announce that the 2011 Board of
Governors’ Alumni Award of Excellence will be awarded to Norman
Faulkner, Alex Janvier and Chris Cran at the 2011 ACAD convocation
ceremony on May 19th, 2011. This award is given annually to an alumnus
or alumna of ACAD who has made a significant contribution to the arts
community and has demonstrated excellence in their field of practice.
The Board of Governors of ACAD is especially pleased to recognize these
three key members of our alumni community with this award, and to honour
the important contributions they have made to the arts and to the
fields of craft internationally. Mr.Faulkner, Mr.Janvier and Mr.Cran
were each was nominated based on their work in establishing new and
important areas of the arts for Alberta, and for Canada, for the
dedication and support they have given to the artistic community and for
the establishment of their own active practices as a visual artists.
“We are so very proud of our Alumni, and of the great changes the
have created in our world both locally, and internationally. I am
pleased to be able to join our Board of Governors in honouring these
three important Alumni voices, each one representing a facet of what
makes our College so special” stated Dr. Daniel Doz, President + CEO.
Norman Faulkner has provided a vital and fundamental force to the
shaping of the Canadian glass community. A graduate of the Alberta
College of Art + Design (Ceramics, 1973) and of the Royal College of Art
in London (MA, Glass, 1986), Faulkner is one of the founders of the
studio glass movement, and the originator of ACAD’s glass studio
program. Faulkner has created a private hot glass studio in Calgary and
continues to develop his own successful practice - focusing on all
aspects of glass from large scale commission work to small scale
conceptual sculpture to functional blown glass.
Alex Janvier received much of his formal art training from the
Alberta College of Art in Calgary and graduated with honours in 1960. As
a member of the commonly referred to “Indian Group of Seven”, Janvier
is one of the significant pioneering aboriginal artists in Canada, and
as such has influenced many generations of aboriginal artists. Although
he has completed several murals nationally, Janvier speaks of the 450
meter squared masterpiece entitled “Morning Star” at the Canadian Museum
of Civilization, as a major highlight in his career. In recognition of
his success, Alex Janvier recently received three prestigious Lifetime
Achievement Awards from the National Aboriginal Achievement Foundation,
The Tribal Chiefs Institute, and Cold Lake First Nations. Janvier’s
passion and natural talents for creative expression remains strong to
this day.
Chris Cran is a painter living and working in Calgary, Alberta. Cran
studied art at the Kooteny School of Art in Nelson, British Columbia in
1976 and graduated from the Alberta College of Art and Design in 1979,
where he is a current member of the faculty. Since graduating from ACAD
he has continued an active exhibition history, obtaining numerous Canada
Council grants and placing his work in many of Alberta’s best
collections, as well as in the National Gallery of Canada. Cran's work
investigates perception and illusion, and the viewer’s role in how
images are formed. Widely exhibited across Canada and internationally
recognized, Cran's paintings, included in numerous Canadian collections,
have to do with visual tricks, images that appear one way but have been
made another way.
ACAD is pleased to honour the important work done by these three
influential alumni and to celebrate their achievements as our alumni of
excellence. The 2011 ACAD convocation ceremony will take place on
Thursday, May 19th at 2:00 PM in the Southern Alberta Jubilee Auditorium.
ACAD is a leading centre for education and research, and a catalyst
for creative inquiry and cultural development. We engage the world and
create possibilities.
