TORONTO, March 23, 2016 /CNW/ - Last night, on March 22nd, Glenfiddich® awarded Nova Scotia-based artist, Eleanor King, with the coveted Glenfiddich® Artist in Residence (AiR) Prize during an evening event at The Spoke Club in Toronto. One of only eight prizes awarded internationally each year, the AiR prize offers recipients the opportunity to live and work in the beautiful Scottish Highlands, directly out of the Glenfiddich® Distillery in Dufftown, a prize valued at $20,000 CDN.
"Every year, the Glenfiddich AiR program produces a level of artistic talent that continues to amaze and astound us," says Elizabeth Havers, Canadian Brand Ambassador for Glenfiddich®. "This year was no exception, and we are excited to see how Eleanor's piece will unfold."
During her residency, Eleanor plans to spend three months living and working in Dufftown as though it were the turn of the 20th Century, when the first 12-year-old Scotch Whisky from Glenfiddich would have been available. Eleanor will not be examining history, instead she will investigate how we might live for a sustainable future. She will achieve this by living strictly with only technologies, ideas, or artistic influences that would have been invented or published by the year 1900. This will require the use of only traditional art materials in painting and sculpture. The result will be her complete immersion into Dufftown, a series of artworks, and ultimately a publication from the experience.
When asked about her win, King commented "I am so honoured and excited to be a part of this once in a lifetime opportunity. My work takes many forms, and I often try to provide new ways of connecting with the present moment. With this project I hope to create an extraordinarily local lifestyle that highlights the historical skills, traditions, materials, and foods, and ultimately gain an understanding of how time becomes "the crucial ingredient" for the cultivation of great works of art and great whiskey alike."
Hosted by Glenfiddich AiR curator, Andy Fairgrieve, all the way from Dufftown, Scotland, the Glenfiddich® AiR Prize has sponsored more than 100 artists since its inception since 2002. Canadian artists include Eleanor King (2015) Jon Sasaki (2015), artistic duo, Rhonda Weppler and Trevor Mahovsky (2014), Daniel Barrow (2013), Jillian Mcdonald (2012), Helen Cho (2011), Damian Moppett (2010), Arabella Campbell (2009), Dave Dyment (2008), Jonathon Kaiser (2007), Annie Pootoogook (2006) and Myfanwy Macleod (2005).
To learn more about the Glenfiddich AiR Prize, visit: www.glenfiddich.com
About Eleanor King
Eleanor King is an interdisciplinary artist based in New York and Nova Scotia. She has participated in residencies at The MacDowell Colony, Yaddo, SOMA Mexico, and The Banff Centre among others. She has received creation grants from the Canada Council for the Arts and Arts Nova Scotia, and was a national finalist for the 2012 Sobey Art Award. King has exhibited nationally and internationally, including the Museum of Contemporary Canadian Art, Nuit Blanche Toronto, the Southern Alberta Art Gallery, Hudson Valley Center for Contemporary Art (NY) and Galleri F15 (Norway). Her solo exhibition Dark Utopian was recently on view at the Art Gallery of Nova Scotia, and her work was the subject of a feature-length cover article in the Fall 2014 issue of Canadian Art magazine. Eleanor is currently a Fulbright fellow and MFA candidate at Purchase College, State University of New York (graduation May 2016), and she received a BFA from NSCAD University. She is represented by Diaz Contemporary in Toronto.
About William Grant & Sons Ltd.
William Grant & Sons is an independent family-owned distiller founded by William Grant in 1887 and today still controlled by the fifth generation of his family. Named 'IWSC Distiller of the Year' in 2013 for the sixth consecutive year, William Grant & Sons distils some of the world's leading brands of Scotch whisky, including the world's favourite single malt Glenfiddich®®, the handcrafted range of The Balvenie® single malts and one of the world's best loved blended Scotches, Grant's®, as well as selected other spirits, including Hendrick's® Gin, and Sailor Jerry® Spiced Rum and Tullamore Dew®.
SOURCE William Grant & Sons Ltd.
Image with caption: "Eleanor King was presented with the 2016 Glenfiddich Canadian Artist in Residence Prize during an evening event at The Spoke Club in Toronto on Tuesday, March 22. Left to Right: Nicole Oliva, National Brand Manager, Glenfiddich Canada; Elizabeth Havers, Brand Ambassador for Glenfiddich Canada; Eleanor King, Glenfiddich AiR 2016 Recipient; and Andy Fairgrieve, Glenfiddich Artist in Residence Curator (CNW Group/William Grant & Sons Ltd.)". Image available at: http://photos.newswire.ca/images/download/20160323_C3895_PHOTO_EN_649758.jpg
Amanda Gun-Munro, AGM*PR, [email protected], 647-969-6413
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