Graduate of new MFA program nominated for prestigious award
Monica Mercedes Martinez, one of the first students to graduate from the University of Manitoba’s new Master of Fine Arts program, is a nominee for the RBC Emerging Artist People’s Choice Award.
This award, which will be presented at the Gardiner Museum in Toronto, recognizes a ceramic artist whose work receives the most votes from the public. It comes with a $10,000 cash prize. Monica is one of five artists to be nominated for this award. Voting is open to the public until October 13. The winner will be announced on October 15.
Monica is currently the artist in residence at the Edge Artist Village and Gallery in Winnipeg. She received her BFA from the Alberta College of Art + Design in 2010, and her MFA at the University of Manitoba in 2012. She has taught as a Sessional Instructor in the School of Art at the University of Manitoba.
Grace Nickel, professor of ceramics at the University of Manitoba, nominated Monica for this prize.
“Monica Mercedes Martinez is bringing something new to contemporary ceramics. Using heat as both medium and metaphor, she allows the kiln to transform, deform, and freeze her figurative sculptures in time, pushing clay to its limits and beyond,” Nickel wrote in her nominator statement.
To see pictures of Monica’s entry and to read her artist’s statement, click here.