THUNDER BAY -- Thunder Bay artist Cree Stevens has won the 2018 K.M. Hunter Artist Award for Visual Arts.
The annual award is given to six Ontario, mid-career, professional artists in various art disciplines. The winners this year are Christine Friday, Ottawa (Dance); Matthew Heiti, Sudbury (Theatre); Shane Book, Ottawa (Literature); Luo Li, Dundas (Media Arts); Allison Cameron, Toronto (Music); and Cree Stevens, Thunder Bay (Visual Arts).
“I was so honoured to learn that I was nominated for the K.M. Hunter Award,” said Stevens from her home in Thunder Bay. “To me, the nomination was enough, because it came from jury members of the Ontario Arts Council. When I learned that I had actually won, I couldn’t believe it.”
The annual K.M. Hunter Artist Awards are financed by a gift from the K.M. Hunter Charitable Foundation to the Ontario Arts Council.
“We are very impressed at the caliber of artists our awards attract and wish all the winners this year great success in the pursuit of their work,” says Sarah Hunter, President, K.M. Hunter Charitable Foundation.
It has been a busy 2018 for Cree Stevens so far. Along with this award, Stevens recently completed the Converging Lines group exhibition at the Thunder Bay Art Gallery and has just started showing her work in the private Ahnisnabae Art Gallery in downtown Thunder Bay.
“We are thrilled to have Cree Stevens in our gallery,” said gallery owner, Louise Thomas. “Stevens is part of an exciting group of younger contemporary Indigenous artists in this region that are making a name for themselves.”
Cree Stevens will be honoured at the K.M. Hunter Charitable Foundation event in Toronto in June.
