Vanier College is pleased to announce the winners of two important Vanier art and photography scholarship competitions. Five students won 2022-2023 Vanier College Foundation Art Acquisition Scholarships and three others were winners of the Peter Gonda Memorial Scholarship in Photography. Winners were celebrated at a Vernissage of their works presented in the Henry Lehmann Gallery on September 27, 2023
Created in winter 2017, the Vanier College Foundation Art Acquisition Scholarship aims to promote student success and provide a concrete opportunity for Vanier's aspiring student artists to receive recognition for their work both in monetary terms as well as in exposure at the College. This $3,000 annual scholarship, which is made possible thanks to the generosity of the Vanier College Foundation, will hopefully encourage students to pursue their artistic passions while the College will benefit from amassing a bank of art work that can be displayed throughout the Vanier campus that will help showcase the talents of students in disciplines such as photography, sculpture, drawing and painting.
Winners of the Vanier College Foundation Art Acquisition Scholarship
Gabriel Lima, (Prize: $900) "An Unfamiliar Reflection", woodblock, with black ink on board." This approach aims to explore and reflect upon the complexities of the human experience, by examining the interplay between different social, cultural, and personal contexts."
Michelle Ciarlelli, (Prize: $800), "Generations: They Come and Go" (series of 3 drawings), graphite on illustration board. This three-part drawing consists of the artist, her mother and her grandmother and explores the idea of how we are seen as individuals through the similarities of our past generations.
Foti Aivaliklis, (Prize: $500) "Blossoming Self", video game. "Blossoming Self" tells the story of a boy named Ren Lyons, and how he discovers his sexuality and identity. The game itself is a contemporary queer coming out visual novel.
Ba Khanh Trinh Vo (Prize $500), "Sun Kissed, Here and Then" (series of 4 photographs). This work is "my attempt to capture fleeing memories. By photographing the movements, I want to appreciate the insignificant and the ambiguity of these actions."
On Ki Lin, (Prize: $300) "Hedone", graphite on a cotton illustration board. "The beauty of the human form is the main theme of my work. I believe that monochromatic drawings are the ideal medium for capturing the tonality of the body."
Winners of the Peter Gonda Memorial Scholarship for Photography
The Peter Gonda Memorial Scholarship for Photography, valued at $600, is awarded annually to any Vanier College student who demonstrates original photographic works. Peter Gonda passed away on August 20th 2016 at the age of 47. He was a Montreal-based artist, novelist and screenwriter. One of his main passions was photography. He travelled around the world and exhibited his photographs in London, Paris and Montreal.
The First prize of $300 was awarded to Ba Khanh Trinh Vo; the Second prize of $200 went to Nathan-Shane Cintellus, and the Third prize of $100 went to Samuel Abitbol.
