Anna Syperek, a part-time professor of art at StFX and a full-time artist, is the recipient of two major honours.
Ms. Syperek’s oil painting portrait of two of her neighbors, Gerard and his father Joe Jack Will Chisholm, has been selected to exhibit in the 2011 Kingston Prize Exhibition.
This is the only national portrait exhibit in Canada, traveling to three venues in Ontario and Quebec, and competition is strong. Ms. Syperek is one of only two artists selected from the Maritimes and her portrait is now short-listed and in the running for the grand prize which will be chosen at the gala opening and prize award ceremony in Toronto at the Royal Ontario Museum on November 10, 2011.
Ms. Syperek is also one of Nova Scotia’s talented artists to be celebrated as part of CBC Information Morning’s second annual Sharing the View fundraiser.
Last year's Sharing the View project invited artists from around the province to submit their impressions of the view from CBC Halifax's Studio A, Information Morning's broadcast location. The work of the 12 successful artists was compiled in a calendar, which, along with an online auction of the paintings, raised more than $76,000 for Feed Nova Scotia.
This year, Information Morning asked artists from around the province to capture the morning beauty and activity found in their own communities. Information Morning kick-started things by inviting four artists to be the foundation of the project. These marquee artists - Anna Syperek, Tom Ward, Doug Fraser and June Deveau – each donated an original work, and acted as the jury to choose the other eight contributors, from among 137 submissions.
The 12 original pieces of artwork will be auctioned off with proceeds shared between Feed Nova Scotia and the artists. In addition, a calendar featuring the artwork will be sold for $20 starting on Nov. 4.
CBC host Don Connolly and the show will be in the People's Place Library in Antigonish on Thursday, October 20 from 6:30 - 8:30 p.m., followed by a broadcast Friday morning, where the 12 works will be displayed and open to the public.
An online auction of the work will begin Nov. 4. The auction will close on Dec. 16, when the winning bidders will be announced during CBC's annual Feed Nova Scotia Day. Calendars will be on sale into the new year.