Skillful: Tour with the Artists
Saturday June 13 | 10 AM
Nicola Wealth Gallery
What does a lifetime at the bench, the loom, and the wheel produce? Find out when you meet Lou Lynn, Jane Kidd, and Greg Payce— three Governor General Award–winning artists working in bronze and glass, tapestry, and ceramics, each with decades of practice behind them — in front of their work.
This insider’s tour and talk will appeal to seasoned makers, collectors, students, and anyone curious about slow craft. There will be time for questions after the tour.
Cost: Included with Admission (Members: Free)
Artist Bios
Born in Edmonton, AB, Lou Lynn began exploring the sculptural potential of glass in the 1980s at the Pilchuck Glass School founded by Dale Chihuly in Stanwood, Washington. She soon began incorporating metal and other materials into her work. Lynn’s sculptures have been exhibited nationally and internationally and are found in numerous public and corporate collections, including Canadian Museum of History, Canadian Clay & Glass Museum, Kamloops Art Gallery, Montreal Museum of Fine Arts, Corning Museum of Glass, Berlin Embassy Collection and Glasmuseum-Denmark. From 1994 to 2007 Lynn taught at Kootenay School of the Arts – Selkirk College. In 2006, she was the recipient of the Gerson Award for Excellence, Innovation & Leadership, from the Craft Council of BC. In 2010, she was inducted into the Royal Canadian Academy of Arts (RCA), and in 2021 she received the Governor General’s Award in Visual & Media Arts (Saidye Bronfman Award). Lou Lynn makes sculptural objects in bronze, glass and mixed media that imply function. She masterfully integrates disparate materials to explore the tension that exists between strength and fragility. She lives and works in Nelson, BC.
Jane Kidd was born in Victoria, BC. From 1980 to 2011 she taught at the Alberta College of Art and Design. She has exhibited in numerous solo and group exhibitions across Canada, the United States, Japan, Poland, Hungary and Australia. Her work can be found in private and public collections including Canada Council Art Bank, Department of Foreign Affairs, Alberta Foundation for the Arts, Canadian Museum of History, and Textile Museum of Canada. She was elected to the Royal Canadian Academy of Art in 2001 and was awarded the Alberta Craft Council Award of Excellence in 2008. In 2016 she was awarded the Saidye Bronfman Award, one of the Governor General’s Awards for Visual and Media Arts. In 2017/2018 she had a solo exhibition at the Kelowna Art Gallery titled Jane Kidd: Curious. Jane Kidd’s technically demanding and conceptually rich tapestries provoke profound questions about handcraft, disciplinary knowledge and the importance of bringing historical practices into contemporary art. She lives and works on Salt Spring Island, BC.
Raised in Edmonton, AB, Greg Payce has been making ceramics for over fifty-five years. He has exhibited his work in numerous group and solo exhibitions across Canada and abroad and has presented lectures and workshops nationally and internationally. He mounted a major solo exhibition, Greg Payce: Illusions, at the Gardiner Museum in Toronto in 2012. He received the Governor Generals Award for Media and Visual Arts – Saidye Bronfman Award for Fine Craft in 2013. In 2015, Payce retired as a faculty member at the Alberta College of Art + Design where he taught since 1989. In 2020, his work was featured on the cover of the major history book Ceramic, Art and Civilisation by British historian, writer and curator Paul Greenhalgh. He recently completed a Canada Council senior artist grant to undertake research, make studio work for exhibitions, and present lectures on his practice internationally. Greg Payce continues to push the boundaries of ceramics by working with video, lenticular imagery, and metal fabrication to actualize new forms, images, and concepts. He lives and works in Calgary, AB.
