Salt Spring National Art Prize: Call to Canadian Artists

The Salt Spring National Art Prize, 2021/2022

SSNAP OFFERS $41,000 IN AWARDS, 10 prize awards, with the first prize of $15,000 and a $5,000 Salt Spring Island artist residency.

The Salt Spring National Art Prize (SSNAP) recognizes, showcases, and publicizes the accomplishments of Canadian visual artists and advances public appreciation of visual arts. We encourage artists whose work demonstrates originality, quality, integrity and creativity to submit pieces with real visual impact and depth of meaning. We are committed to mounting a live exhibition in September 2021 while respecting public health protocols in place at that time. SSNAP will showcase approximately 50 finalists chosen by a national jury. The call to artists opens January 1 and extends to May 31, 2021. The identity of artists in the selection process will be anonymous to the jury. 

Our esteemed Jury

Judy Anderson is an Associate Professor of Canadian Indigenous Studio Art at the University of Calgary. Anderson is the winner of the 2017 Salt Spring National Art Prize and a REVEAL: Indigenous Art Award. She has had residencies at RMIT, Melbourne, Australia, the International Studio and Curatorial Program in Brooklyn, New York, and the Prince’s School of Traditional Art, London, England.  

David Diviney is the Senior Curator at the Art Gallery of Nova Scotia in K’jipuktuk/Halifax. David has taught courses at the Alberta College of Art and Design, University of Lethbridge, Thompson Rivers University, and Sheridan College Institute of Technology and Advanced Learning. 

 Ydessa Hendeles is a German-born Canadian artist-curator and philanthropist. She is the director of the Ydessa Hendeles Art Foundation in Toronto, Canada. Ydessa is a graduate of the University of Toronto, the New School of Art, Toronto, and the Toronto Art Therapy Institute. She earned a doctorate cum laude from the University of Amsterdam’s School for Cultural Analysis and is currently Adjunct Professor in University of Toronto’s Department of Fine Art. Dividing her time between studios in Toronto and New York, she is represented by Barbara Edwards Contemporary in Toronto. 

Michelle Jacques is the Chief Curator at the Art Gallery of Greater Victoria, responsible for guiding a curatorial and education program that links contemporary practices, ideas and issues to the Gallery’s historical collections and legacies. She has held various roles at the Art Gallery of Ontario, Toronto; and has taught at NSCAD, University of Toronto Mississauga, and OCAD University. She begins a new role as the Head of Exhibitions and Collections and Chief Curator at the Remai Modern in Saskatoon in February 2021. 

SSNAP OFFERS $41,000 IN AWARDS

SALT SPRING PRIZE – THE JOAN McCONNELL AWARD & RESIDENCY FOR OUTSTANDING WORK $20,000 ($15,000 and a $5,000 Salt Spring Island artist residency) 

JURORS’ CHOICE AWARDS Four awards of $3,000  

PEOPLE’S CHOICE – ROSEMARIA BEHNCKE AWARDS Four awards determined by a vote of viewers of the exhibition 1st prize – $3,000 2nd prize – $2,000 3rd prize – $1,000 Youth Vote – $1,000 

SALT SPRING ARTIST AWARD for outstanding work by a Salt Spring artist – $2,000 The call for submissions opens January 1, 2021, and Canadian citizens and permanent residents of Canada who are eighteen years of age and older as of January 1, 2020, are invited to submit their two-dimensional or three-dimensional work for consideration. An exhibition of the finalists’ work will take place in Sept/Oct 2021 at Mahon Hall on Salt Spring Island, B.C. Conditions of entry found on our website www.saltspringartprize.ca/submit