The Canadian Crafts Federation is excited to recognize the makers whose skill, vision, and dedication shape craft in Canada. Thanks to support from Lexus Canada, we are honouring two outstanding individuals this year. The Craftsperson of the Year Award goes to an experienced maker whose skill, innovation, and passion have made a lasting impact on Canadian craft. This $10,000 prize helps them share their knowledge with future generations. For the first time, we are also giving the Emerging Craftsperson of the Year Award. This $10,000 prize celebrates an artist early in their career whose fresh ideas and innovative work are changing how we see craft, especially through modern methods and sustainable practices. Craft councils and affiliate members from across the country nominated candidates for both awards. Together, these two recipients show that craft is a living tradition, honouring what has come before and looking ahead to what is next.
2026 Craftsperson of the Year Award, sponsored by Lexus
The Canadian Crafts Federation (CCF/FCMA) is pleased to announce Jennine Krauchi as the recipient of the 2026 Craftsperson of the Year Award, sponsored by Lexus. This award recognizes Krauchi’s outstanding contributions to Canadian craft through her beadwork practice, cultural leadership, and longstanding commitment to education and knowledge sharing.
As a world-renowned Métis beadwork artist from Manitoba, Jennine Krauchi began her artistic journey at an early age. She recalls getting inspired by the beadwork of her mother and her father’s textile work were the soil of the creative environment that surrounded her childhood. It planted the seeds that lead her to the artist we know today.
Over the course of her career, she has become a leading figure in the preservation, restoration, and promotion of Métis cultural traditions. Through workshops, mentorship, and community engagement, Krauchi has inspired generations of makers while fostering a deeper understanding of Métis culture across Canada and beyond. Her lifelong connection to Métis beadwork, lead to the preservation and restoration of Métis cultural knowledge but also of unique Indigenous cultural artefacts which embodies the bond between both her creations and her educational work.
Her work can be found in numerous public and private collections, including the Canadian Museum of History, the Canadian Museum for Human Rights, and museums and collections in Scotland, France, and the United States. Her artistic achievements and cultural advocacy, Jennine Krauchi has made a lasting contribution to the continuation of Métis art and culture.
2026 Emerging Craftsperson of the Year Award, sponsored by Lexus
The Canadian Crafts Federation (CCF/FCMA) is thrilled to announce Gordon Sparks as the recipient of the 2026 Emerging Craftsperson of the Year Award, sponsored by Lexus. This award recognizes Sparks’ remarkable contributions to Canadian craft through his dedication to traditional Mi’kmaw hand-carved wooden mask-making, cultural storytelling, ceremonial practice, and the preservation and sharing of Mi’kmaw knowledge.
A Mi’kmaw artist from Rough Waters, New Brunswick, Gordon Sparks creates hand-carved wooden masks that embody the stories, teachings, and spirit of Mi’kmaw culture. Deeply connected to the lands that surround him, his practice is guided by a profound respect for the natural world and the relationships between all living beings. Working in collaboration with dancers, drummers, and regalia makers, Sparks breathes life into Mi’kmaw characters, creating works that bridge artistic expression with ceremony, community, and cultural continuity.
As Mr. Sparks explains:
“The mask shares the stories of all humans’ extended family that live in the forest. They are the ones that fly, the ones that swim, the ones that grow from the earth, the four-legged, the bugs, water, stars, sky, and rock, all creation, known to us as all our relations. We must not forget that we have an obligation to take care of them, for they give up their life for us to live. Without them, we all die!”
While we recognize the artist today for his masterful wood carving, Sparks also brings over 30 years of experience as a tattoo artist, a practice which informs his carvings. His work has been exhibited throughout Atlantic Canada and internationally, including at London’s prestigious Collect Art Fair. Alongside his artistic practice, Sparks stays deeply committed to mentorship and cultural preservation, continuing to support and inspire Indigenous artists and communities across Mi’kma’ki.