On Wednesday, April 8th, the Canadian Crafts Federation will join the national visual arts and cultural community at Rideau Hall in Ottawa to honour Paul McClure, winner of the 2015 Governor General’s Award in Visual and Media Arts Saidye Bronfman Award.

One of eight awards for excellence in visual and media arts, this win brings national recognition to a career that spans a quarter century. Described by the Head of Craft & Design at Harbourfront Centre, Melanie Egan, McClure is “an outstanding jewellery artist, designer, educator, mentor, curator, writer and community-arts activator… His pieces convey ideas about our relationship with our bodies, gender subversion, and social mores surrounding disease and death.”

A prolific artist, McClure has produced works that gracefully walk the line of functional and sculptural, delving deeply into the inescapable realities of the human experience, playing off the seen and unseen aspects of the physical body.

McClure is a deserving recipient of the Saidye Bronfman Award, the highest level of accolade available for Canadian artistry in craft, particularly during this special year, Craft Year 2015.