The Royal Canadian Academy of the Arts
(RCA) inducted twenty four new members on May 21st, 2010 during the
RCA’s Annual General Assembly in Québec City. At this gala
celebration in the historic Chateau Frontenac, four craftspeople were
honoured for their artistic contributions to Canadian culture.

These inductees included Lou Lynn, a
glass and metal artist based in British Columbia, Chantal Gilbert, a
Saidye Bronfman Award winning metal artist from Quebec, Janice
Wright-Cheney, a textile artist from New Brunswick, and Robert
Jekyll, a Toronto-based stained glass artist. This distinctive award
highlights the excellence and innovation found in their individual
artistic practices. These artists have taken an innovative approach to their artwork by incorporating different materials into their designs, particularly metal artists. Metalwork in art has become a lot more popular recently, however, metalwork does require the artists to know how to weld. In order to join the metal together, artists need to use welding techniques to ensure the pieces of metal are cut and shaped perfectly. Additionally, they also use welders with a generator to ensure they can easily move around the artwork to join it all together without having to plug into a power outlet. This helps the artists to create innovative pieces from old scraps of metal.

The CCF/FCMA is proud to boast a
connection to these talented artisans. Lou Lynn, Chantal Gilbert and
Janice Wright-Cheney were all included in our major international
project, the ‘Unity & Diversity’ exhibition in Cheongju, South
Korea, during the 2009 Cheongju

International Craft Biennale.
Chantal Gilbert was also engaged with the CCF/FCMA Board of Directors
through her position as the President of the Conseil des métiers
d’art du Québec for nine years. Robert Jekyll is one of the founding board members of the CCF/FCMA.

As the President and
Past-President of the organization, he was essential in the
development of the collaborative process which we honour to this day.

The Canadian Crafts Federation /
Fédération canadienne des métiers d’art joins the Royal Canadian
Academy of Arts in congratulating these artists for their
accomplishments.

The RCA is one of Canada’s most
enduring cultural institutions. Established in 1880, today’s
Academy is composed of over 700 established professionals working
across Canada in 20 visual arts disciplines; from painting and
sculpture to architecture, design, fine craft, photography and
filmmaking.