www.insidehalton.com |OAKVILLE BEAVER |Thursday, November 16, 2017 |44 Marta Marychuk Reporter m m arychuk@ oakvillebeaver.com Artscene "Connected to your Community " Sheridan grad wins prestigious provincial arts prize by Marta Marychuk Oakville Beaver Staff Kent Monkman, a 1986 graduate of Sheri dan College's Illustration program, is the winner of the Individual Arts Award at this year' s Premier' s Awards for Excellence in the Arts, handed out in Toronto on Mon day, Oct. 31. Of Cree descent, Monkman has become one of Canada' s most celebrated contempo rary artists for his paintings, films, installa tions and performances. His work is part of collections in the Na tional Gallery of Canada, the Art Gallery of Ontario and the Smithsonian. His recent projects include Shame and Prejudice: A Sto ry o f Resilience, a large touring exhibition commissioned for Canada 150. Monkman' s work uses beauty, provoca tive imagery and satire to draw people into zine. "I wanted to deal with themes that I felt his art, which conveys serious messages were important -- how First Nations people about the im pact of colonialism on Cana have been portrayed in terms of art history, da' s Indigenous people. the im pact of colonialism and the church." Mary Preece, Sheridan' s president and vice "I didn't want to create just a pretty pic s contributions to ture hanging on a wall," he said in a 2 0 1 6 chancellor, said Monkman' article in Ovation, Sheridan' s alumni maga the Canadian art scene are why the College Sheridan College graduate Ken Monkman has become one of Canada's most celebrated contemporary artists. |Jonathan Bielaski photo nominated him for the Premier' s Arts Awards. "W e are very proud to count Kent Monkman among our 1 7 0 ,0 0 0 alumni," Preece said in a media release "His work demon strates the way art challenges us, and also brings us together to have important conver sations about our nation' s past." Monkman was selected from six finalists for this year' s award. Each finalist choses a candidate for the competition' s Emerging Artist Award, which comes with its own prize of $1 5 ,0 0 0 . Monkman chose visual artist Brian Ride out, who is a former student at Sheridan. c i n e m a s 171 Speers Road (at Kerr) Oakville 905-338-6397 www.film.ca THOR: RAGNAROK (PG) NOVEMBER 3rd MURDER ON THE ORIENT EXPRESS (PG) NOVEMBER 10th justice league (PG) WONDER (PG) No vem b er 17th coco (stc) No v em b er 24th fa ce b o o k .co m /film ca @ F ilm c a c in e m a s No vem b er 17th