The Arts and Letters Club of Toronto Foundation Ina Gilbert Visual Arts Award

Toronto-based artist Thomas Brasch wins Foundation’s 2022 Ina Gilbert Award

Thomas Brasch’s work, “Toronto 02”, has won the 2022 Ina Gilbert Award.  Brasch, who is based in Toronto, receives a cash prize of $1000 as well as a one-year complimentary membership to the Club.

The other finalists were:

• Loree Ovens (Toronto) for Solace 
• Elma Eidse Neufeld (Peachland, BC) for Ancienne Noblesse
• Susan Farquhar (Toronto) for Altered 1
• John Ford (Toronto) for The Architect’s Country House

Thanks to Club Art Committee chair Barbara Luedecke, as well as member Alex Bulzan who served as juror on behalf of the Art Committee, and Jack Gilbert who selected the winner from the shortlisted finalists and made the donation to establish this award honouring his wife, artist Ina Gilbert.

First recipient of Foundation Ina Gilbert Visual Arts Award

Kyle Stewart is the first recipient of The Arts and Letters Club of Toronto Foundation Ina Gilbert Visual Arts Award.

Stewart was raised in a farm house near St. Thomas, Ontario. His father, Vaughn, was a potter from Detroit, Michigan, and his mother, Shelagh, is a painter from London, England. He graduated from the fine arts program at Lakehead University in Thunder Bay. From 2003 he lived and worked in Toronto, painting and teaching illustration in the School of Fashion at Ryerson University. In 2019 he set up a new studio in Cobourg, Ontario.

Stewart has been a strong presence within Canadian contemporary art. His work has been exhibited throughout Canada, the US, and Europe. His paintings merge loose impressionistic imagery with elements of realism and figurative subject matter.

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