Penny McCann, Photo: Aaron McKenzie Fraser

Council for the Arts in Ottawa's Victor Tolgesy Arts Award to be Presented to Penny McCann

Council for the Arts in Ottawa (CAO) is delighted to announce that this year's Victor Tolgesy Arts Award recipient is Penny McCann. Ms. McCann is Director of SAW Video Association, an organization committed to supporting groundbreaking artistic production, presentation and programming of independent video and media art.

Ms. McCann will receive the award from Mayor Larry O'Brien on Monday, February 12, 2007 at the 18th Annual CAO Sweetheart Lunch for the Arts in the Great Hall of the National Gallery of Canada. The Victor Tolgesy Arts Award is presented as a joint venture by the City of Ottawa and Council for the Arts in Ottawa. The law firm of Gowling, Lafleur, Henderson LLP generously contributed the cash prize of $5,000 associated with the award.

In addition to the cash prize, Ms. McCann will receive a bronze special edition version of the 1963 sculpture by the late Victor Tolgesy, entitled Seed and Flower. The award, named in honour of Ottawa artist and community volunteer, Victor Tolgesy, recognizes an individual who has made a significant contribution to the arts in Ottawa. Among the 17 past recipients are: Trudy LeCaine, who was the first recipient of the award in 1988, Barbara Clark (1994), Peter Boneham (1997), Julian Armour (2000), Jennifer Dickson (2001), Susan Annis (2005), and Jennifer Cayley (2006).

Nichole McGill, Council for the Arts in Ottawa's Awards Chair, noted, "The Selection Committee recognized Penny McCann's continuous dedication to her artistic practice and to the development of Ottawa's arts community over a 20-year period. She has been described as an artist, an anchor, an activist, and an advocate. She has shown a commitment to film and video artists, as well as the greater community."

Ottawa media artist Penny McCann's body of work spans more than fifteen years and encompasses both dramatic and experimental modes of practice. Her narrative works: The Sisters (1993/Vtape); The Fires of Joanna (1998/CFMDC); and Helpless (2001/CFMDC), approach drama in highly codified ways, challenging narrative conventions of cinematic realism. Her recent experimental works: Marshlands (2000/Vtape), 02.02.02. (2003/Vtape), and Away for Christmas (2004/Vtape) are part of her ongoing investigation into hybrid forms of expression, mixing film and video imagery to create shifts in subjectivity, memory, and perspective. Penny's most recent work Lake Ontario (in my head) premiered at Jackman Hall in Toronto this past November. The 16mm experimental short was commissioned as part of LIFT's Film is Dead... Long Live Film! 25th anniversary project. Penny's work has received critical notice in such publications as TAKE ONE: Film and Television in Canada, The Globe and Mail, and Canadian Forum, and has won several awards, including a Special Jury Award for The Sisters from the Yorkton Short Film and Video Festival (1994). Her films and videos been exhibited at festivals and galleries nationally and internationally, including the Centre national d'art contemporain (Grenoble, France), Women Make Waves Festival (Taipei, Taiwan), the Canadian Film Institute (Ottawa), the Owens Art Gallery at Mount Allison University (Sackville, New Brunswick), The Ottawa Art Gallery (Ottawa), and Festival International du film sur l'art (Montreal). A long-time activist/worker in the media and visual arts community, Penny served as president of the Independent Film and Video Alliance from 1996-99 and up until 2006 was an active member of Ottawa's Available Light Screening Collective. Since 2004, she has been employed as the Director of SAW Video Association in Ottawa.