One hundred and thirty artists registered to compete in the 13th annual Grand Prix of Art, Steveston, on July 22, 2023
The Travelling Brush’s 13th annual Steveston Grand Prix of Art was organised and hosted by Phoenix Art Workshop in partnership with the City of Richmond and our Key Partner, Royal Bank of Canada. Thank you to our Community Partners: Tourism Richmond, Penta Builders Group, Mary Ann Burrows, Remax, Steveston Harbour Authority, media partners Steveston Insider and the Richmond Sentinel. Thanks as well to our Event Patrons: O’Hares Pub, GoodCo Bars, Tenline Sales, Daniel Smith Paints, the Richmond Artist Guild, and Steveston Bakery. Thank you all for your important support.
Artists took to the the streets of Steveston on Saturday morning in a three hour race to complete their work of art at one of thirty-five carefully chosen painting locations, from London Heritage Farm to Garry Point Park, along the historic Steveston waterfront spanning the south arm of the Fraser River. A record number of supporters flocked to Steveston to admire and cheer on artists as they competed in three categories: Masters, Adult Open, and Youth. The quality of work produced was representative of the success of the event as a whole: colourful, exciting, and beautifully executed.
This year artists, spectators, volunteers, and art enthusiasts enjoyed a festival atmosphere following the competition as everyone returned to celebrate the artistic accomplishments at Britannia Shipyards National Historic Site. Live music by the amazng Nikita Alfonso, Crabgrass, Blue Dirt Girl, and Moria Chicilo set the tone of celebrations over the weekend. While 225 artists and volunteers enjoyed an amazing picnic lunch, visitors could feed their creative hunger at the Made by Hand Artisan Market by making relief prints at Phoenix Art Workshop’s , enjoy ceramic demonstrations by Nima Stoneware, Silk Screen demonstration by Tina Ozols, and a painting demo by Leo Hu, or shop amongst the other artisans. A number of food trucks were on hand to take care of their literal hunger too!
With artists buzzing in excitement, the awards were announced! In the Youth category, Jessie Li took home 1st place with “Nature’s Master”, 2nd place went to Cloe Bi’s “Anvil Cove”, and 3rd place went to Sonia Law’s painting “Master of the Sea”.
Jessie Li “Nature’s Master”
Cloe Bi “Anvil Cove”
Sonia Law “Master of the Sea”
We had a lot of great entries in the Adult Open category, but in the end Joey Ritchie was the winner of the newly-christened “Happy Fellow Cup” for his painting, with Nathalie Davidson taking 2nd place, and Kevin Chu going home with 3rd place.
Joey Ritchie “The Day”
Nathalie Davidson “Steveston Harbour Summer”
Kevin Chu “Don’t Look Back in Anger”
Finally, the winners of the Master’s category were announced: Javid Tabatabaei won first place for “Harbour Scene,” Surnoor Singh won second place for “Eirer Steveston”, and Jose de Juan taking third place for “Fraser Green”.
Javid Tabatabaei “Harbour Scene,”
Surnoor Singh “Eirer Steveston”
Jose de Juan. “Fraser Green”
The event culminated in the exhibition of works by artists in all categories, with over 2,100 visitors over the weekend stopping by to cast a vote for their favourite work. Sunday’s exhibition was augmented by performances by musician Moira Chilcilo, and when all the ballots were counted, Iryna Kharina was the winner of the Penta Builders Group People’s Choice award!
Thank you to all the amazing Volunteers who helped us pull off this event once again; without who’s help we would not be able to host and celebrate these amazing artists. We are so proud to announce this years event put over $18,000 into the hands of artists. The thousands of spectators testify to the public’s interest in seeing visual artists creating in our community, and we are so grateful for the support of our community that enables us to bring this event to the public. A special thanks to our Host Partners, the City of Richmond for their support, in particular, the staff at Britannia Heritage Shipyards National Historic site. The unwavering support and guidance from the team at Britannia Shipyards and their important roll in helping craft this unique public-private partnership, which supports our creative community, encouraging community engagement and is a beacon for similar events throughout the Pacific Northwest.
Please feel free to share your thoughts or experience in the comment section.
with Gratitude
Mark Glavina
