2025 Craft Award Recipients

The recipients of the 2023 Alberta Craft Awards are:

Early Achievement Award Winner: Gurpreet Kaur

"My work reflects hybridity, cultural translation, and memory, engaging threads as both material and metaphor. The act of weaving allows me to situate myself between past and present, homeland and diaspora, and to translate lived experience into material form." -Gurpreet Kaur

Fibre Arts Award Winner: Sheep Creek Weavers

"The SCW members have been dedicated volunteers at the Leighton Art Centre, helping prep material for school fieldtrips and demoing fibre arts for hundreds of visiting children each year. They also attend local events, such as the Millarville Fair and Calgary Stampede to demonstrate and educate the public on the various fibre arts and practices..." -Lindsay Corbet

Linda Stanier & Family Memorial Award Winner: Melanie Barnett

"Melanie is a full-time, studio-based ceramic artist who lives and works in Medicine Hat, Alberta. Her work involves mycology, agronomy, and climate science. Through projects such as her recent solo show, “frogsong” and her recent contributions to the Manufactured Ecosystems project, Melanie demonstrates how ceramics can be used as a method of visual storytelling and speculative worldbuilding." -Leandra Brandson

Excellence Award Winner: Phillip Bandura

"Phillip is an accomplished glass artist whose career reflects exceptional artistic achievement and a deep commitment to the craft community in Alberta and internationally. His work exemplifies innovation, technical mastery, and meaningful engagement with themes of identity, culture, and belonging." -Leah Petrucci

Tom McFall Honor Award Winner: Sky Weir

"As a teacher, supporter, and fiber artist, Sky has had an enduring impact on Alberta’s craft culture through decades of work across multiple dimensions. Her commitment to craft is long-enduring. " -Tanya Yeomans

We also want to say thank you to all the nominees, nominators, jury members, volunteers, and staff who helped make the 2025 Alberta Craft Awards a success. The Alberta Craft Awards honor individuals and groups who contribute significantly to Alberta’s Craft culture. The Awards stimulate awareness and distinction for Craft in Alberta and give prominence and encouragement to deserving artists and their work.