Fredericton silversmith artist reconigized with national award

Medal for metals: N.B. silversmith recognized The works of Fredericton silversmith and educator Bridgitte Clavette have been recognized with a Governor General's Award.

The Saidye Bronfman Award recognizes the careers of exceptional artists who have helped shape the field of fine craft in Canada.

For 2022, Fredericton artist, Brigitte Clavette, takes home the award.

"I make jewellery, I make sculpture, I do some silversmithing, I do some wild stuff, I had a shop in Saint Andrews, New Brunswick years ago and I made jewellery there," she said.

Normally the $25,000 cheque and medal are presented by the Governor General in Ottawa, but due to COVID-19, Clavette is still waiting on a date for that to happen.

"Being nominated as everybody says when you look at the Academy Awards and stuff, it's a big deal to be nominated because somebody believes in you and sees something in you that perhaps you don't see yourself," Clavette said.

Clavette had been nominated twice previously for the award in 2018 and 2019.

"I wasn't ready and my work wasn't ready, I wasn't there and so when I got nominated and I received it this time my first thought was to my old teacher, mentor Lois Betteridge she was the first Canadian silversmith to get it," she said.

This year, she felt her collection was ready.

"You have to have a focus so as a maker it's easy to do a little bit of this, a little bit of that, one of those, it's when you build a body of work for an exhibition that kind of shows more consistency, vision and then that gets recognized as a thing"

One of Clavette's focuses is teaching, she has instructed courses in jewelry and metal arts at the New Brunswick College of Craft and Design since 1985.

"One of the reasons I'm so grateful for this award is that it also recognizes my contributions as an educator which often, we think that we don't get noticed."

The Governor General’s Awards in Visual and Media arts were created in 1999. For 2022, Clavette is one of eight receiving an award.