Robert and Meridel Archambeau Award Auction

This auction of works by celebrated ceramic artist Robert Archambeau is in support of the Robert and Meridel Archambeau Award for Excellence in Craft. The award was established through a generous gift from the Archambeau family to create an endowment fund stewarded by the Manitoba Craft Council and held in trust at the Winnipeg Foundation. The award will honour excellence in contemporary craft within Manitoba across craft media. More information on the award parameters and application process will be announced in early 2024.

All artworks being auctioned here have been donated to the MCC by the Archambeau estate for the purpose of raising funds to grow this award.

Thank you for your support.

About the artist:

Robert (Bob) Archambeau (1933-2022) was an influential artist, potter, collector, and teacher in the Prairie ceramics scene for over 40 years. He is best known for his wood-fired stoneware vessels — jars, vases, teapots, and bowls — in which he masterfully synthesizes Asian ceramic techniques and philosophy with elements inspired by the Canadian Shield and the indigenous flora near his remote home in Bissett, Manitoba. In 2003, he was awarded the Governor General’s Award in Visual and Media Arts. The National Council on Education for the Ceramic Arts (NCECA) bestowed a lifetime achievement award upon him in 2008. In 2014, he was awarded the Manitoba Arts Award of Distinction. His work is held in numerous collections, including the Winnipeg Art Gallery, the Gardiner Museum in Toronto and the Canadian Museum of Civilization in Gatineau, QC.

https://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/robert-archambeau

The Manitoba Craft Council is for people who love contemporary craft: professional artists and artisans, collectors and connoisseurs, DIYers and armchair enthusiasts. It’s for people who value the originality and quality of the handmade, who find meaning in making. It’s for the dreamers and schemers who seek to reinterpret the material and cultural traditions of the past through a contemporary lens. It’s for people who have to forge, carve, weave, fold, sculpt, knit. And for their friends and supporters. It’s for you. See, smell, touch, explore the myriad expressions of contemporary craft in Manitoba and be part of a community that is shaped, motivated, and defined by its love of craft.