Boynes Emerging Artist winner to get Italy residency

Frustrated with the prizes being awarded to artists in international competitions, Chantal Boynes, an emerging artist herself in 2019, decided to create her own award to give other new artists a chance to promote their work, connect with other like-minded creatives, and be adequately rewarded for their talents.

This year’s award recipient will receive a three-month residency in Italy.

The Boynes Emerging Artist Award was born in the middle of the night in October 2019 while Boynes was applying for another award.

“I didn’t see the prize until I got to the end, and I was annoyed because it was US $100 to apply and there was no major prize,” Boynes told Newsday.

The 24-year-old said she was also unhappy with the fact that there was no connection to a community for the artists who applied.

“I thought, if you’re going to put your work into an award and they have all this work and are getting all these artists, why not bring them together and foster something more? I told myself, ‘You know what? Let me see if I can do this.’”

Boynes would spend the next three weeks aggressively researching how to go about her new venture and launched the first edition of the award on November 1, 2019.

Winners receive a cash prize and published interview on the website as well as social media marketing and promotion of their work.

Past winners have also received other special prizes including US$250 in Blick art materials and a three-month contract with Los Angeles-based public relations firm PR for Artists worth US$15,000.

This year, however, Boynes is offering a prize she said she is most excited about. Boynes has partnered with Italian artist Franceseca Sassu whose organisation Nocefresca runs a year-round residency programme in Sardinia.

“The purpose is for artists all over the world to come and connect to Sardinia and other artists. It is quite rural (so) it gets you out of the city and removes distractions so (artists) can focus on their work.”

The cost for the trip, including accommodation, will be paid for. “There are other benefits,” she said. “Studios and other events will be organised for artists in residence to show their work. There will be planned workshops and artists are encouraged to give workshops as well and they can take workshops by other artists that are there.

“They get curatorial assistance from (Nocefresca) so their project is discussed beforehand and the best way to approach it. It is a lovely, guided residency. It gives artists a very good incubation to just work.”

Applications opened on February 15 and will close on May 15. Finalists will be announced on June 20 and winners on June 27. A panel of judges will select 30 finalists, from which Boynes and Sassu will decide on the top three winners.

Submissions are open for paintings, drawings, photography, mixed media and sculpture.

Boynes said she found the residency programme online and reached out to Sassu. “Because we are accepting submissions of both two and three dimensional (work) we needed to find a residency that also accommodates that. Nocefresca accommodates a range of artists.

“I reached out to her and negotiated with her on the best way to approach this. Neither of us have done this kind of partnership before. I’m very excited about it. I like having a prize I love. I don’t feel good offering something to someone unless it was something I really wanted for myself.”

Boynes said her interest in creative work started at a young age, drawing women in extravagant gowns in a fluffy, neon pink notebook she kept with her at all times. “My mother thought I would be a fashion designer when I grow up.”

She said it was while trying to draw a classmate from memory when she was 16 that she knew art was her calling. “I was getting frustrated. In that moment, I realised that even though I was stressed, I still felt happy while I was painting.

“Something about the fact that something that was supposed to be stressful still felt right, I decided this was what I wanted to do. This stress felt really good,” she said with a laugh.

Boynes studied in Italy herself for two months during the summer of 2017 which she described as an amazing experience, taking classes in photography, sculpture and history.

In September of that year, she went to Canada for a year to complete a certificate in visual arts. In 2018, she began a diploma in Australia, which is where she was when she created the award.

Boynes said ever since creating the award she has renewed purpose in art, even though her own work has taken a back seat to the demands of organising the award.

Boynes is trained as an oil painter and does figurative work of women of colour.

“The thing is, a part of me misses painting but I don’t, just because of how stimulating the award is to me. Just judging the work, for example, is so mentally and creatively stimulating that I don’t miss painting, which is a weird thing to admit, but I don’t.”

She said the first edition was a huge learning process, but the award has only grown since then.

“During the first edition, I cried so much. It was very stressful. When we first launched, I had hired someone to create an online platform to accept submissions. The first day, it crashed and I was getting e-mails from people who had tried to submit and it wasn’t working and I was freaking out. I was under a lot of stress.

“I also remember being genuinely impressed with the fact that I didn’t completely breakdown. That I was able to find solutions to problems, grow and keep growing, and make it out the other end.”

She said about 350 people submitted work in the first edition which she was pleasantly surprised by. The fourth edition, she said, received over 900 submissions which has been her highest to date.

Although international interest in the award has grown over the years, Boynes said she is still puzzled that she does not receive many regional and local submissions.

“I have said multiple times that I am from the Caribbean, but I still don’t think it has clicked for people, even here in Trinidad. Because it is an international award, I don’t think it registers that I’m right here,” she joked.

She suspects local artists may be intimidated by the award being open to international applicants. “They’re nervous (and) it makes me sad. It is my actual dream to see more Caribbean artists enter. I feel people doubt we can match up because it’s international and that frustrates me. I would really love to assess more Caribbean work. I want people to know I am right here in Cascade looking at your work.”

Artists can visit boynesartistaward.com for more info on prizes and submission.