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Photographer Greg Klassen, painter Glenn Priestley, and fibre artist Anna Torma have been selected as finalists in the inaugural Art for New Spaces competition at the University of New Brunswick. Chosen from a field of 30 applicants, the artists must prepare a detailed proposal for the creation of an artwork to be displayed in the foyer of the C.C. Jones Student Services Centre on the Fredericton campus.

Art for New Spaces is a program initiated by UNB’s President Emeritus John McLaughlin. Funded by a bequest from William Andrews, a 1952 Arts graduate of the university, the program enables UNB to commission or purchase works from New Brunswick artists for newly constructed or renovated buildings used primarily by students. The purpose of the program is to enrich the aesthetic environment and raise awareness of visual arts among the student body in both Fredericton and Saint John.

The son of a Canadian diplomat, Greg Klassen began taking pictures as a teenager, teaching himself the methods of Ansel Adams. His passion persisted during his early career. While earning a PhD in marine biogeography, he worked as a scientific illustrator and photographer of microscopic specimens. A workshop with the renowned Freeman Patterson in 2006 confirmed his true calling and in 2009 he received a diploma in advanced studies in photography from the New Brunswick College of Craft and Design. His exhibition of constructed photographic portraits, “Who?”, recently opened at the Beaverbrook Art Gallery as part of the Studio Watch series for emerging artists.

Glenn Priestley holds a diploma from the Ontario College of Art and has been showing his work for nearly 30 years in various solo and group exhibitions across Canada and the United States. His work is held in numerous public and private collections, including the Beaverbrook Art Gallery, the New Brunswick Art Bank, the Bank of Nova Scotia and the Harvard Business School. He creates portraits, still life and landscapes, using charcoal, oil on canvas and mixed media. He has twice been a Strathbutler Award nominee and has won two creation grants from the New Brunswick Arts Board in recent years.

A native of Hungary, Anna Torma immigrated to Canada in 1988, settling in Baie Verte, N.B. She holds a degree from the University of Applied Arts in Budapest and has also studied in Luxembourg and Paris. Her large scale hangings feature hand embroidery, strong colours, found fabrics and patchwork depicting landscape, nature, architecture and objects of everyday life. She has exhibited her work in Canada, the United States and internationally. In 2008, she was the winner of the Strathbutler Award from the Sheila Hugh Mackay Foundation and has held a number of Canada Council travel grants.

The three finalists must submit their proposals by May 14. A selection committee chaired by Bernard Riordon, Director and CEO of the Beaverbrook Art Gallery, will choose the successful artist by June 1. The artwork will be unveiled in October.