A University of Regina professor and visual artist is heading to Halifax to participate in an art exhibition that recognizes her nomination for one of Canada’s most prestigious art awards.

Rachelle Viader Knowles, a professor in the U of R’s Department of Visual Arts, was nominated in May as one of five finalists for the $50,000 Sobey Art Award, Canada’s most prestigious contemporary art prize for artists under 40 years of age. The five Sobey Art Award finalists have been given the opportunity to display their work in a special exhibition at the Art Gallery of Nova Scotia, in Halifax. The exhibition will run from September 15 to December 2, 2007.

Knowles, the nominee representing the Prairies and the North, works primarily in digital media and her contribution to the exhibition will consist of two multi-channel video works, “The Future” and “In My Mind I Live In New York.” She will be leaving for Halifax on September 12 to help install her work at the exhibition.

“The Sobey Art Award is modelled on Britain’s Turner Prize, which has been highly instrumental in making contemporary art front page news in the United Kingdom,” Knowles said. “To have my work recognized in this way in Canada is a huge honour.”

The winner of the 2007 Sobey Art Award will be announced at a gala event on October 15. Knowles will return to Halifax for the event.

“This is the most significant art award in Canada and the Faculty of Fine Arts is very proud that Rachelle, an internationally-acclaimed intermedia artist, has been short listed,” said Sheila Petty, Dean of Fine Arts at the University of Regina. “This brings great honour, both to the Faculty of Fine Arts and to the University of Regina.”

Established in 2002 by the Sobey Art Foundation, the Sobey Art Award is the largest such honour for a Canadian artist under the age of 40. The Sobey Art Foundation was established in 1981 with a mandate to carry on the work of entrepreneur and business leader, the late Frank H. Sobey, of collecting and preserving representative examples of 19th and 20th century Canadian art. One of the finest private collections of its kind, the Sobey Art Foundation has assembled exemplary examples from Canadian Masters like Cornelius Krieghoff, Tom Thomson and J.E.H MacDonald. The collection is housed at Crombie House, the former home of Frank Sobey and his wife Irene in Pictou County, Nova Scotia.