Congratulations to Brad Copping, recipient of the 2022 Best of Craft & Design Award at the Toronto Outdoor Art Fair.

Brad Copping on receiving the award: "There is always incredible work in a variety of craft mediums at the fair and to be singled out is an honour. The attention this award garners made for some wonderful conversations with new and old visitors during the show and that attention has continued. So great to come out of the past couple of years with the changes to my glass work being recognized. Thank you."

"Brad is a familiar face and a veteran of the TOAF community, having first exhibited at the Fair in 1993. Over the years, he has entranced our audiences with his explorations and adventures in glass blowing, pushing the boundaries of the medium and perfecting his craft. We are thrilled that his dreamy glass vessels and sculptures have garnered him the coveted Best of Craft & Design Award of $2,000. Our heartfelt thanks to Robert K E Mitchell and Brian H Wade of Mitchell Studios for their generous and continued support of this award."

- anahita azrahimi
Executive & Creative Director

"Brad's sense of form through additive (blown) and subtractive (carved) techniques, and colour, through the hot glassworking process, allows him to sculpt with light. He is internationally renowned for his unique style. The vessels are a part of a larger art practice that has spanned the three decades of this artist's career. His focus through all approaches from functional vessels to large-scale installations, is water. His work extends to a performative aspect; in 2016, he paddled his mirrored Canadian heritage canoe from GlazenHuis in Belgium to the Dutch National Museum in the Netherlands, filming the light and water effects along the way."

- Lisa A. Pai, Director, L.A. Pai Gallery