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Two members of the artist collective FASTWÜRMS, one of eight winners of this year’s Governor General’s Awards in Visual and Media Arts, remembered their roots growing up in Ottawa as “art nerds” who hung out at the National Gallery of Canada. 

“Even though we were working-class children, we were allowed to hang out in this gallery all day. In that time period, it was treated as a place to dump off your children,” recalled FASTWÜRMS’ Dai Skuse, who grew up in Ottawa’s west end, while artistic collaborator Kim Kozzi grew up in the east end. They are now based in Mulmur, Ont., and known for several permanent public art sculptures, including a large gryphon at the University of Guelph entrance.

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Although the two artists didn’t meet until later in life, they discovered they shared the childhood experience of roaming freely around the National Gallery at its former location on Elgin Street. 

“As children, we took it seriously that there was this marvelous collection of crazy objects, and, if we studied them and broke down the code, someday we would be able to make that code,” Skuse said. “We did this independently as art nerds in Ottawa.” 

The collective is included in this year’s exhibition of governor general’s award winners at the National Gallery. All eight winners were in the city this past week to launch the exhibition and to take part in a Friday morning ceremony at Rideau Hall, where Governor General Mary Simon played post-pandemic catchup by fêting four years’ worth of visual/media arts winners. 

At the National Gallery, artwork by this year’s winners is distributed throughout the building. FASTWÜRMS’ installation, Rainbow Volcano Atoll #2, which consists of brightly coloured tapestries and ceramic objects, is located in an enclosed space in the lower contemporary galleries. Other winners’ works can be found in the Canadian and Indigenous galleries, European and American galleries and the rotunda. The exhibition continues until March 3. 

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Other 2023 winners include: Evergon, Germaine Koh, Tim Whiten and filmmakers Shannon Walsh and Nettie Wild, while Grace Nickel received the Saidye Bronfman Award for fine craft, and Metis artist, writer and curator David Garneau received the outstanding contribution award. 

When asked about the significance of the award for FASTWÜRMS, Skuse described it as a full-circle story that also offered “proof of concept” of the value of exposing kids to art. 

“Whoever had this crazy liberal idea that you should just let children sit in front of an abstract painting for four hours, that was a good move,” he said. “It can pay off because we think we’re pretty good at making art now, and it’s because of that kind of investment.” 

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