Smokey Blue Undula Bowl, Brad Copping, 2024, Hand blown & sculpted hot glass, cold carved.
The Beloved Founder’s Award Goes To…
Brad Copping
The Founder’s Award, announced at the Awards Ceremony, is always filled with warmth, gratitude, and often a few tears of joy. It grounds us, again and again, in why TOAF exists. It speaks to the very heart of TOAF: a belief in artists, in long careers, and in the quiet, steady work of building something that lasts.
Brad Copping, TOAF64 recipient of the Murray and Marvelle Koffler Founder’s Award of $6,000, could not be more deserving. Brad is an artist whose thoughtful, intuitive practice has grown alongside the Fair. His work feels deeply familiar through its connection to the element we all know so intimately — water. It is striking, evocative, and bold.
This award is selected by two cherished stewards of the Fair, Tiana Koffler Boyman and Flavio Belli, who bring deep care, knowledge and a long-term vision of TOAF.
To mark TOAF’s 65th year, the Founder’s Award is rising to $10,000. This is a momentous gift to honour artists who build their lives and practices over time. A heartfelt thank you to The Koffler Family Foundation and the founding family for continuing to champion this legacy.
We loved reading Brad’s reflections about water, memory, and the long arc of making. We hope you do too.
Meet Brad
Working from my home on the edge of the Canadian Shield, I have found muse and foil in this transitional landscape of stone, wood and water, and accept that we are not separate from the natural world. My studio practice has evolved around attempts to understand our place in a world where the only constant is change. Searching for a dynamic balance, or equilibrium, within the flow of our lives, my work examines how we live with each other and within the physical places in which we find ourselves.
Brad on his practice
Most of my work directly references water through the use of glass. Water moves us; it connects us one to another, both physically and metaphorically. It both nourishes and threatens us. Water flows within us and through all life, with water we are in constant communion.
Hear from Judges
Flavio Belli and Tiana Koffler Boyman
“Brad continues to evolve his vision and techniques in glass art. He not only produces fine-art and sculptural projects, but he also creates and presents an ever-evolving array of functional objects in blown and cast glass. His colour palette is rich, translucent, and utterly desirable.”
— Flavio Belli, curator and gallerist, and Tiana Koffler Boyman, past Chair and current Director of the Koffler Centre of the Arts
On receiving the Founder’s Award
“TOAF has been a touchstone show for me. Over the years, many opportunities have arrived because of my participation – to say nothing of the wonderful conversations with visitors, new and old, and the time spent during the off hours with old friends who have been a constant sustaining force. Receiving the Murray and Marvelle Koffler Founder’s Award, the 11th time I have been honoured by the TOAF, feels like an incredible gift for which I am deeply grateful.”
— Brad Copping
Fun Rapid Fire with Brad
Matcha, tea or Coffee??
COFFEE!
Go-to Studio Sound Track
Transmissions from Echo Beach. Radio show out of Toronto on WFMU.org.
What has been the most unexpected source of inspiration for you?
The experience of being with my aging parents. Alzheimer’s is a devastating disease but it is also strongly fascinating as its progression mirrors the development of a new born in reverse.
What’s your definition of success?
Success is not measured by anything but time spent doing the things one loves, and if there are others involved then even better if they are people you love.
