Vancouver multidisciplinary artist Eric Metcalfe, one of the founders of the artist-run centre the Western Front, was named today as one of eight winners of the 2008 Governor General’s Awards in Visual and Media Arts.

Metcalfe will be presented with a $25,000 award by Governor General Michaëlle Jean in Ottawa on Friday (March 28), along with Inuit artist Kenojuak Ashevak, Quebec documentary filmmaker Serge Giguère, Montreal sculptor Michel Goulet, Alberta painter Alex Janvier, and Toronto artist Tanya Mars.

The other two awards went to Quebec City's Chantal Gilbert, a jeweller, who receives the Saidye Bronfman Award for excellence in the fine crafts, while Shirley Thomson, a former director of the Canada Council for the Arts, took the gong for outstanding contribution to the arts.

In a statement, Jean paid tribute to 2008's winners. "These artists take us on an extraordinary journey, delving into the very meaning of the world around us, exploring the conscious and subconscious spaces that surround us," she said. "They are inspiring an ever-increasing number of young people of all ages, piquing their curiosity, awakening their imaginations and best of all stirring their artistic impulses."

In the late 1960s, Metcalfe conjured up the persona of Dr. Brute, and his fictional world Brutopia, which included leopard-spot patterns as much as possible. It resulted in exhibitions the Vancouver Art Gallery, before Metcalfe cofounded the Western Front in 1973 and went on to become its curator from 1978 to 2001. He is now retired.