Two well-known local artists have both earned 2017 Governor General’s Awards in Visual and Media Arts.

Painter Landon Mackenzie and cross-disciplinary artist Glenn Lewis have each won the prize, which carries a $25,000 cash award and recognizes outstanding career achievement. The awards are funded and administered by the Canada Council for the Arts.

Mackenzie's work has been exhibited in over 100 exhibitions across Canada and internationally, and is collected by museums including the National Gallery of Canada, Montreal Museum of Fine Arts, and the Vancouver Art Gallery. She is also an influential educator at Emily Carr University of Art and Design.

Recent shows have included 2014-15's Emily Carr and Landon Mackenzie: Wood Chopper and the Monkey at the VAG.

One of the cofounders of the Western Front, Lewis in the 1970s administered its video and performance art and was a key figure in Intermedia. He's had solo exhibitions at places including the Douglas Gallery, the Vancouver Art Gallery, and the Belkin Satellite. His work over the years as encompassed ceramics, photography, film, video, ceramics, poetry, collage, and sculpture, and has even extended to Rice Krispies, flour, paper burnings, and cooking demos. 

Lewis also happened to be one of three people who gathered at the late Cecil Hotel in 1967 over beers in the bar (with Dan McLeod and artist Michael Morris) when they came up with the name of the Georgia Straight.

The awards ceremony and a presentation of the medallions by Gov. Gen. David Johnston is set to take place at Rideau Hall on March 1.

Mackenzie and Lewis join five other award winners from across the country.