The Alex Prowse Website Award

The Alex Prowse Website Award is presented annually to a non-member exhibiting at the Society's annual exhibition in London, for work showing notable originality and good technical skills.

The winner of the 2008 Award is Mark Lowes

Mark Lowes is a young Canadian university professor based in Ottawa who only recently took to pastel painting, inspired by articles in the Pastel Journal that featured some of the Society's artists.

In just a couple of years his work has progressed dramatically from small, tentative studies to large, confident compositions that strikingly reflect his passion for the Canadian wilderness. In many ways Lowes's work is a natural progression from that of the eminent Group of Seven artists that characterised the Canadian landscape to such brilliant effect at the beginning of the twentieth century.

In all his work, hints of melancholy and loneliness are tempered by a bold use of colour and strong composition. The emptiness of the Canadian landscape is made full. We look forward to seeing a lot more from this young and talented artist.