Patricia Gagic is amassing awards
The Hamilton-based painter, photographer and author, has been recognized by a number of prestigious international arts organizations and will be included in an upcoming documentary about 10 global “titans” of the arts.
International recognition is accumulating for Hamilton painter, photographer and author Patricia Gagic.
Two weeks after sitting down with HAMILTON CITY Magazine, Gagic headed to Paris to accept the French Academic Society of Arts, Sciences and Letters silver medal in painting. It’s her third award from the prestigious organization after earning the silver medal in photography in 2019 and the pewter medal for painting in 2020.
Gagic’s work has been exhibited around the world, she has been mentored for 25 years by renowned French master artist Dragan Dragic and her work is even displayed in the Vatican museum.
In her work, she’s taken moments of hardship, even trauma, and “converted that into love, peace and tranquillity.”
Gagic (pronounced Guy-jich) moved into a sprawling studio space on Queen Street North about three months ago. She wheels around a cart of stacked books and magazines that feature her work. Shelves are jammed with international awards and more are packed away in boxes.
Gagic doesn’t boast about this, she’s really just surprised.
She’s also thrilled that her work will be displayed on the Nasdaq jumbo screen in Times Square on New Year’s Eve.
She was named Artist of the Year in 2020 and 2023 by New York City’s ArtTour International and is now among 10 “titans” in the world who will be featured in ATI’s documentary coming out in 2024.
Gagic, who moved to Hamilton in Grade 7, and is married to general surgeon Dr. Ned Gagic, won a gold medal in photography at the Salon National des Beaux-Arts (SNBA) at the Carrousel du Louvre in Paris in 2018, making her the first woman and the first Canadian to do so. The next year, her work was exhibited at the Salons des Indépendants Grand Palais in Paris, the Brussels 3F Art Fair and the World Art event in Cannes.
She is among the Women’s Executive Network’s Top 100 most powerful women in Canada and has received an Arts Excellence Award for Courage and Commitment to Human Rights, Dignity and Freedom from the Canadian Civil Liberties Association.
See more about Patricia Gagic, including her global philanthropy, her brushes with celebrities, her books and her ties to Hamilton in the spring issue of HAMILTON CITY Magazine.
