Wasagaming art exhibit features variety of artists

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 11/07/2024 (574 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

WASAGAMING — Wasagaming Community Arts opened their second exhibition of the year on June 29 with overwhelming community support. Over 100 people attended the opening reception of the exhibition displaying works by Belinda Kriek, Anne Klassen, Cheryl Tordon, and Myra Clarke. Textile and Fibre Artists of Manitoba also had work by various artists included.

Board member and curator Ken Romaniuk said that while the works displayed are diverse, there are commonalities between them.

“With the fibre artists, their colours and their textures are so beautiful. We think they played nicely with the watercolours of Myra Clarke. And then when we saw the large mosaics that Belinda was doing; we also thought her colours and styles would play well with the textiles,” he said.

Belinda Kriek is an artist originally from South Africa who holds a bachelor of fine arts from the University of Regina. The work she submitted for the exhibition are paintings done in a mosaic style inspired by dreams, she said.

Kriek has a friend with a cabin in Wasagaming, which is what initially inspired her to submit to that gallery.

“This style had that notion of impressionism … One of my friends, she told me about a dream she had, and from that point I decided from now on I’m going to paint dreams … and sort of expresses it in a metaphoric, allegoric or symbolic notion and let the viewers decide for themselves what they see,” she said.

Cheryl Tordon comes up with concepts in a similar way. She intentionally tries to leave part of her mind blank through the day so that ideas can come into her mind fully formed.

“I try to leave a big chunk of my brain totally vacant every day, so whatever something remotely interesting comes to me, I can respond to it immediately. And I will either dream about what I want to make, or I’ll see a shadow or just a play of light on something during the day and it will suggest the shape to me,” she said.

Tordon also tries not to start work if it doesn’t come to her fully formed. She never wants to begin a piece if she doesn’t know where it is going. Many of her sculptures take on animalistic forms, like the crows and bunnies featured in this exhibition.

Anne Klassen has been a practising photographer for about 30 years. Her husband owned a pet store, and she’s always gravitated towards animals. She has been certified for bear behaviour in Minnesota. Learning about animal behaviour has allowed her to recognize temperament when she’s photographing, Klassen told the Sun.

Most of the works of hers in the exhibition were taken in Riding Mountain National Park and some were from Churchill and Whiteshell.

One of her photos displayed, a single moose in the morning light, won first place in a wildlife photography competition held by Ducks Unlimited Canada. Klassen’s photo won out of 300 that were entered.

“When I photograph, I like to photograph with the environment of my subject … I don’t like to just do a portrait. I want to have a story behind my photo,” she said.

The exhibition will run until July 23.

»cmcconkey@brandonsun.com