The need to explore and search for a way to describe an innate visceral response to vegetation has led to this exhibition of mostly floral pieces.
Blanche Johnston’s work offers exceptional and fresh views of landscape and florals, expressing the energy of environment with nuanced yet powerful strokes.
She creates using acrylic or oil paints with glazes or impasto texture onto canvas or paper mounted on panels, or she fuses many layers of encaustic medium onto cradled birch panels. Her aim is to portray a curiosity about place and time.
Blanche primarily works from sketches of her own photographs, plain air sketches and also from still life.
She is a Canadian artist living near Beaver Creek, Sk and her work can be found in private and public collections across the country as well as abroad.
The transition from winter to spring is like the artistic process. Contained in the artist are responses that are momentarily frozen in time until given the right opportunity to be released and developed. Both Cindy Hergott-Pellerin and Karen Pask-Thompson follow the playful process of making art by mark-making and adding colour with paint, collage and other materials, never knowing what the outcome will be but allowing the work to take on a life of its own. Shapes and colours can be painted over many times until the work feels resolved.
Both artists have worked with children and are inspired by their free flow play with materials. The works come out of their imagination, and they let intuition guide the process. Their work is about the possibilities that exist when one is given the opportunity to play with materials. The surprise one gets when the work is complete is like the wonder one has when the snow melts, revealing what lies beneath.
I have maintained an independent fine art painting practice in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan for over three decades. I was raised in a large Ontario family that has roots in Saskatchewan going back more than 100 years.The spectacular Saskatchewan prairie and forest are sources of inspiration as are the fall colours and rocks of my family home in Ontario.
I love the act of applying paint to a surface. Creating is at its best when the marks suggest the next direction. I also prefer to not be fully in control of my painting tools. Discovering new ways to move paint by flowing, scraping, rolling, scratching, and dripping is endlessly satisfying.
34×38 oil on canvas
Biography
The eight Slavin siblings were encouraged to draw, write, make music, sew, and invent.Our father repaired TV’s and disallowed TV in his own home. Our mother bore seven children and then adopted an eighth.
My unremarkable early academic life was remedied by a BA in Art History, later a Bachelor of Education, and later yet a Master of Education.I worked in Community Development.Visual art was pursued seriously in my fourth decade through a dozen experiences at Emma Lake Kenderdine Campus,including classes, residencies, and four times at the Artists Workshop as well as a variety of community classes. The benefit was gained from the critique and teachings of many artists.
Paintings have been exhibited in private and public galleries and in community venues. At present, my work is carried by Collector’s Choice Gallery in Saskatoon, and by the Saskatchewan Craft Council Boutique with which organization I am a juried member.My full Art Resume is on my website at artistsincanada.com/slavin
The gesturing of a single petal, the intensity of a blossom’s hue radiating from the warmth of the sun, the textured ripples of a bud opening to greet new life: small miracles that entice and inspire my creative process. Painting with encaustic (beeswax) allows me the versatility to explore my botanical intrigue with a unique modern approach using a traditional medium.
In its simplest form, encaustic art is painting with molten beeswax applied and fused in several layers.
Encaustic is an organic and sustainable art medium
made by combining natural beeswax with damar tree resin adding pigments
for coloration.
Creating with this medium is physically engaging and immensely sensory.
I savor the warmth of the wax, the sweet honey aroma as it is heated on my
palette, the texture variables of the surfaces, and especially the use of fire
fusing the layers of wax.
Once cured, encaustic art is archival, possessing a tactile luminous
translucency that is truly beautiful and unique.
My sincere hope is that these simple blooms bring to life for you some of what
I cherish about the miraculous botanical beauty that surrounds us every day.
BIOGRAPHY:
Michelle paints from her home studio in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan.
Born and raised in northern Saskatchewan, her interest in botanicals was
nurtured from a very young age and is passionately reflected in Michelle’s
current art practice.
Formally educated in Psychology and Interior Design, she has pursued her
creative interest in encaustics through intensive workshops in Seattle,
Sacramento and Minneapolis.
Since the first public release of her work in 2018, Michelle’s work has been
well received, with collectors extending all across Canada as well as the
United States.
Instagram @michelleplettart
www.michelleplettart.com
For any inquiries please contact michelleplettart@gmail.com
There’s something about a big Saskatchewan sky that never ceases to inspire me. It might be the way the light is shining through the clouds, a subtle pink along the bottom of the horizon, or the movement of an incoming storm- there is so much beauty woven throughout these everyday moments, I feel compelled to capture it and share with others through my art. These expressions of the landscape are all little pieces of home, ready to transport you to a familiar place of peace, fresh air, and natural beauty.
BIOGRAPHY
Nicole paints from her home studio on an acreage near Saskatoon, where she lives with her husband and two young children. Born and raised in the prairies, her work reflects her deep appreciation for the open fields, big skies, and fresh air that surround her.
Working primarily with acrylics (and sometimes incorporating 24 karat gold) she creates almost exclusively from memory- aiming to capture the feeling of a moment more than a specific view. “If someone can look at one of my paintings and feel the same sense of calm & joy that I felt in the moments that inspired it, then I know I have succeeded,” she says.
Since the release of her first collection in late 2018, her work has been well-received, with collectors extending across Canada and the United States and a body of licensed work available through companies including Minted, Target and West Elm.
I have been an artist for as long as I can remember. I feel a visceral connection to what I see
around me, to places, to the land, to the prairies and sky. I am passionate about images
expressed in texture, colour, and line. My work often expresses my love for place in a tactile
way. The viewer is drawn in, drawn to touch the surface, coming close to explore the fine
details and transitions as well as the overall sense of the piece.
I work almost exclusively from my own photographs. Part of each summer is spent with friends
and neighbors driving around their farms and back roads, touring their favorite places.
From oil paint and acrylic to encaustic and mixed media the process of making art fascinates
and engages me completely. My encaustic paintings are made with beeswax, damar resin (a
natural tree sap that acts as a hardening agent), oil paint and other media. I paint in layers,
fusing each layer with heat. Encaustic painting has a long history, dating back to the 5th
Century B.C. The word encaustic means to burn in, which refers to the process of fusing the
paint. Beeswax is impervious to moisture, it will not deteriorate, it will not yellow or darken.
Encaustic paintings do not have to be varnished or protected by glass.
Biography
Diane Larouche Ellard is a painter and mixed media artist living in Biggar, Saskatchewan. She
obtained a BFA from the University of Saskatchewan in 1987. Larouche Ellard exhibits her work
throughout the province and is represented by Collector’s Choice Art Gallery in Saskatoon, and
Grasslands Gallery Online.
Looking out your back door in Saskatchewan means catching a glimpse of a secret world. At first glance, you might see a butterfly in flight. In the next, you may see a garden in bloom – every flower bursting with colour and personality. You might hear a bird in song, or observe insects buzzing. Perhaps, you see the wind blowing through a distant wheat field. And maybe, your gaze falls upon yourefforts in the garden – ready for plucking, picking or digging. The roots of many vegetables running deep within the soil – a reminder of strength. Each glimpse is different. Each one we’ve tried to capture. After a long winter, these signs of life are welcome. And perhaps this spring, the celebration of life is more poignant than ever. The long, cold winters teach us to appreciate and cherish the beauty of the lives that surround us when spring arrives. We take pleasure in the exquisite sights of creatures and treasures that inhabit the garden each day. So, we celebrate them with colour inspired by their light, optimism, renewal and hope. May this curated collection of our favourite pieces bring you joy – Welcome to the Saskatchewan Garden Party.
Amber Antymniuk
Amber Antymniuk has always loved tocreate. She grew up on an acreage outside Tisdale, Saskatchewan, a place perfectly suited for imaginations to wander. Amber continued learning and creating while she completed a Bachelor of Education degree from the University of Regina, where she specialized in Arts
Education, with a major in visual arts and a minor in English. She holds a Fine Arts degree from the same university. Her love for art was shared with students while teaching Arts Education in the
Saskatoon Public School Division for five years before taking parental leave. Amber is a passionate stay-at-home parent who now shares her wandering imagination and love for creating with her two children, Archie and Al. Amber is the author and illustrator of two local children’s books – H is for Home: A Saskatchewan Alphabet and Grandpa’s Garage.
Instagram @amberantymniuk
Blow Creative Arts www.blowcreativearts.ca
For any inquiries please contact: amberantymniuk@gmail.com
MARIA DAGH
Maria is a Swedish/Australian illustrator and Art Director, living and working in Saskatoon with her husband and two young girls. Drawing and painting runs deep in her veins, and growing up in the art mecca that is Europe, she was always surrounded by inspiration to create. She doesn’t feel she has a specific style but likes to think of herself as a forever student of art, always evolving and exploring her
creativity. With that said, her specialities include delicate watercolour paintings as well as a
cartoon children’s book illustration style. Since moving to Canada she has been inspired by Saskatchewan nature and has immersed herself in several projects surrounding this theme. Maria holds a Bachelor of Design in Visual Communications from the University of Technology Sydney, Australia. She is currently a freelance illustrator while also working full-time as an Art Director. She has many creative experiences under her belt including textile and pattern design, photography, animation, book design, typography, and fine art. She has over a decade of experience in advertising where she has created big brand campaigns for local and global clients, making TV commercials, billboards, print and digital.
Instagram @studio_m_illustration
Studio M Illustration www.studiomillustration.com
For any inquiries please contact: mariadagh@studiomillustration.com
Ukrainian artist Tetiana Hrytsenko immigrated to Canada 15 years ago. In Ukraine she graduated from art school, worked as a designer and has always found a way to be creative and “out of the box” when it came to anything in her day to day life. She put her creative plans aside to focus on her four children, a full-full time job all on its own. Since 2015 she has started waiting again and giving private lessons. In recent years her work has been exhibited in Canada, USA and Ukraine.
Tetiana experiments with various techniques and is always trying to find a new way to create stunning art whether it is landscapes or abstracts and everything in between.
In 2016 she participated in snow sculpting at the Banff Snow Days in Canada which is just one of her many interests. She has used oil, acrylic, and epoxy in her artwork, but now mainly works in Watercolour.
In November of 2021, Tatiana was installing her art in her hometown of Kherson, Ukraine… Before the Russian armed forces resumed their invasion on February 24, 2022. Before the bombs started falling again on the sovereign country of Ukraine. Before the tanks rolled in. Before the soldiers opened fire on civilians. Before Kherson fell under the control of the Russian army.
“In these days independent, Ukraine is facing its darkest hour. At the same time, the Ukrainian people are holding up the torch of freedom for all of us. They are showing immense courage. They are defending their lives but they are also fighting for universal values and they are willing to die for them.”
President of the European Union Ursula von der Leyen.
Our current art installation is a series of watercolors from Tatiana’s hometown and country. The images show a FREE, INDEPENDENT Ukraine in stark contrast to the images flooding the mass and social media these past few weeks. It is how we need to remember it. It is what we need to work towards.
50% of proceeds will go towards assisting Ukrainians affected by the ongoing Russian-Ukrainian war.
Calories is donating the commission portion from the artwork proceeds.
THE FURTIVE FOX
Acrylic on birch panel, 2021
24″ x 24″
ARTIST PROFILE – MIRANDA JONES
Despite her claims that red desert sand still runs deep in her veins, Australian born artist, Miranda Jones has grown to love Saskatchewan’s wide open skies and abundant wildlife. Miranda’s art reflects her delight at glimpsing a tiny Goldfinch amongst the leaves, the surprise and joy of spotting a jackrabbit or fox hiding in the shadows or the haunting mystery of owls and coyotes calling at dusk. She pays homage, and in some cases reverence, to these creatures, many of which were spotted along the Meewasin trail, where she spends many happy hours exploring on her beloved bicycle!
Best known for her signature use of colour and metallic leaf, Miranda moves with ease from tiny iconic paintings to large canvases, art jewelry and even welded steel installations. Her art can shift from realistic to symbolic as she strives to capture the essence of her subject matter. Her work is loved and collected in Canada and abroad and she is widely represented in public, private and corporate collections.
Miranda holds an MFA with great distinction from the University of Saskatchewan. She is a member of the Studio on 20. Artist Collective in Saskatoon and teaches art and design through the University of Saskatchewan Community Arts Program.
Winter is a season that affects us all. Cold weather can force you into a state of hibernation or, on the other hand, you can enhance the moods winter has to offer. Weather conditions dictate how long you can comfortably remain outside before having to go back inside to warm up.
Nature provides marvelous backdrops for the venturous spirit to view and even photograph, recording memories for others to enjoy as well. Shorter daylight hours result in less time for people to enjoy their favourite outdoor wintertime activities.
If you keep your eyes open, many opportunities can arise for recording the beauty of nature found in our cold climate. Photography provides opportunities to make stunning images of snow falling, sun dogs, backlit hoar frost, sunsets and many other subject matters.
My photographs incorporate a new style of presentation. Metallic prints with ultraviolet liquid coating for protection replace the need for heavy glass and mat boards. Prints are dry-mounted on feather board and a wooden or metal strip frame surrounds the image. Photos can be viewed from any angle without the glare of reflections often found when viewing through glass. The images presented here provide a unique approach to viewing winter. It doesn’t have to be all bad – it can be snow magic!
Biography
Ken’s photography career started as a hobby in 1978. He worked in the architectural technology profession for 20 years, while at the same time pursuing photography as a second career. After 30 years of film photography, he produced his first book of photographs entitled, “Light Effects”. In 2000, two of his photographs were chosen for the Saskatchewan Craft Council’s Dimensions Program. In 2016, Ken’s digital photograph, “Resplendence” was shortlisted for the Royal Photographic Society’s International Print Competition. The photograph, “Resplendence” was also purchased in 2016 by the Mann Art Gallery, Prince Albert, Saskatchewan, for their permanent collection. In 2018 he produced both digital and film DVD’s.
Ken is primarily a self-taught photographer. In 1983 and 1985, he took one week of courses in photography at the Emma Lake Art Camp with Professor Hans Dommasch. Ken learned a lot about photography through osmosis by being immersed in a natural photographic environment of lakes and forests. He regularly reads and studies many books and articles on photography as an art form. He first learned and worked with various types of film cameras, darkroom equipment and related processes, and since 2007 has progressed to digital photography. He has also attended professional art-related workshops.
Some favorite photographic themes are landscapes, flowers, architecture and capturing the light and shadows in everyday surroundings. Recently, utilizing digital techniques, Ken has developed an interest in combining parts of photographs into collage representations of reality and fantasy which adds another dimension to the resulting compositions. His work is available in shops and galleries in Saskatchewan or by contacting him directly via his website:
ARTIST STATEMENT:
Creating with this medium is physically engaging and immensely sensory.
