The Shurniak Art Gallery held a Community Christmas Open House on Sunday, December 15 from 1:30-4:30 p.m. The afternoon’s entertainment was supplied by The Fourtunes, an a cappella group from Moose Jaw and Cool Change, a folk-rock duo from Rockglen. Christmas treats and drinks were stocked by Fresh Start. However, the focus of the afternoon centred on the art of Sandra Knoss. Her show, Prairie Ephemeral, began at the Shurniak Gallery on November 1 and will continue until January 31, 2020. She unveiled another painting at the gallery on Sunday afternoon.
Sandra Knoss grew up on a farm in the Glentworth region. She was born in Glentworth in 1962. Knoss, who lives on a farm near Rockglen, studied at the University of Saskatchewan’s Fine Arts Program from 1980-1982. The artist also joined in painting workshops held at Emma Lake north of Prince Albert in 2003 and 2004.
Knoss' paintings are executed in oil and encaustics. Encaustics is a mix medium style of painting using heated beeswax and coloured pigments applied to wood, canvas and other surfaces. Her semi-abstract paintings depict Saskatchewan’s landscapes along with elements of the province’s flora and fauna. She clearly loved the prairies, illustrating south central Saskatchewan with a mixture of love and steadfastness.
There’s a hint of an abstract approach, but most of Knoss’ imagery at the Shurniak on Sunday retained a deeper commonality with the paintings of Post-Impressionism. Post-Impressionism – a mostly French art movement from 1886-1905 – developed as a reaction against Impressionism’s anxiety over depicting naturalistic lights and colours. In similarity with the Impressionists and Post-impressionists, Knoss used realistic images transposed onto surfaces with flattened perspectives. Renowned artists Van Gogh and Seurat are two examples of Post-Impressionists who were inspired by the flat perspectives and unusual crops found in Japanese prints. In unity with Knoss, these artists of the late 1800s rejected traditional realism, but not altogether like extremist abstractionists such as Jasper Johns and Jackson Pollock. Along with the Post-Impressionists, Knoss isn’t concerned with depicting naturalistic lights and colours. She rendered prairie scenes with a sense of realism, but there was usually a symbolic context inside her paintings as with the Impressionists and Post-Impressionists. Previous to Prairie Ephemeral, Knoss had exhibited paintings in solo and group exhibitions throughout Saskatchewan and Ontario.
