They are farm animals like you've never seen them before. Local artist Stephanie Newsham has a show at the community pARTners gallery at the Yorkton Public Library called How Now Purple Cow? The show is a tribute to farm life through psychadelic-coloured animals.
The show represents work from over a decade, including Newsham's first cow. She says that the inspiration was almost by accident, as she started painting in the style at an art retreat. She had been looking through a box of black and white photos from her grandmother, and found an image of a cow which she decided would be something interesting to work with. Still, she says she didn't get completely inspired until she saw the bright colours the woman beside her was using.
"I asked if she wouldn't mind sharing some with me. I took a couple squeezes of her reds and yellows and that's how it happened. I experimented and started layering colors on this cow and really liked how it turned out. I did another one at that same retreat and my friend Judy Niebergall suggested I might be on to something," Newsham says.
While the animals are not the only thing she paints, Newsham says that they are something which she continues to come back to over the years. She believes it's the experimental nature of the work that continues to make the brightly coloured animals something she is compelled to do.
"I find it fun, I never know what it's going to turn out like. I don't have a vision of what it's going to be like when it's done, it just morphs, and that's fun, because you can end up with a purple cow or a green sheep," Newsham says.
While this has been only a focus for the past ten years, Newsham admits that she has had a certain fascination with farm animals in unconventional colours since she was a little girl, and that this might also be part of the reason why she keeps returning to the subject.
She says that one of the biggest influences in her art has been Judy Niebergall, who had the previous show at community pARTners. She says they met during a watercolour class, and since they have been painting together.
"She really believes there is a lot of talent here and she does whatever she can to showcase it. If she sees someone interested she does whatever she can to make sure they have all options available to them so they can proceed... She made me want to be part of this art community," Newsham says.
How Now Purple Cow? will be on display at the community pARTner gallery in the Yorkton Public Library into December.
