The Godfrey Dean Art Gallery is a community gallery, and one of the most popular shows it does each year showcases the community’s artists. Landscape and Memory 2015 is a chance to see the best of the Yorkton arts community on display.
Don Stein, Executive Director of the Godfrey Dean, says that it’s another great year for the show, with over 40 artists and over 150 pieces on display. A big theme this year is painting, and Stein says that has been the overwhelming majority of the work this year.
The show is an opportunity to support local artists, Stein says, from beginners to those who are more established. It has resulted in solo and group shows from past and current participants, but it’s also often the first time an artist has shown, Stein noting that some of the people showing their work began with adult painting classes.
“It’s so important that we are relevant to the people in our community, they need to see themselves reflected in the programming and the content.”
Having an annual show for local artists can also be an end goal, Stein says, as it means people know it’s coming, know they have to get things ready for display and know they will be able to put their latest work out there.
One of the artists on display is Linda Henye from Jedburgh, who says she always wanted to paint but “never had the guts to do it.” While too busy when she first moved to Canada in 1986, when her husband and herself ran a buffalo farm, when she and her husband retired, she decided that it would be the ideal time to take up painting.
Henye’s work focuses on the face, whether it’s the face of animals or the faces of people, like she is showing in the gallery this year. Her subjects range in age from the very young to the very old, and she says that’s part of what fascinates her about their faces, and how different people are.
“Everybody looks different, and I try to really capture it.”
Looking at the show itself, Henye says that the people in the area are very talented, and that can be seen in the work on display from the city and the surrounding area as well. She says she’s proud to be a local artist in the area, and glad that there are opportunities for the many local artists to show their work for no cost, something she says is rare in the rest of the world.
“There’s a lot of talent around here... I never experienced that in Europe, everyone is busy, but here in wintertime, there’s nothing to do, so what do they do? They paint! I fit right in.”
Henye says that she will be painting as long as her eyes will cooperate and she can continue to have the ability.
Landscape and Memory 2015 runs until June 25
