This untitled work by artist Ben Forest is one of 38 pieces from 10 different artists on display at On the Avenue Art Gallery as part of the Art Now provincial art fair. — Submitted Photo.
Prince Albert gallery is one of 17 from across the province hosting online and in-person exhibits
Prince Albert’s On the Avenue Art Gallery is one of two new additions to the annual Art Now provincial fine art fair, and curator Jesse Campbell says it’s a great opportunity to showcase northern artists.
On the Avenue is one of 17 galleries showing exhibits during the annual art fair, which runs online until Sept. 26. Residents can also visit the gallery in person from Sept. 24-25 to see 38 pieces from 10 different artists, and go online to view panel discussions and artist talks hosted from around the province.
“It’s really exciting because it’s a great opportunity to work with a huge variety of artists and curators and writers and arts professionals,” Campbell said. “(It’s) not only (artists) from Saskatchewan, but arts professionals who have roots in Saskatchewan, but live further afield. There is a lot of opportunity to, I think, create some interesting experiences with art and look at a variety of topics in art being made on the prairies.”
Galleries across the province will showcase a wide variety of artists, but On the Avenue chose to focus on work from members of the Lac La Ronge Indian Band.
Campbell said art education takes a different form in the north, where families and communities pass techniques down to younger generations instead of universities or art schools. That’s created a unique artistic tradition that’s rarely showcased on the provincial stage.
“I think it really shows the way that a lot of people have lived traditionally in northern Saskatchewan,” Campbell explained. “There’s a lot of work that’s quite descriptive and narrative. It’s not terribly abstract, but you still do get distinct feelings and moods that come across in the work.”
The variety is what stood out most for Campbell. The exhibit showcases everything from paintings and sculptures to traditional Indigenous art forms like birch bark biting. A lot of the materials are traditional too, which exhibitors taking advantage of wood and antlers to create their pieces.
“It’s a really good look into what artists are doing north of us here in PA,” Campbell said. “I hope (viewers) get a little bit of an understanding of what artists in the north are focusing on, the kinds of materials they’re using, and how there’s a lot of tradition being passed down through the artwork.”
Art Now held their opening online reception on Sept. 16, where viewers got a glimpse of the more than 600 works of art on display across the province. In just three days, more than 3,000 visitors have logged on to view the exhibits.
Campbell also helped organize a series of artist talks and panels, which will continue throughout the week. That includes an artist talk with Molly R. Ratt on Sept. 21, which is presented by On the Avenue Art Gallery. Replays of previous talks are available on the SaskGalleries YouTube page.
In-person events are limited to only two days. Campbell said that’s an unfortunate side-effect of COVID-19, but she’s confident the online exhibits will impress art lovers from across the province.
To register for upcoming panels and artist talks, or to view those held previously, visit artnow.ca/online/events.
This is Art Now’s sixth year of operation. It celebrates the variety and quality of original fine art made in Saskatchewan. All shows are free to attend or view.
Upcoming online events for the Art Now Saskatchewan Art Fair
Sunday, Sept. 19
1 p.m. – Panel Session No. 4: Culture C(l)ash: can Indigenous artists make a living without selling out
Tuesday, Sept. 21
1:30 p.m. – Artist Talk: Sandra Knoss
4:30 p.m. – Artist Talk: Molly R. Ratt*
7 p.m. – Panel Session No. 5: Art as Life – the Creative Process
LONDON (AP) — With a few daubs of a paintbrush, the Brontë sisters have got their dots back.
More than eight decades after it was installed, a memorial to the three 19th-century sibling novelists in London’s Westminster Abbey was amended Thursday to restore the diaereses – the two dots over the e in their surname.
The dots — which indicate that the name is pronounced “brontay” rather than “bront” — were omitted when the stone tablet commemorating Charlotte, Emily and Anne was erected in the abbey’s Poets’ Corner in October 1939, just after the outbreak of World War II.
They were restored after Brontë historian Sharon Wright, editor of the Brontë Society Gazette, raised the issue with Dean of Westminster David Hoyle. The abbey asked its stonemason to tap in the dots and its conservator to paint them.
“There’s no paper record for anyone complaining about this or mentioning this, so I just wanted to put it right, really,” Wright said. “These three Yorkshire women deserve their place here, but they also deserve to have their name spelled correctly.”
It’s believed the writers’ Irish father Patrick changed the spelling of his surname from Brunty or Prunty when he went to university in England.
Raised on the wild Yorkshire moors, all three sisters died before they were 40, leaving enduring novels including Charlotte’s “Jane Eyre,” Emily’s “Wuthering Heights” and Anne’s “The Tenant of Wildfell Hall.”
Rebecca Yorke, director of the Brontë Society, welcomed the restoration.
“As the Brontës and their work are loved and respected all over the world, it’s entirely appropriate that their name is spelled correctly on their memorial,” she said.
