Friends, family, residents, and local artists recently gathered at the Gardens on Tenth Art Gallery in Altona to welcome the featured artist for the fall season.
Painter and ceramicist Tim Froese was born and raised in Altona and has since made his home in Winnipeg. His work is bold and exuberant, much like his personality.
Froese favours large portraits, ranging from his ancestral family to famous musicians to self-portraits.
Entitled eye LeveL, his exhibit features portraits grouped around the themes of Mennonite heritage, Froese’s personal world, and a glimpse into his early period. Each of the 13 pieces comes with its own story.
The painting “Helena Toews” for example displays a confident woman in uniform, the family black sheep, and the woman his mother named as her hero. In 1945, she was an achiever, with degrees in nursing and social work.
The self-portrait “Permission” was painted in what Froese describes as a post-divorce fog. His first major canvas, the piece was a departure from his regular style, and was a plunge into the unknown.
The son of a preacher and a stay-at-home mom, Froese says his art began with an inkling at the age of six.
“I started by tracing drawings, evolved to copying, and after that, drawing became almost an obsession.”
After winning prizes at an art contest during a country fair at the Altona Sunflower Festival, and some encouragement from his Grade 6 teacher, Froese’s passion for art flourished.
Shortly after graduating from W.C. Miller Collegiate, Froese moved to Winnipeg to obtain his teaching degree while also taking courses through the Winnipeg Art Gallery. After obtaining his degree in 1990, art continued to be a part of his life. He soon began teaching art and later studied ceramics.
“My love of art kept growing, and my ceramic work, which featured cartoon cats through a Winnipeg gallery, really took off. It was pure fun and people were buying the stuff.”
After a few decades of raising a family, working at a prison, and teaching, he longed to become a full-time artist.
“This thing just stays with you. I had the thought that I could go hard at my art aspirations. I followed that hunch, and it’s just the last year that I can call myself a full-time artist.”
Creating his own workspace led to other avenues, and soon the ceramicist became a painter.
“Now painting is my passion. The cats were the whimsical side of me, but painting tends to be more serious, and so far, my focus has been portraits. It’s a bizarre thing because portraits are maybe the hardest thing a person can paint, because you’re always trying to get this likeness, and people are always kind of judging you.”
Today, art brings him joy.
“If I was able to pick up the 15-year-old Tim that I was, and kick-drop him into what I’m doing now, he wouldn’t believe the stuff I’m doing. In the sense that I had this inkling to do art from way back, I have far exceeded what I thought I would do. For me, being fully retired, I feel like a kid in a candy shop all over again.”
He describes his style as storybook realism.
“Every time you look at my work, you will immediately know it’s a painting, but I want to infuse the painting with the character of the person I’m painting. It’s about the celebration of the moment.”
Froese says he is grateful for the opportunity to display his work back in his hometown.
“It’s a lovely homecoming. For all kinds of reasons, when I left Altona, it was cutting the ties. It wasn’t a spiteful thing. It’s been easy returning to my roots and it’s incredibly rewarding. Some of my work is about my forebears, with a ton of admiration I have for them. I feel very fortunate that I was raised in a caring, loving home, and that’s what matters in the Mennonite pieces.”
The Gardens on Tenth Art Gallery began when the seniors’ residence opened. Tenants Elizabeth Falk and Wes Sawatzky made it their mission to make sure that art would always be an important element in the interior spaces.
When Sawatzky retired from these efforts, Lloyd Loewen and Lois Braun were recruited to help Falk carry the mission forward, with the help of staffer Sara Bueckert. Together, they created a program where they identified one main space and a few secondary spaces and purchased and installed hardware for the rotation of three-month art exhibits throughout the year, usually one-person shows.
Froese is the third artist to participate in the program. Previous artists were Rick and Grace Kornelson, and Olga Krahn.
The upcoming winter season will feature the photography of Timmothy Loewen.
Supplied photos
