An Arborg-based artist who’s best known for his cartoons and thunder gourd art turned his artistic talents to snow last week, bringing a smile and a laugh to people across the region and beyond.
After an intense cold snap, temperatures took a turn for the better and Jerry Maryniuk set to work on making a Snoopy sculpture in his front yard.
Express Photos Courtesy of Jerry and Sharon Maryniuk
Arborg artist Jerry Maryniuk raised a smile with his snowy rendition of Snoopy, the famous beagle from the comic strip Peanuts
Maryniuk, who re-joined the Interlake Wave Artists Tour after a short hiatus, said there’s nothing he won’t try. He and wife were enjoying the snow and Maryniuk thought he’d throw a snowball at her -before realizing he knew better! She suggested he put his energy towards building a snowman.
Because there really wasn’t enough snow for a “good-sized” sculpture – and he didn’t want to haul in snow – he opted for a relatively small creation. And feeling inspired, he wanted to do something more than a snowman.
“With all the events going on south of the border and across the world, I wanted a sculpture that would be fun. The only art I do now has to put a smile on my face or somebody else’s face,” said Maryniuk. “I thought Snoopy would be a good subject.”
Snoopy is the pet beagle of Charlie Brown in the comic strip Peanuts, which was created by American cartoonist Charles M. Schulz and debuted in a number of newspapers in 1950. Snoopy loved to read, write, create art, collect art and embark on imaginative adventures such as pretending his doghouse was a WWI fighter aircraft and he was a flying ace up against the Red Baron.
Maryniuk has past experience with ice/snow sculpting. When he was in the air force in the 1970s and stationed in Quebec, he went really big, so to speak, bringing in first prize for a life-sized dinosaur sculpture he and other air force members made at the Quebec Winter Carnival.
“Ice sculpting is not something I’m an expert at,” said Maryniuk. “I’m a much better cartoonist and sculptor of clay than snow.”
Snoopy sure resonated with people on social media, said Maryniuk. He posted photos on a local social media site and got about 1,155 responses plus over 100 more comments and shares. He got around 120 responses and over 50 comments on his own Facebook page.
“We couldn’t believe our eyes with the number of comments we got. We had people from Alberta and Saskatchewan commenting. We had neighbours driving by,” he said. “To me it was refreshing. People said it put a smile on their face. More than ever, with all the doom and gloom, I think people need something to laugh and smile about. I accomplished my goal to put a smile on people’s faces.”
Feeling inspired after Canada beat America in the 4 Nations Face-off hockey tournament last month, Maryniuk grabbed his pencils and drew a cartoon, featuring a young boy with a battered hockey stick telling his mom “We won.”
“We won the tournament, but it was a battle,” said Maryniuk. “During my childhood growing up in rural Manitoba, we played hockey with passion. My first jersey was a Gordie Howe jersey.”
Having moved to Arborg last year from a rural property about five miles west of town, Maryniuk has set up his art studio in his garage and will be taking part in the summertime Wave Artists Studio Tour, which allows people to visit artists’ studios across the Interlake.
In the meantime, he’s busy taking part in a Winnipeg Police Service Retired PTSD Peer Support Group that he and other retired police officers organized. And he’ll be offering sculpting classes in May in conjunction with Arborg’s Creative Cocoon (dates to be announced).
Because Snoopy was such a hit, Maryniuk said the pressure’s on to create more sculptures next winter. And he also had people reach out to him with job offers.
“I did get a couple of sculpting offers and I’ll think about it because I certainly like my community in the Interlake,” he said.
