View work by Sandra Atimowich, Iris Bidinosti, Bev Hart and Lillian Kazuk
Have you been down to the Gwen Fox Gallery lately? If not, now is the month to make a trip with Sandra Atimowich, Iris Bidinosti, Bev Hart and Lillian Kazuk bringing four completely different but daring styles of work to the gallery walls in their exhibition, Expressions.
Sandra Atimowich
Record Photos by Katelyn Boulanger
Atimowich is the type of artist who continues to challenge the creativity of the mediums that she works in. With mixed-medium paintings, which include acrylic and resin which make her work three-dimensional, her work literally stands out this month.
“I’m actively involved with all kinds of art. So, I would say my style of art is really dimensional. I try to bring depth. I always want the viewer to look deeper. I don’t want you to just look at the painting,” said Atimowich.
She finds the inspiration for her work from nature.
“Everything around is a gift like the clouds, the sun, the way the sun hits, anything. Getting to see that shadow to me is, it’s beauty all around us. You have to look for the hidden messages in everything,” she said.
This emphasis on dimension that residents will see in her work began at the very beginning of her art journey as she started creating when her grandmother taught her to make Ukrainian Easter Eggs.
“My grandmother taught me Ukrainian eggs at age five. That’s how I learned all the values and colour mixing because with Ukrainian eggs the dimension [is created] with opposites. You go from a white egg, you wax what you want white, you go into yellow, you wax in the yellow. So, as a child, I learned that you start at one layer, and you keep building and building and the reveal is the end,” said Atimowich.
She found this idea to be very intriguing and has continued to create ever since and also inspires others to create through her work as an art teacher.
Atimowich says that her style as an art teacher is not to teach people how to make art her way but to help people find their way of creating.
“I’m not there to teach them my style, or my inner ideas. I’m there to see what they do. I want to I want to bring forth what I see in them. And their journey is their journey,” she said.
She invites residents to check out the show at the Gwen Fox Gallery this month and support the many local artists who exhibit there.
“Coming into a gallery to see something, to discover the inner beauty in themselves by looking through other people’s art is really a gift,” said Atimowich.
Iris Bidinosti
Record Photos by Katelyn Boulanger
Bidinosti is a very busy artist in our art community. She is a bark caver that residents may have heard of because of her work being in a provincial carving competition earlier this year. This month at the gallery, residents will have the chance to see many more of her pieces.
“[My work is] all carved out of cottonwood bark and the bark is only taken off dead trees and the thicker the bark, the better,” she said.
The style of her carvings has a whimsical edge and often involves some type of architecture. The houses, castles and cottages are closer to the homes you’d assume fairy tale creatures might live in than people, which makes it so that you keep discovering more fun elements the longer you look at a piece.
Bidinosti has discovered that creating her art is a place of peace for her.
“It’s a really good stress reliever. It’s a good thing to focus on. Sometimes with our life you’re doing this, you’re doing that, but when I get carving, that’s all I do,” she said.
It was a family member who suggested that Bidinosti start carving but she came to bark carving through experimentation in the medium.
“I took a class in bark carving and immediately loved it because it was unstructured. If you’re carving a bird or an animal, there’re certain things that you really have to do in order for it to look like a bird or an animal, with the bark carving, your imagination can run wild,” she said.
She encourages beginners to join a group of like-minded people and try different things to challenge themselves.
“When I started, I joined a carving group that is operating here in Selkirk [the] Catfish Carvers. I did take lessons in bird carving and I took lessons in animal carving. I did a polar bear at one time and then I took one in the bark carving and that was my love,” she said.
She encourages residents to check out not just Expressions but to take a peak in the gift shop at the Gwen Fox Gallery.
“The gift shop has got such a nice variety of art and price wise. There are lots of cards, greeting cards for every occasion. If [visitors] come to look at the art, they can also check that out,” she said.
Bev Hart
Record Photos by Katelyn Boulanger
Hart’s art definitely expresses itself in this month’s exhibit. Her unstructured pieces bring forward emotion and movement with her impressionist-like style.
“My art mostly comes out of happy feelings and fun things from my past that I have pleasant memories [connected] to. Most of my art comes from some memory of my life growing up as a child or through the years,” said Hart.
Her inspiration comes from those memories.
“I had a good childhood. I was raised on the farm. I had good parents. I have a lot of memories and it’s funny how the memories keep coming up. The older I get, I’ll get a little memory from somewhere in the past and so I paint about it and it’s kind of fun,” said Hart.
Her art, even at the very beginning of her journey, has had family at the centre of it as, after her husband bought her some paints, she teamed up with her siblings on a joint project.
“My sister, at the time, she had a bed and breakfast in Coronation, Alberta. She wanted me to paint art for the walls, [and] she made the soup, and my brother did the construction,” said Hart.
At that time, she was painting things like animals and flowers, but that has since evolved into an expressive painting style that fuels her.
“It’s a very good therapeutic part of life is to put paint on [canvas]. It doesn’t have to be perfect, just play with it and it feels good,” said Hart.
She wants new painters to know that there is no one way to paint and if you don’t like it — paint over it.
“My advice is just to paint, and for people that have never painted before, you don’t have to buy expensive paint. You can buy paint at the dollar stores or wherever and just put it out there and play with it,” she said.
Hart encourages residents to come to the gallery because there are pieces that you’re likely to connect with.
“Come to the gallery and check out the art and let it entertain you. Some pieces will make you smile and that’s a good thing. You should have pieces in your home that make you smile,” said Hart.
Lillian Kazuk
Record Photos by Katelyn Boulanger
Kazuk is the most realistic-style artist in the galley but don’t let that fool you. She is a storyteller with her art expressing what rural farming life is all about in oil and watercolour.
“We have beautiful waterways, we have beautiful lakes and natural environment around us all the time. I want other people to appreciate what I appreciate. I also have a very strong farming [influence] that I think should be recognized. I would like people to remember or better yet not forget where our food comes from,” said Kazuk.
She explained that her images of farming equipment or aspects of farm life represent all of the hard work of farmers as well as the work by farmers’ wives, who are often overlooked but are also essential to the work that needs to be done. She has a strong connection to farming having been married to a farmer and also having parents who farmed.
Her style of art is quite realistic and Kazuk says that the skills she acquired in her career as an interior designer are likely part of what makes her work so detail-oriented.
Kazuk’s artistic journey began with her mother who grew a garden every year. She planned her space to be functional and beautiful and that was very inspirational to Kazuk. From there, her father had some skill in drawing and encouraged her Kazuk to draw horses and instilled in her some map making skills.
As an interior designer, she continued to bring these skills forward as she drew out her designs for others to see.
She started painting again about 15 years ago when she and a friend were inspired by a former teacher to pick up their brushes.
Her advice to people inspired to return to a creative pursuit is to not forget about yourself.
“I remember, there was a time in my life. I could feel the painting wanting to come out of me and there was no physical way I could do it but I think, ‘I should have done it,’ I wish I had given myself more time,” she said.
Residents are encouraged to stop by the Gwen Fox Gallery this month to check out Expressions. The exhibit is up until June 28. The Gwen Fox Gallery is free and welcomes visitors from Tuesday to Saturday from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. They are also open late until 8 p.m. on Thursday evenings.
