Rural artists and mentor make Winnipeg exhibition stand out
The Nine Perspectives art exhibition at 210 Gallery in Winnipeg is on now until Feb. 21. This show combines the work of nine rural artists, including Balmoral’s Joy Billings, as a conclusion to a six-month mentorship and exhibition program led by St. Andrews artist and educator Jordan Miller.
Jordan Miller presenting at the Nine Perspectives art exhinition
Nine Perspectives highlights both individual artistic voices and the shared learning that emerged through a focused process centred on professional growth, clarity of practice, and exhibition readiness.
Miller formerly owned and retired from Cre8ery Gallery & Studio, which was in Winnipeg, and is now a full-time artist and art mentor. With her years of experience in the gallery space, she has a great deal of knowledge that is helpful to artists wanting to take steps to market their work.
“I have mentored artists in the business side of art. A lot of my job at Cre8ery was to do all the marketing behind the shows, the show setup, and the presentation and helping artists with the layout of their pieces and considerations like pricing their art and all of that,” said Miller.
She was invited to teach this six-month mentorship program and share her knowledge.
“I tried to teach in three sessions, everything that I could possibly tell them about their career as an artist. It was a lot,” she said.
Miller explained that though many artists learn how to create their paintings and how to look at an object and translate it into a visual art piece there are other skills, like applying for shows, framing, to writing an artist statement, bio, what a CV is, and how to build a brand are all things that aren’t as well known.
“All of those factors really come into play when you’re trying to come up with an exhibition or a body of work,” said Miller.
She explained that she didn’t personally choose the art that ended up in the exhibition, but through the mentorship work that the students did together, they all came back with work that, though in their own styles, blended cohesively into one exhibition.
“Each wall has this really beautiful flow together unintentionally. We didn’t plan that. There are crossovers so that one wall really fits the other three walls in the gallery. There’s just this really beautiful flow from artist to artist, where each artist has their own perspective and their voice, and then it translates,” said Miller.
Miller also credits the staff at 210 Gallery for their work putting the show together and getting all the finishing touches right.
Her favourite part of the experience was connecting with fellow artists.
“I love being that person who can support other artists in their journey because I didn’t have that when I was starting out as an artist or as a gallery owner. There was nobody who could really help me,” she said.
One of the artists who she was able to mentor through this program, from the local area, is Joy Billings, who lives in Balmoral.
She describes her art as vibrant, a little bit raw, very moody and expressive.
“A lot of it is inspired by journal entries and a lot of my struggles over the years with anxiety and depression. My work is often just taking those negative emotions that I’m feeling and processing them and working through them and transforming them into more positive energy,” said Billings.
She combines acrylic paintings with different elements like paper collage, paint markers, and spray paint to create her art.
Billings was glad when she learned that submissions were open for this mentorship program.
“I got quite excited, because I’ve been looking for a mentorship program for quite a while now,” she said.
She explained that the program involved a lot of coaching on presentation, and establishing professionalism as emerging artists.
As rural artists, there are additional challenges that people from outside of Winnipeg face when establishing themselves as artists and a mentorship program directed specifically to rural artists helped to address some of those barriers.
“I’m kind of in my own little bubble often. The greatest takeaway for me was just getting that outside perspective from somebody who has been down that path,” said Billings.
Nine Perspectives is also Billing’s first exhibition, though you can find some of her prints hanging in Fry-Day’s Restaurant & Lounge in Teulon.
Miller hopes that area residents who are headed into Winnipeg swing by the gallery, check out the show, and support these nine artists.
“I feel that it’s a strong exhibition and that art should be respected by the public. It’s not just for artists to go and see and celebrate, but also to have people come and view the work and celebrate the mentorship program and support the gallery and the artists,” said Miller.
To learn more about the exhibition, check out www.210gallery.ca/exhibitions/nine-perspectives.
