Check out what our growing community of local artists has to offer
The Gwen Fox Gallery’s All Members Show takes place a few times a year and is an exhibition of the very best that the region’s artists have to offer. With no theme and the opportunity for all members of the Gallery to participate, what happens is that the show has a little bit of something in everyone’s preferred styles and a lot of really great art on display.
The gallery is open Tuesday to Saturday from 11 a.m. until 4 p.m. and late on Thursdays until 8 p.m. It’s always free to visit the gallery, so feel free to stop on in.
Below is some information about a few of the artists who are participating in the show.
Sarah Allen
Allen is a watercolour artist who uses colour to tell the stories of places as well as create illustrations.
“A lot of my inspiration comes from the local area in Selkirk and the Interlake region. I’m a bike rider. So, I am fortunate enough to be able to get out and see lots of sights. When you move slowly on a bike, you often see more than when you’re in the car. I’ve found, since I’ve gotten into my artwork, my bike rides have gotten slower because I’m stopping every kilometer to take a snap,” she said.
She has two pieces in the show this month. The first is of the iconic Selkirk Lift Bridge and features the ribbons that represent the need for more awareness of, as well as our community’s loss of, our Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women, Girls, and Two-Spirited people.
“I often use the pedestrian path when I’m riding my bike, because there are some nice trails that are over the other side of the river. (My painting,) the focus of it really is the red ribbons. Often when I’m riding over the bridge and there’s a wind in the right direction, they brush my arm as I go past,” said Allen.
Though she is not Indigenous, she explained that the physical touch of the ribbons as she pedals past brings thoughts of the people who are missing to mind and it’s even more significant being on an iconic structure in our community, so she wanted to paint it.
The second image is of a beautiful sunset at Oak Hammock Marsh.
“I purely just wanted to have a go at doing a sunset. My husband went out on a bike ride towards Oak Hammock Marsh and snapped a pic. And I just loved the purple clouds and the height of the sun. So, it was a good challenge,” she said.
Allen has been an artist at heart for many years now, but has really started to work on her art in the past few years since some of her time has become her own again.
“I always enjoyed doing art at school. It was potentially a route that I was going to go down for study. I ended up going down the science route instead, which I have no regrets and I’ve managed to pick it up again now that my children are not babies. They’re out of diapers, so I have a little bit more time to do that. I also just love reading books with them and exploring the illustrations in them. So, I started doing some illustration work, doing name paintings for family members, and now I’m really enjoying just being a bit more focused on what I’d like to do and just trying to make nice pictures, really, that my kids like,” she said.
Allen has been an artist with the gallery for a few months now and appreciates the opportunity that the gallery gives to local artists, especially because of their many multi-artist shows that take place throughout the year.
“I just took the step to walk in here one day and spoke with a lovely lady and showed her some of my work, and she encouraged me to submit a piece for the Selkirk themed show. And it’s a lovely building, a lovely group of people, and it’s fun having these All Members Shows, because it’s two pieces to submit, so it’s not a big task. It also means that it’s almost like a school project. I’ve got to get these in for this date. It encourages you to work on the project and also to call it a day,” she said.
She encourages residents to check out the All Members Show this month.
“Just come on in and chat with the volunteers that are here for the day. I’m sure they’re super keen to have a conversation with anyone who walks in the door and there’s no pretense. It’s a very relaxed environment, very friendly, and it’s just a wonderful part of the community,” said Allen.
Lorraine Bartecki
Bartecki is an abstract acrylic artist who uses bright colours in her pieces that pop off the wall.
“It’s abstract art, and it’s in the eyes of the beholder. Every beholder sees something totally different that is in the picture that I don’t see, or you don’t see, but someone else might see,” she said.
The first piece that she has in the show this month is called Crashing Rock.
“There was no primary reason why it started. I just loved the colours, and I did acrylic pour for it, and it just happened,” she said.
Her other piece is called Stained Glass, and it has a completely different but equally vibrant colour palette.
“It was one picture, then it evolved to another picture, and then I started putting some textures on it, and then I looked at it, and I thought, ‘Yeah, that looks like stained glass.’ And then I thought, ‘What is behind this stained glass? What kind of possibilities are there behind it?’,” she said.
Bartecki explained that her inspirations vary and that she uses the world around her to shape her art.
She said that her artistic journey started relatively recently because of some health problems.
“Anybody that’s disabled out there or has any kind of health problems is able to sit and do something that you never think is possible. So that’s what started it two years ago,” she said.
Being a Winnipeg artist, you’d think that coming all the way to Selkirk would be a bit of a journey, but the Gwen Fox Gallery was just what she was looking for.
“I wanted a smaller gallery to begin with. I didn’t want to do anything in Winnipeg because they (have) got big galleries, and I probably would get lost in the shuffle, which is understandable. I’m a new artist,” Bartecki said.
For newer artists like herself who are just at the very beginning of their journeys, she says to be brave.
“You have to have in your heart knowing that something is going to come out of it, which you love. If anybody else doesn’t love it, it’s their problem,” she said.
She hopes that residents will stop by this month to see what the gallery has to offer.
“I am looking at the artwork right now, and it’s exceptional,” she said.
Bartecki also wants to thank her sister Loretta Flemming, who has supported her throughout her journey.
Lana Elliott
Elliott is an artist who makes acrylic pieces that combine expressionism, abstraction and storytelling.
“Most of my art is my therapy, just getting lost in the reminiscence of memories, bringing it to life in a new way, and it can (resonate with) everybody,” said Elliott.
She has been creating since she was young and attributes her creativity to her family.
“Since I was a teenager, I would always do art. My heritage is Icelandic, Scottish, and Métis. So, I learned to craft. I remember helping my amma, which is grandma in Icelandic, she would always do little arts and crafts, and we would even make homemade glue. The tablecloth was homemade. It was crocheted or knitted, and sugar water would press it. And so, I’m very enriched in my heritage across the board,” said Elliott.
She explained that she has worked caring for people for most of her life and so her art serves as a space for herself.
“All my life, I was taking care of people from working with Indigenous communities and helping build Jordan’s Principal, we’re the third in Canada, to being a healthcare worker, to being a teacher, to learning from the grassroots how important communication is. I learned ASL third level, so that I could reach in and bridge those gaps. So, it’s been a new experience here. I wanted a calmer (way of life and to go) back to my roots, so I embrace it all. This is my break, time off to just decompress and therapeutically create,” said Elliott.
These two pieces in the gallery this month are the first pieces that she created since she moved to Selkirk earlier this year.
The first is called Beyond the Sunset.
“It is a depiction of grieving someone that’s still alive and our loved ones who are beyond. I find comfort in sunsets because it’s like you’re having a warm hug from beyond, and you still feel your loved ones, even though they’re somewhere else,” she said.
Elliott explained that her second piece, Echoed Whisper has a bit more of a complicated background.
“The second piece is very dark and yet about new beginnings, where it is about trauma. It’s about all the layers of the pain of the world, and shedding your skin, shedding those layers to be back to who you are. It is Echoed Whisper. It’s for addiction, it’s for trauma, and it’s for (reminding people) that there’s hope,” said Elliott.
Elliott is a new member of the Gwen Fox Gallery and explained that she felt a pull to stop by and check it out.
“Every time I drove by, I was just very curious, and something just pulled me in this direction. It’s a very welcoming place, absolutely so I feel that it’s time for me to share,” she said.
As for people who might also be interested in creating art in our community, Elliott welcomes them to check out the gallery and not give up on their dreams.
