Kerrobert Art Gallery showcases two Saskatchewan artists
By Joan Janzen
Kerrobert Courtroom Gallery is currently featuring the work of two Saskatchewan artists. The opening reception is scheduled for the evening of November 7, and the show will be on display until the end of 2024. Gordon Bland's "Allegories: Meditations on Religion and Society" and Leslie Stadnichuk's "Florals and Other Daydreams" are being showcased at the Kerrobert Gallery.
Leslie Stadnichuk resides on a farm east of Saskatoon during the warmer months and in Saskatoon during the colder months. "I started drawing in 1992 and ran out of interest, so I advanced into painting," she explained. "I went to a folk art class, and the teacher was amazing; we came out with a work of art that looked like we had been painting for years." She's also taken classes in pastels, watercolours, and acrylic painting but now works exclusively in oils.
Kerrobert Courtroom Gallery is showcasing the work of two Saskatchewan artists: Gordon Bland and Leslie Stadnichuk. Photos by Joan Janzen, click for larger images
"The first painting I did was an amaryllis for my living room for Christmas. I tried it and was so shocked it worked that I just kept going," she said. Leslie has spent the past two decades capturing the beauty of creation in both her florals and landscapes; however, she admits she is obsessed with flowers.
"I love the boldness of the flowers. If you get the background right, they can leap off the page. That's kind of my goal for them to be dramatic," she said.
She finds oils much easier to work with because they blend much easier. However, a large floral painting takes 30 - 60 hours to complete. "The hard part about painting is when you get halfway done a painting, it doesn't look very good, but you have to keep going," she said.
Now that Leslie is retired, she plans to keep on going, but she is spending less time painting and more time babysitting her grandchild.
Gordon Bland is a North Battleford artist who obtained degrees in Political Science and Education at the U of S. He taught in Prince Albert for 30 years and has been interested in art for as long as he can remember.
He attended workshops taught by many excellent tutors and designed sets for amateur theatre groups and two plays for Persephone Theatre in Saskatoon.
"I explore the allegorical potential of geometric forms, using intense colour and varied texture, playing with balance and imbalance to suggest meaning," Gordon Bland said about this series of acrylic paintings. "For want of a better term, I am referring to the illustrative style I have used in this series of paintings as narrative abstraction."
Visitors to the art gallery will appreciate the diversity offered by these two exhibits. They will also be able to meet both artists in person at the opening reception on Thursday evening.