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New gallery exhibit pays tribute to the Land of Living Skies

With no big fanfare to introduce their latest exhibit, the Humboldt & District Gallery is letting Greetings from the Land of Living Skies! speak for itself.
Conexus exhibit sponsor
Brenda Duerr (left) stands next to Jill Huls, branch manager of Conexus Credit Union, sponsor of the Greetings from the Land of Living Skies! exhibit.

With no big fanfare to introduce their latest exhibit, the Humboldt & District Gallery is letting Greetings from the Land of Living Skies! speak for itself.

The exhibit showcases art from four different artists and includes media such as paint, ceramics, miniatures, photography, and small copper sculptures. Zoë Schneider is the exhibit’s curator while the art is by Cathy Terepocki, Sandra Knoss, Tina Hudson, and Donn Morton.

“(The artwork) emphasizes the energy and colour of the Saskatchewan landscape … it tries to stylize the landscape to emphasize its diversity,” said Annah Gullacher from the gallery. “The show in general is about iconic Saskatchewan.”

The various mediums depict in different ways scenes and flashes from a perspective that anyone and everyone can relate to. The photos are real and yet have been adjusted so as to bring vibrant hues and detail that normally go unnoticed. Terepocki’s colourful ceramic work brings life and modernism to the old and forgotten memories of the abandoned ghost town, Bents. Other pieces such as the mini copper sculptures are bite-sized versions that people would have seen in their everyday life had they lived on or grown up near a farm.

“(I) was inspired by a visit to remote abandoned Saskatchewan town called Bents,” said Terepocki in her artist statement. “While the buildings, in their various states of decay, were a testament to bygone rural era, the most amazing part of being there was looking at the artifacts that had been left.”

The painted art contains its own story as well. Gullacher says people should take particular note of the vibrant colours used and how the opposing colours in the outline offset them. Much of the art is so bright because it lacks the usual black outlines.

“I think you could think about what (Knoss is) emphasizing,” said Gullacher. “She’s done things very purposefully, so what is she trying to bring our attention to? She highlights the contours of things and you can still see the shape in the land because of those contours.”

The concept Gullacher points out is that these are visuals of Saskatchewan that you could almost find in souvenirs. They remain true to the “iconic” Saskatchewan. According to her, while these are all things people have seen daily, they are “presented in a way that makes them new.”

Considering the wide spectrum of media this new exhibit spans, it’s not difficult to imagine that Schneider placed the artwork together in a deliberate manner.

“It’s unapologetically celebrating our province,” said Gullacher. “It shows both an appreciation for the land as it is today and as it was in the past.”

The exhibit will be on from Feb. 2 to Feb. 23 and was sponsored by Conexus Credit Union.