Articulated Places By Edie Marshall
Oil Paintings on TerraSkin paper exhibited in the Cloakroom Gallery
Edie Marshall is a Saskatchewan landscape painter who is interested in the environment, the history, and the culture of the land. Most of her work is about the prairies where she finds an unlimited and often overlooked source of colours and shapes, ideas, and images. Edie paints large energetic canvases and small intimate ones as a way to describe the vastness and energy of the land with its diverse and unique ecosystems. Edie’s studio is located in Regina, Saskatchewan, and whenever possible she works outdoors researching new ideas, often with brush in hand.
The Last Cowboy and a New Generation By Judy Gunter
Photographs exhibited in the Museum Gallery
Judy Gunter is a lifelong ranch-woman as well as a self-taught photographer. She brings her insight into the colour, light, and rhythms of ranching to all her photographs, so viewers too can experience the lifestyle that is the southern Prairie’s foundation. Part of Judy Gunter’s aesthetic is her faith in being able to make her camera see what she sees. She does not edit her photos as many digital photographers do; she allows them to speak as they were made. This immediacy is the start of the viewer’s encounter with Judy Gunter’s land and life near Val Marie.
2015 Artist Residency Program
In 2015 Prairie Wind & Silver Sage proudly hosted the second year of its artist residency program in partnership with Grasslands National Park, funded by the Saskatchewan Arts Board and SaskCulture/Saskatchewan Lotteries. Out of a wide range of excellent applications, the residency selection committee announced five artist residencies that took place between between June and September.
Carolyn Caldwell – Helena, MT; June 7 – June 21
Carolyn Caldwell is an experienced exhibiting landscape artist and teacher who works in pastels, oils, and acrylics. She is passionate about preserving natural landscapes and works with land trusts to protect areas of natural beauty. On June 13 Carolyn Caldwell led a plein air painting workshop Celebrating the Vast Grasslands and Landforms in Grasslands National Park. And she offered a one-hour drop-in outdoor painting workshop for park visitors. During her residency, Carolyn Caldwell also painted close to natural vistas in Grasslands National Park, near the sign that said Please Talk to the Artist at Work!
Six paintings by Carolyn Caldwell were made in 2015 as part of the Artist Residency program. The images were reproduced as note cards and sold by PWSS as a legacy donated by Carolyn Caldwell in support of the work of Prairie Wind & Silver Sage.
Bonnie A. Conly – Grasswood, SK; July 4-14
Bonnie A. Conly is a multi-disciplinary artist. She is an active member of Saskatchewan’s art community and is dedicated to a visual art practice while teaching full time in Saskatoon. Bonnie A. Conly has shown her work in selected galleries across Canada. During her residency Bonnie hosted a number of Post Card Trails flexible nature walks, when she led visitors to create postcards using sketching kits provided by the residency program. You can view and purchase Bonnie’s original hand-drawn post cards at Prairie Wind & Silver Sage.
Adam Hill – Brackendale, BC; August 6-20
Adam Hill is a folk/roots music singer, a guitar picker, a songwriter, a bassist, a recording engineer and a composer of contemporary classical music. He creates music with pencils, paper, computers, and a variety of instruments, and has written songs, symphonies, and suites and released three albums of new-timey music. He also performs creations of other songwriters and composers. During his residency, Adam Hill hosted a number of UNEXPECTED MUSICAL ENCOUNTERS and created a musical piece constructed from recordings of conversations, found sounds, acoustic instrument and electronic manipulators that addresses the impact of the dark sky, which will be installed at Prairie Wind & Silver Sage. On Saturday, August 15, Adam gave a terrific CONCERT and then people played and sang and danced at the OPEN MIC that followed. Adam Hill’s website is adamhillmusic.com
Of the Last Quiet Places was written by composer and performer Adam Hill as apart of the 2015 artist residency program. Click the link below to listen.
https://misteradamhill.bandcamp.com/track/of-the-last-quiet-places
Steven Ross Smith – Banff, AB; September 1-15
Steven Ross Smith is a Canadian poet, sound poet, fiction writer, teacher, arts journalist, and arts activist. He has published over a dozen books and his work has appeared in countless periodicals, special editions, booklets, chapbooks, and pamphlets as well as on CD. His five volumes of fluttertongue poems (the sixth, Emanations, is forthcoming with Bookthug in fall 2015) have been described as a dance with words that pushes the boundaries of both language and poetry. He has extensive experience leading programs, workshops, and residencies and has been a long time contributor to Saskatchewan’s writing community. During his residency, Steven Ross Smith led WORD-WALK-WRITING writing workshops for students at the Val Marie School as well as a one-day, preregistered WORD-WALK-WORKSHOP writing workshop in Grasslands National Park and Val Marie open to writers in all genres and of all levels of experience. He also offered PERSONAL ONE-ON-ONE CONSULTATIONS with writers. In addition to his scheduled activities, Steven hosted an Open Mic at the Val Marie Hotel on September 11, with WORDS AND MUSIC contributed by many talented performers in Val Marie. Steven Ross Smith’s website is fluttertongue.ca
Shaw Street Collective – Toronto, ON; September 13-27
On Saturday September 26, the skilled and talented Shaw Street Collective presented the world premiere of the ensemble’s new musical work written in Val Marie and the Grasslands, with contributions from the students of Val Marie School and from local photographers. The Collective also performed pieces from their repertoire of original compositions, improvisations and classics. Further performances of this concert were then heard on tour from Saskatchewan to Ontario after the residency.
The Shaw Street Collective is a flexible classical music ensemble who record and perform everything from classics to experimental and new pieces. The music of The Shaw Street Collective is diverse, exploratory, and always filled with passion and excitement. The combination of instruments – trombone, trumpet, voice, and percussion, with guest artists providing added depth – gives the ensemble a fresh sound while allowing lots of room to do justice to classics of Western art music. During the Shaw Street Collective’s residency, its members offered sound walks, natural improv, improv concerts and sound and image clinics for schools, met with local photographers, sang and played at church on Sunday, and worked the bar for Val Marie’s annual September Rodeo.