Town & Country

Artist Diana Perrson in her home-based studio and gallery. Photo courtesy of Diana Perrson LIFE IN THE PAST LANE PEMBINA THRESHERMEN'S MUSEUM /2 BELL AURA /6 PEACEFUL SANCTUARY Country T T own own & & MANITOBA Editor: Pat St. Germain pdstgermain@gmail.com INSIDE FROM FARM TO FORK THE POTATO STORE /4 Saturday, March 21, 2015 T hat 'mosaic' is on display every SeptemberduringthePembina Valley Studio Tour (www. pembinavalleystudiotour. com), when artists engage with visitors in their studios and workspace. But dozens of artists follow the Manitoba muse year-round throughout the region. Altona resident Lois Braun, 65, is a Pembina Valley Studio Tour (PVST) committee member, and although she is not an artist herself, she has been a long-time supporter of the arts. She says artists reflect their environment and allow the community to interpret that environment in new ways. "Artists provide the design and structure on which a community bases its perception of its surroundings," she says. "They stimulate and release the emotions of a community and that enriches everyone's inner lives." PVST artist Diana Perrson, 48, calls herself a South African "import." She is a watercolourist, producing paint- ings, prints and greeting cards out of her home-based North Window Studio and Gallery, a few miles out of Mor- den. A member of the Manitoba Soci- ety of Artists, she has participated in the Winnipeg Art Expo and in exhib- itions hosted by the Winkler Arts and Culture group. She describes her style as contemporary realism. "I paint a variety of subjects, mostly things around me in my home, my garden and in my daily contact," she says. "I am surrounded by a prairie land- scape trimmed with some brush oak trees alongside a dry creek bed, which is beautiful in every passionate Mani- toba season." While being a newcomer in a rural setting adds to the diversity of the lo- cal culture, it can also be a potentially isolating experience, so she works at fostering connection with her new life and the community through her art. "Life gives us all kinds of gifts and surprises, and it's in noticing the de- tails of it that I feel particularly en- gaged," she says. "Engaging with the present makes me feel I am part of the world around me, and my paintings are a record of my connection with it." Morden-based artist Marilyn Young paints with acrylic on canvas and dyes on silk and does some work in watercolour as well. She admired the silk painting that a friend had been do- ing and decided to try her hand. She has now been painting for 34 years. "As an artist I always encourage people in any medium," she says. "I've taught numerous painting classes and I like to encourage the beginner as much as possible." Young's work can be found at Pem- bina Hills Arts Centre, and her silk scarves are available at the Portage & District Arts Centre and the scrap- booking store in Winkler. She partici- pates when Winkler Arts & Culture mounts an exhibition as well as dur- ing the PVST, when she has over 100 pieces on display. "The Pembina Valley Studio Tour is an amazing opportunity to display my art collection to the hundreds of people from many places and to invite them to see my home studio where it all happens," she says. Young and other artists share a col- lective website (www.prairielandart- ists.com ) and are planning a Country Christmas show this November. She's spent the last three years painting Morden's historical buildings for an exhibition which will take place at the Pembina Hills Arts Centre in July and August. Gretna artist Lloyd L. Letkemen be- came Mennonite Collegiate Institute's first Visual Arts instructor in 1994 and taught the class for 11 years. "It was after resigning from teaching that I began to paint in acrylics, ex- plore mixed media and make the step of showing my works in the Pembina Valley Artist's Studio Tour," he says. Letkemen's works range from real- ism to abstract expressionism as it develops and changes from year to year. Textural representation and in- corporation is also a common theme in his art. "I am drawn to my surroundings or unique settings associated with my travels or the travels of my colleagues," he says. And this is informed by his work for a Christian Mission agency. Recently, he has been working col- laboratively with other artists, which he describes as "life-giving." He has collaborated with poet Mick Friesen in interpreting each other's work. And as a member of the Buffalo Creek Art- ists he has done theme work where artists share their interpretations of an assigned theme. "All of these experiences demon- strate how art, community and cul- ture are inter-dependent upon one another," he says. ❙ CHASINGTHEMUSE ArtistsreflectthePrairielandscape Artists can be seen as the creative lifeblood of the communities in which they live, each of them contributing a colourful piece to the cultural mosaic unique to their region. By Wendy King For the Free Press !#$%&%&%$ &%# $ $$!!!$&!$$%$!!&#&%!$ %!& &!!# !$%#$&%# $!#$%$! % &%&%!&$%#%$$!&% %&$ $!$#& $!& $ %# !$$!%!$&&!#$% !&$ " !#$% & %& %$ & %# $ $ $ ! ! !$&!$$% $! !&#&% !$ % !& &! !# !$ %# $& %# $ !#$% $!

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