ARRIVALS WINNIPEG’S HIDDEN TREASURES
Not just art but artists By Joan Cohen
T
he fact may not be widely known among Winnipeg- gers generally, but art authorities here have no trouble agreeing: some terrific art is being created in this city. “I’d say the calibre of what is produced here is pretty
incredible for a city that is not a huge urban centre like Toron- to or New York or Vancouver,” offers Helen Delacratez, chief curator at the city-owned Winnipeg Art Gallery. “Tere’s re- ally strong and very exciting material being produced here.” She singles out painter Marcel Dzema, “one of the darlings of the art world, probably one of the hottest artists out there.” Marcel, in his 30s, now lives in New York, but began his career in his native Winnipeg. Two of his longtime painter buddies, Michael Dumontier and Neil Farber, stayed on here but have built strong followings across this continent and in Europe. “You could go on and on. Tere’s lots of them,” says Helen.
“Tey’re in the big galleries, they’re being collected by major, major institutions.” Helen’s description of a vibrant art – and arts - community
is heartily echoed by Winnipeg’s leading commercial gallery operators. “Winnipeg’s a great incubator for the arts,” says Shaun
Mayberry, a knowledgeable, second-generation member of the venerable, family-run Mayberry Fine Art Gallery. “We have a lot of artists. We have the Winnipeg School of Art, founded 80 or 90 years ago; and we have the Winnipeg Art Gallery, one of the oldest art galleries in the country.” “I think as a place for art Winnipeg is spectacular,” vol- unteers Howard Gurevich, of Gurevich Fine Art, a still young but influential art gallery focused on contemporary art. “We’ve created a really good pool of very talented artists.” Helen points out that most of the successful artists got their
start in non-commercial galleries where they can work and put their work on display. Winnipeg has its share of art lov- ers who collect works by local artists and are ready to throw their support and advocacy behind a talented painter; the oc- casional artist can make a good living from their art. At the pinnacle of the Winnipeg art scene, alongside the
Winnipeg Art Gallery, are a handful of commercial galleries and, importantly, the professional artists – local or from some place in Canada – whose work lines their walls. Tese artists stand apart. Always a tiny proportion of the visual artists in any community, these people have made the brave decision to hone their talent so that it can produce a living wage and allow them to compete with the best. Galleries such as Mayberry, Gurevich and Loch have the
formidable and deeply human job of selecting the artists and promoting them by introducing their work to galleries and agents in the world beyond Manitoba’s boundaries. And these commercial galleries have taken on another major function: collecting and assisting collectors in Winnipeg and across the country in building their collections of historic 19th century and early 20th century art.
The Hub
“Crowe’s Island, Lake of the Woods” by Walter J. Phillips (1884-1963).
Summer 2014 • 43
Courtesy of Mayberry Fine Art.
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