Spotlight on...Anthony Steffes

Anthony Steffes has been an artist at Pulse Gallery since it opened.  He is well known as an arts educator as well as an artist, and his work reflects his generous, innovative, and explorative nature.

His new series of matted and framed small works are acrylic on textile, and he has been able to use the surface and sheen of the fabric to embed detail and texture.  These pieces are lovely, and worth viewing in person.  

 In Anthony's own words, 

As an experimental artist I am interested in playing with mediums, found objects, and just about anything that has pattern or texture to develop layered pieces that challenge the imagination of the viewer. Inspiration begins with objects and materials that I must possess. My art process involves purposely creating difficulties, confusing myself and avoiding anything that I can easily control, exactly the opposite of the way I choose to live. Visual references from the performing arts, nature, the garden, and prior art experience, guide my creative process. My pieces intend to inspire fantasy, evoke memories, and tempt the viewer to indulge in something not easily defined. 

Urban Landscape--G.A. Knight at Pulse Gallery

Pulse is delighted to welcome Graham Knight as a special event artist for the month of February, culminating in a reception and show on the evening of February 21.  Please consider attending--it promises to be a though-provoking and enjoyable evening.  Details are below.

Graham is a highly accomplished visual artist whose subject matter is the tough and uncompromising urban landscape.  He finds beauty in the textures and rhythms of the city.

Though he was born in Winnipeg, he was educated in Los Angeles and heavily influenced by the architecture and ethos of Chicago during his time there. 

Graham's artist statement gives some brief background:

G.A Knight, a local artist born and raised in Winnipeg, honed his artistic proclivity at the Fullerton College of Fine Arts in Los Angeles, where upon graduating he began freelance painting in L.A.After successfully gaining interest for his early work, G.A set off to Chicago where he absorbed his urban surroundings , and has projected them onto many canvasses, including some displayed here today. High profile buyers of G.A's work include; Film Director David Lynch , Film producer Neil Edelstein and United States Navy in Long Beach CA. G.A returned home in 2004 , and has since worked across Manitoba for the C.N railway. He continues to paint in the rudimentary, urban style that reflects this artist's down to earth, gritty demeanor. With ability to plainly recreate a glance out the window, G.A takes us to those moments where we calmly observe our world and use what we see as a backdrop for our thoughts.

We are looking forward to seeing the canvases he will be bringing in for February 21!  We can share a sneak peak of his work (which, by the way looks wonderful against the original bricks of our heritage building), for your consideration and pleasure:

"Canadian Whiskey", 48"x36" acrylic

"Hoodlum", 36"x28" acrylic

"The Red Rock", 36"x28", acrylic

We hope that you can join us for this event.

Focus on Watercolours

Watercolours abound at Pulse.   They are, in many ways, mirrors of our souls and experiences.  They can subtly depict scenes of fantasy or evoke memories of places we have been. With their unique quality of translucence and depth they can be realistic or impressionistic, capturing a moment or experience, transporting the viewer to another place and time.  We are currently displaying many thematically diverse pieces encompassing the full spectrum…. from tranquil, serene lake and prairie scenes to vibrant, colourful urban scenes, to figures caught up in the dance, full of movement and emotion.  We invite you to drop in and experience our collection.

"Where Birches Whisper", Joanne Harris (watercolour on canvas, 40"x60")

"Good Night Prairie", Joanne Harris (watercolour)

"Birch Cove", Joane Harris (watercolour)

"Indigo Street", watercolour

"Before the Crowd", watercolour

"Shades of Scarlet, Tara Revisited", watercolour

"Blue Tango", watercolour

Just in case you missed our Culture Days Schedule on Facebook, here it is again…!

September 27: Bill Shoup (clay) 1-3 pm; Genevie Henderson 3-5 pm
September 28: Wendy Seversen (chainmail) 1-3 pm; Bill Shoup (clay) 2-4 pm; Naomi Gerrard 3-5 pm
September 29: Genevie Henderson 1-3 pm; Bill Shoup (painting) 3-5 pm; Wendy Seversen (chainmail) 2-4 pm
About Culture Days in Manitoba 
Culture Days invites everyone to explore, discover and participate in arts and culture in every community across the country. In 2012, the third annual Culture Days event took place in more than 850 Canadian cities and towns, with attendance topping 1.6 million Canadians. 

This year’s Culture Days weekend will take place on September 27, 28 and 29, 2013. Once again, the event will feature free, hands-on, interactive activities that invite the public to participate “behind the scenes”—and to discover the world of artists, creators, historians, architects, curators, and designers at work in their community.

Beauty by the Brushstroke - Kathleen Crosby

Winnipeg Artist Kathleen Crosby hosts her premiere exhibition at Pulse Gallery, throughout the month of October 2013.  The reception will be at Pulse Gallery on October 11, from 7-9 pm.  

 

Beauty by the Brushstroke

Pulse Gallery spoke with Kathleen Crosby about her upcoming exhibition  "Beauty by the Brushstroke".  When asked for a few words, Kathleen hesitates, and then says quietly, “I’m not a good explainer.”  For Kathleen, the creative process is an intensely emotional and spiritual one, and she mentions that it's difficult to speak about or even understand this aspect of one's self. 

When pressed, however, she haltingly attempts to give some insight into her processes.  "I am trying to encourage the viewer to take notice of the details, the deeper meanings of life.  Also, I want to show life’s energy—unseen energy of emotions, even the energy of what hope would be, the energy of love...  I want to put in what the eye can't see, what the heart knows.  It comes from the spirit and the heart."

Kathleen takes inspiration from nature in all its manifestations -- from physics, science, and the universe itself.  She speaks about trying to capture the cycle of life, and how everything connects together.   

Kathleen's work for the upcoming show is a combination of representational and abstract, including some architecture and landscape pieces. 

Winnipegger Kathleen Crosby fulfilled a lifelong desire when she began to paint professionally in 2007.  Kathleen continually researches, studies, and experiments at producing work that is complex and mysterious, while simultaneously emitting a sense of simplicity, beauty, colour, and joy. She also devotes time to teaching workshops to young aspiring artists.

Her works have been exhibited with the Manitoba Society of Artists and are owned in private collections throughout the country.  A triptych by Kathleen Crosby was unveiled this year in the lobby of the new Mental Health Crisis Response Centre at the Health Science Centre in Winnipeg.  Kathleen can usually be found painting in her Winnipeg Exchange District studio.  Her work can be viewed at Pulse Gallery in the Johnston Terminal at The Forks, Winnipeg.

Colour is everything!

If you visit our gallery often, you will have noticed that we move things around constantly.  Different arrangements, different light conditions, adjacency to different wall colours and textures--all make a difference to how a potential buyer will view a piece of art or an artisan item.  Frequently we have had an item in the gallery for a while, and once it is moved into that "perfect place", it sells right away.  I suppose that it needs to find that place where the viewer can visualize it in their own home, or in the home of a friend or family member receiving a gift.  At any rate, when you find the right placing or combination of items, it is magic.  I walked into the gallery this morning, and this placement of articles took my breath away!

A perfect vignette--"Bella Poppy" triptych (acrylic) by Dale Turner (top); left to right, ceramics by Lou Gaskin, glass by Wendy Seversen, polar bear sculpture by Bill Shoup, and glass by Wendy Seversen.

Creative process - Kathleen Black

It is wonderful to get some insight into an artist's creative process--Kathleen Black has been so generous with the thoughts and inspiration that went into two of her new pieces. 

"Weald Grace", 36"x36", acrylic, 2013

In Kathleen's words, "My husband and I went to Cathedral Grove on Vancouver Island this spring and explored some of the trails and streams nearby. What a lovely and truly cathedral place it is. The day was overcast with some rain and mist, not warm but not cold. It glowed with a wet luminous green and yellow light. There was not a lot of light but so much of it everywhere.The trees do appear to be columns. The carpet red,  blue water and shadow and green velvet moss. I could live there."

"Green and Red Wood", 40"x40", acrylic, glass beads, glass stringers and resin, 2013

"This is an image of some trees off the hiking path walking up Mt. Douglas on Vancouver Island. Again overcast with mist and some rain. Glass stringers simulate the rain.  Glass beads hang onto the edges of everything. This adds not only to the texture but shines, glows, disappears in some light to appear again with a different light.The trees are very textured and come out from the canvas. The purple gray shadows in the birches remind me of parisian light on a cloudy day. The birches push forward and the red woods and cedars stand so firmly in most of the painting."

Our photos give just a glimpse of the complexity of these pieces; full of light and colour, and glimpses of transparency.  The air itself is a presence in Kathleen's work.