Works by local artists displayed at Red River Ex

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Published on Tuesday, July 19, 2016

Submitted photos. Gwen Baryla had three pieces accepted into the Create at the Red River Ex Juried Art Show. This piece, called Rhythm, is on display at ArtsForward as part of the Hands On exhibit.

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Two local artists had their work on display at the ‘Create at the Red River Ex’ Juried Art Show, from June 17 to 26, in Winnipeg. Gwen Baryla of Neepawa had three of the four paintings she submitted accepted to be in the show. Shannon Desjardins, also of Neepawa, had two paintings in the show and placed second in the amateur division. 

The art show is an annual part of the Red River Exhibition, which includes a midway, concerts and other entertainment. “They say there’s up to 20,000 people that walk through [the art show]. You know, people going to the fair and then they end up going into the exhibition as well,” said Baryla. Each year, the exhibition has an art expert as the juror, choosing the top art pieces in each classification. There are three classifications; Teen is for artists 13 to 19 years old, Amateur is for anyone 20 or older who does not make a living off their art and Professional is anyone 20 or older who has a career in art. Both Baryla and Desjardins were in the amateur class.

Baryla has had a passion for art for as long as she can remember. “It’s a massive hobby, since forever,” she said. “I started off as watercolour, then switched to acrylics ‘cause it’s way more forgiving. I find it easier to work with. And now, I’ve kind of gotten into mixed media, so that’s layering of papers and inks and other objects.” 

This is the first time she’s entered her art at Red River Ex show, but she has had her work on display at other places before. “I’m always revolving stuff. I’ve got stuff up at the Credit Union, I’ve got stuff up at the Viscount, or ArtsForward, and [I’m] just starting to get more and more into finding different places to display... I’ve done it a little bit over the last few years, but I’ve really started getting into it now. Making more time for it.” .” 

Baryla submits her artwork into shows like this for several reasons, “Basically, as a challenge for me, plus I wanted to get my name out there, get my art out there just to see what kind of response I’d get.” She also has a piece in the Westman Juried Art Show in Brandon that was selected to be one of the 20 pieces that goes on the year long traveling show through the province. 

Shannon Desjardins’ piece, called “Out of the heart, the mouth speaks” won second place in the Amateur category of the Create at the Red River Ex Juried Art Show, from June 17 to 26, in Winnipeg. Desjardin had two pieces accepted into the show and her winning work is currently on display at ArtsForward in Neepawa. 

Desjardins has had a bit less experience in art than Baryla. “[I’ve been painting] kind of off and on for the last 15 years. I kind of came into it late,” said Desjardins. “I actually haven’t painted for probably two years and I just started up again this spring.” 

She used to try to consistently submit paintings in the Westman Juried Art Show, but stopped about four years ago. She said a friend of hers who she used to paint with kept trying to get her back into it, so they went to ArtsForward to get back into the art scene. “So that got me started again. It’s those kind of things that keep you motivated - that’s why the shows are nice too, because you’ve got something like that to look forward to.” 

“Once I started going to ArtsForward, they were the ones that said, ‘Okay, there’s this coming up and there’s this coming up’. There’s another show that’s coming up now for August and so Rrain [Prior, director of programming at ArtsForward] is keeping us all posted on all these opportunities and it’s good because now I’ve got another reason to do another painting. Otherwise, you know, life happens,” she continued. “Sometimes you don’t really feel inspired, but if you don’t just start putting paint on the canvas, then nothing happens. So that’s nice, that’s why the deadlines are nice.” 

Desjardins said that the main reason she enters her art into shows isn’t money, but to give her a reason to paint, “We all put prices on our art, but it’s more for the motivation. Get a deadline. And they give you feedback too and that’s really nice about those shows.” 

While neither of Desjardins’ pieces sold,  she did get a $125 cheque for placing second in the Amateur class. “I was in shock,” she said about winning a prize. “Even when I put that one in, I was just putting it in for the feedback, I wasn’t thinking about the prizes at all. It was pretty nice to get recognized.” 

The piece that she won with was called ‘Out of the heart, the mouth speaks.’ “That’s actually a scripture in the Bible,” she explained. “And I was thinking, it’s kind of true, because what we say reveals a lot about what we are inside. So that was kind of the beginning of that idea.”

She said that both her and Baryla were pretty excited that some local art got to be seen in a big city setting. “We were pretty thrilled that Neepawa got represented like that,” she said.

Both ladies have art at the Hands On exhibit in the ArtsForward gallery this month. Baryla has one of hers from the Red River Ex, called Rhythm, on display there. The other two of hers that were accepted to the Winnipeg show, one painting of a crow and another depicting a downtown scene, are on display in Minnedosa at the Inspire studio. Desjardins has her winning painting on display at ArtsForward and at the moment, that’s the only place she has work on display. She’s planning on entering more shows to keep herself painting. 

The Hands On exhibit at ArtsForward is here for the month and features art pieces of all kinds, made by local artists.