Latest News
Updates on SK Arts programs and activities.
In honour of International Women's Day 2024, SK Arts partnered with Minister Laura Ross and the Ministry of Parks, Culture and Sport to exhibit a fitting and enthralling series of artwork by Saskatchewan women in an exhibit called 40+ Years in the Making—Women and Clay at the Cumberland Art Gallery in Regina. The exhibit was inspired by Deborah Potter’s sculpture, 40+ Years in the Making: Women and Clay, which was also installed at the Mosaic Tower Hill Centre III by the City of Regina last fall.
JingLu moved to Canada in 2013 with her family and since focused on caring for her three children. Then the pandemic hit, and like many other people and creatives, she found herself stir-crazy. So, she picked up a paintbrush and put the two MFAs she had earned to work. A Chinese native, JingLu felt a special connection in the Saskatoon landscape that reminded her of her homeland. From photos of breathtaking landscapes to oil paintings on canvases, the love of art pulled her back in, and she began pursuing her art full-time in 2021.
Interdisciplinary artist, educator and producer Chancz Perry joined SK Arts as a Program Consultant with an equity and inclusion focus. As an artist, a prior SK Arts grant recipient and a Person of Colour with complex social identities, Chancz is uniquely positioned to serve in his new role at SK Arts with the program team as we work on strategic goal around addressing systemic barriers.
A small town in southwest Saskatchewan is doing big things, providing support and community for Saskatchewan artists. Gravelbourg Artisan Co-op, also known as GAC, was formed in 2018 with an interest in being a retail and event space to help artists grow and scale their physical practice, particularly those who did not have the ability or finances to have their own storefronts or webpages. Their plans were, however, interrupted by the pandemic. Forced into a virtual space, the Co-op experienced an organic shift into being more community oriented.
Carol Greyeyes, Policy and Planning Advisor for SK Arts will retire in December 2023. After a collective 13 years served over three separate occasions, Greyeyes spearheaded several initiates with the agency to serve the arts community. Carol established our Indigenous funding program, currently called Indigenous Peoples Art and Artists (IPAA), and the Share and Connect: Indigenous Community Arts program. She also made significant contributions to Artists in Schools, Artists in Communities and the newly launched Building Arts Equity: BPOC Program.
Above a coffee shop in Shaunavon, Saskatchewan, is the inviting, cozy studio of emerging visual artist Andrew Robertson. The studio fosters art talks with strangers, commissioning and the artistic magic that goes into his work. Like many others, Robertson found his creative streak during the great pause of the COVID-19 pandemic. With 12-hour stretches of quiet time on a night shift as a youth worker, he began teaching himself to draw.
SK Arts launched a new program for underserved artists who are Black and People of Colour, collaborating with SaskCulture, the Multicultural Council of Saskatchewan (MCoS) and the wider BPOC arts community. The program, developed through participatory grant-making, will increase accessibility and connections to arts and cultural resources by People of Colour, specifically of African, Black, Asian, Latin American, Caribbean, and Middle Eastern descent.
SK Arts acquired The Buffalo Hunt by Henry Beaudry through a donation in 2022. One of the lesser-known contemporary artists of his time, SK Arts is pleased to have Beaudry included in the expansion of the collection to include more Indigenous artists. The painting was commissioned as a Christmas gift to Macknak and her late husband, Dennis, from John Warner. Sandy fondly recalls their visit with Beaudry and his wife. The 1971 artwork had yellowed discolouration due to a thick, insoluble layer of polyurethane varnish, dirt and grime.
Welcome receptions for Michelle Chawla, CEO, Canada Council for the Arts will be held in Saskatoon and Regina.
The Waterlilies Portrait Project, a commemorative art exhibition featuring the portrait of 19 Afghani women forced to flee the Taliban in 2021, opened at the 330G exhibition gallery in Saskatoon on August 15, 2023.