Douglas Brolund

I am an academic artist who most enjoys plein air painting and working from my imagination. I like to work in a variety of media, including oil painting and fibre arts.

I particularly enjoy plein air painting because it’s so “quieting” for the spirit. Marking down nature with the sounds and the breeze makes me feel that I’m part of something so very much all-encompassing.

I value and enjoy following other artists on Facebook and Instagram, and I’ve learned much from them.

Wendy Clark

My life-long love of art is inspired by the natural environment with its vivid palette. I currently work with acrylics in fluid and pour painting while earlier works were watercolour and sketching.

I am self-taught but have enjoyed many classes at the Art Gallery of Southwestern Manitoba with wonderful instructors. I enjoy exploring multi-disciplinary options including up-cycling and found items. I find my process of creating to be magical, extremely satisfying and nurturing, so I love to share the fun.

Erna Honeyman

I was born and raised in Brandon and area. I began at an early age working with fabric such as embroidering on tea towels, progressing to a seamstress making clothes for myself, my children, friends, and grandchildren. In my professional life of mental health nursing, a form of diversion was ongoing creativity in learning to weave, needlepoint, stained glass, and painting to name a few of the many I tried.

For many years, I was in the direct selling industry, creating and selling home décor. My retired life has allowed me to travel around the world and to explore different types of art options. Most recently I have taken my passion for working with fabrics into sculpting statues with a weather resistant textile hardener. This product turns mediums into “rock hard” creations that are incredibly durable and may be placed in your outdoor patios and gardens throughout the year. This interest has taken me to becoming a Certified Paverpol Instructor in 2016 and sharing with many students in southwest Manitoba.

Forouzandeh Kasrai

I was raised in a Middle Eastern culture with thousands of years of history in arts and crafts, so I was influenced by my family and the culture with a passion and appreciation for them. After high school, I studied sciences in England for several years, where I was briefly introduced to pottery. My early influences and my inner calling instilled a strong desire in me to explore various arts and crafts as opportunities were raised in my life. But it was not until later in my life in Manitoba, Canada when I found pottery again.

I have been a Manitoba Potter since 1995. I started training under senior potters at Watson Arts Centre in Dauphin and took workshops of other established potters in the region. I took classes and seminars at the University of Manitoba, Brandon University, and the Art Gallery of Southwestern Manitoba. I also studied a lot, practiced different techniques and when I had no access for hands-on learning, I taught myself. I still do all that because learning for me is fun and never ending. I taught what I had learned in pottery to children and adults at Watson Arts Center Pottery Studio.

I entered my pottery creations in the Parkland Juried Art Shows and some of my works were chosen for the Manitoba Arts Network traveling show.

I like collaborating with other potters and enjoy exploring various traditional and contemporary forms of Pottery techniques such as slip casting, hand building, throwing on the wheel, glazing, smoke firing, Raku firing, etc. I work from my home studio in Brandon, Manitoba, creating one-of-a-kind pottery pieces for functional and decorative use. Clay is my passion and pottery is my sacred world.

Martin Penfold

My interest in painting and creating began in my teenage years. In those days, I used water colours and pastels to illustrate my love of the British countryside. My life’s work as a shepherd and farmer took priority for the following decades, and only recently have I been able to devote more time and effort in pursuit of my art practice. It has now become an important part of my daily life.

My subjects and inspirations are taken from my lifetime in the countryside: the country characters and prairie sunsets, the changing colours of our varied seasons and the memories of another time.

I have now added acrylics and large canvasses to my painting adventure.

Linda Aleta Tame

I attempt to visually capture emotions and a sense of beauty, wonder and faith. I never feel I’ve quite succeeded since these are so intense and laden with curiosities. My art poses more questions than answers, but it is the complication and enrichment of the intangible mysteries that inspire my work.

Recently I’ve been working with acrylic paint, though oil painting is part of my practice as well. I generally paint abstract, but I do like to explore various art styles, mediums, and techniques. Plein air and studio painting with other artists challenges me to work differently and provides opportunity to glean from the skills of others.

I am enjoying working from my home studio in Brandon, Manitoba, and my art has been exhibited in solo and group exhibitions in Manitoba’s Southwest Region.

Stephen Henry Wiens

Currently living in Brandon, Manitoba, Canada

With art I express my thoughts and connection towards nature through line. Line to me, is the most basic way to demonstrate mood and feeling. My art is a product of my environment and my memory. Sometimes to look at nature is not so much about the looking but about the feeling of nature. In nature I see layering repeating patterns that extends throughout my body, showing me a connection. I try to demonstrate that connection through pattern and layering as I see it before me.

My material choice has always evolved, and I believe art can be made from anything. One medium I use is neon, which I started learning at 16. The understanding of this seemingly fluent line of light has led my thoughts toward my style or approach toward art. I have pieces of art with over twenty-five colors and some have just one. To me color is an emotion, something always in flux. I’m known for my colorful, lyrical style within my native Manitoba.

I presently remain in my prairie hometown of Brandon, Manitoba, but I have also lived and worked as a neon artist in Vancouver, Winnipeg, and Minnesota. I also have a love of travel that has taken me all over all of Canada as well as New York, the west coast of North America including L.A. and San Francisco. I’ve toured extensively throughout Europe, including Amsterdam, southern France, Paris, Barcelona, Venice, Rome, Pisa, Croatia and more.