Video Walk-Through

Loricia Pacholko

Latent Injuria

The explorations that Loricia Pacholko is undertaking are immersive and deeply personal. Her pieces are three-dimensional invitations for an audience to investigate artistic process; a practice that meshes traditional craft, recycling of materials and the gift of the divine. Mirroring the ironies within contemporary society she is attempting to make sensitive topics palatable while including the viewer in her experiences. By sharing her story she wards off deviant behaviours and stereotypes that can act as triggers. The handworked clay sculptures and assemblages amplify her sensitivity to the human condition. The blending of intuition and physicality are prevalent in the way that she nurtures the material. Through her pieces, the viewer not only bears witness to the artist's hand but to the insight that is the motivation of creation.

***Artist’s caution***

The contents of the ceramic bullets in the Latent Injuria exhibition may be offensive or triggering for some individuals. 
Please proceed with care.

Mona Maxfield

Remeniscences

Mona Maxfield is an interdisciplinary artist, born and raised in Winnipeg, MB. She spent her summers in the Whiteshell, and this would go on to inspire much of her work. She lives in Winnipeg with her husband and two daughters and spends her summers in Lake of the Woods.

Mona started sculpting when her children were young and would go on to create sculpted portraits of the people she knew and loved. More recently she has turned her hand to painting with acrylics, and has truly thrown herself into this work.

Maxfield’s paintings are a ritual, a meditation on memory, nostalgia, connection to place, family. They are a visceral act of creation, an undeniable force in her life. Through the creation of this body of work she is able to make manifest the places where her heart resides.

Heather Penner

Altered Books

Although a seasoned crafter and maker, Heather’s artwork was introduced as Pretty Paper Products for the first time in November, 2020. In the midst of the COVID-19 lockdown creativity took flight, a silver lining at an otherwise dark time. Innovative platforms emerged to share her work and skills with a wider audience. She has led workshops on Facebook Live and also prerecorded and taught art classes in person. 

Heather works full-time as the Public Educator for Brandon Fire and Emergency Services. Pretty Paper Products comes to life after hours out of her home. The driving force behind marketing her work is her longstanding connection to a primary school in rural Uganda. Profits from Pretty Paper Products has helped fund projects ranging from new pit latrines, additional classrooms and goat rearing for female headed households. 

To date, her most eye-catching piece is the Butterfly Book. The release of the butterflies from the center of this altered book signifies letting go of anxiety, grief, depression or whatever it is that had been locked up inside. The unlocking is further symbolized by the antique key hanging from the book on a ribbon. The continued flight of the butterflies on the wall demonstrates the freedom that results. 

The Butterfly Book was the recent recipient of the Audience Choice Award of the Art Gallery of Southwestern Manitoba’s “i {heart} Brandon” art exhibition. This winning piece is presently displayed at the Brandon Public Library. 

Continually turning the page to new ideas and inspiration, Heather is eager to experiment with creating new pieces. This exploration has resulted in a wedding collection consisting of a three-tiered wedding cake, a bridal bouquet, the flower girl’s kissing ball, the groom’s boutonniere and a wedding dress all completely crafted from paper. Through upcycling she has transformed out-of-date Encyclopedias into the shape of our province and a baby grand piano. 

Visit Pretty Paper Products Facebook page to see Heather’s creations or to send her a message to acquire one of her pieces. 

Candace Propp

Ghost Towns

The inspiration for Ghost Towns paintings surfaced from a series of trips through rural Manitoba and the grain belt of United States. As Candace passed through many small towns, she became aware of their slow deterioration. Houses that once stood grandly were now visibly returning to the earth; “for sale” signs dotted the main street buildings; and railway lines were fenced off as trucks roared down the main streets. However, even as the economic viability of these towns dwindled, an interesting juxtaposition of rebirth was evident. Antique stores and flea markets were taking over abandoned businesses, and fairs and exhibitions were attempting to lure in new populations. A sense of impermanency pervaded.

Ghost Towns, is about impermanency. For the most part, we understand the notion of change and the inevitable life cycle. We get that everything is in constant fluctuation and nothing is as it was a second ago. Yet our contemporary life reflects the opposite. One side of this coin called impermanency, finds us holding onto possessions, image, relationships, values and beliefs out of fear, sentiment or desire as if they were meant to remain the same forever. On the other side, we live in a throw-away world where nothing is made to last and we consume objects and resources as if without consequence.

The images within the paintings range from poignant, direct statements of our destructive nature, to sentimental scenes reflecting our past, to humorous,  even sarcastic interpretations of life as is or might be.

As a mixed media artist, Candace Propp likes to shift her processes of image-making to best achieve her specific goal. In this body of work she has  chosen a combination of acrylic painting with image transfer.  Propps begins each scene with layering the image transfers onto the canvas. She then pulls the images together through painting. More transfers and paint are added until the artist achieves her desired effect. Because the images for transfer come from various sources, a discord is produced. Perspectives, proportions, colours and light are all slightly off from each other producing an uneasy, ungrounded and surreal quality — you might even say, Ghostly.