If you’ve been enjoying the travelling art gallery that tours throughout the Westman Region, you’ll be waiting to see the next exhibition soon to start a new round of touring. 

The 44th Annual Westman Juried Art Show is taking place this weekend in Carberry, where artists from across the region share what they've been up to the past 12 months.

The event is hosted by the Arts West Council each year at the end of April to showcase local artists' pieces to the public, as well as to two professional artists who will critique their work and decide which pieces are to be included in the next touring exhibition. This will take place on Saturday, April 22nd.

The following day, Sunday April 23rd, the doors open to the public where folks can view the entire exhibition and share with the artists themselves.

Event Coordinator and Chair of the Arts West Council, Chris Moore, says this exhibit is always a collection of beautiful art. "It's a wonderful opportunity for artists in the Westman Region to display their works to the public, and visa-versa for the public to see what the artists in our region are doing, and what they're capable of!"

This weekend approximately 80 pieces will be on display at the Carberry Community Hall, from paintings in acrylic and oils, to pencil / pencil crayons / charcoal drawing, to silk screen work, scratch art, mixed media, 2-D fibre art and encaustic wax art.

20 pieces will be chosen for the Westman Travelling Art Gallery. 

"The jurors, who are professional artists, critique every piece that's in the show," explains Moore. "They will choose the works that will form the travelling gallery, which then tours around the Westman Region over the next year."

"I would also like to pay tribute to Arts Councils, Art Clubs and to the many libraries that host the travelling gallery," she adds, "because without their support we wouldn't be able to do that program."

In addition to the 20 chosen for the travelling gallery, ten pieces will be chosen to represent the Westman Region for the Manitoba Arts Network exhibition in Fall where ten pieces from each of the 5 regions of the province will be displayed together.  The Rural & Northern Art Show will be held in September at Buhler Gallery in Winnipeg.  Due to Covid the past provincial exhibitions have been a virtual experience, so it's exciting the chosen 50 pieces will be on display in person in Winnipeg this year!

This year's jurors:

Leona Herzog graduated with a BFA (Honours) in 1975, and completed a Master of Arts with a focus on Curatorial Practices in 2012. As Director/Curator of the Buhler Gallery, she created notable exhibitions featuring the work of contemporary Canadian artists. Her video tours and interviews with artists can be found at https://galeriebuhlergallery.ca/ Long committed to working with her community, Leona has volunteered on numerous arts boards and now serves as Chair of the Board for Mentoring Artists for Women’s Art (MAWA).

Barb Flemington is a visual artist, educator and advocate for the arts. She has received awards from the Manitoba Arts Council, Association for Manitoba Archives and the Canada Council in support of her work. She lives and works in her country studio near Brandon, Manitoba.

The public is welcome to view the art exhibit this Sunday, April 23rd at the Carberry Community Hall, from 1:30 to 3:30.  A short program will take place at 2:00 where the winners of the Best of Show Award and the People's Choice Award will be presented.

For those who have yet to see the 2022-23 exhibition that is completing its tour through Westman, you can still see those beautiful pieces at Arts Forward in Neepawa, from April 24 to May 13th.

For more information about the Arts West Council, the Travelling Art Gallery (current and upcoming itinerary) please visit:

Arts West - Show (artswestcouncil.ca)

Photo:  Boissevain artist, Nancy Penner, was awarded the Best of Show in the 2022 Westman Juried Art Show held in Killarney with the drawing of her mother and aunt when they were teenagers.  Penner will be returning to the Juried Art Show in Carberry this weekend.  However, this year she has traded her charcoal pencil for encaustic wax!  Two of her beautiful pieces will be on display!