Find Yourself in Art, Southern Galleries
The southern part of Saskatchewan spreads itself across the bottom half of our province with areas reaching Treaties 2, 4, 5, 6 and 7. These wide spaces and open skies make it the perfect candidate for a road trip visiting the many small towns and the stellar galleries that dot Southern Saskatchewan.
The first stop on our trip is in the resort village of Fort Qu’Appelle at the Hansen-Ross House. Connie Chaplin spent time as an artist in residence at the Hansen-Ross House when she was a young potter, both living and working there. When the house was for sale, she heard rumours that it was to be turned into apartments and couldn’t see that happen. It was then when she made the decision to buy it.
The Hansen-Ross House has a very long history in the art world. It was the original location for the Saskatchewan Arts Board and held workshops in weaving, pottery and so much more in the early 1950’s. In the late 50’s they sold the house to David Ross and Folmer Hansen, two former pottery instructors of the Saskatchewan Arts Board. It became an internationally renowned destination for tourism in Saskatchewan and continued as a pottery studio for 45 years. Connie herself still works as an artist and has studio space in the historic house.
Because Fort Qu’Appelle is a resort town, people come from all over the world to stay for perhaps a week at a time or even the whole summer. Connie has so many stories about people coming back to her with their history. “They feel very comfortable coming back,“ Connie says. “They have so many stories about experiencing art.”
They have more than twenty artists and artisans that they feature and all of them were either born in Saskatchewan or live here currently.
“We have everything we need right here in Saskatchewan,” Connie says. “We take pride in our community and the artists we represent.”
Hansen-Ross House has been a member of SaskGalleries since 2018, almost as soon as Connie found out about them. “I’m very happy with them. They are very helpful and work hard for their members.”
The Hansen-Ross House is open seasonally from May to September, Thursday through Saturday from 10am to 4pm. You can also visit by appointment.
The next stop on our road trip is at the Yvette Moore Gallery on 76 Fairford Street West in Moose Jaw, Saskatchewan. The building used to be the former Land Titles Building until Yvette bought it in 1998 and opened it as a gallery with her family and staff.
“The partnership between art and heritage is very important to us,” Sarah Moore explains. “We feel that the building itself is a work of art and to be able to showcase the amazing works of all our artisans within these walls is a draw for many of our visitors.”
“It is not just the unique artwork that so wonderfully fills our almost 4,300 square feet of space, it is the over-a-century year old template of our building that magically comes together in a cherished mix of art and history.”
Saskatchewan has been Yvette’s home for almost seven decades and is shown in her breathtaking and detailed artwork. The atmosphere in the gallery exudes the passion and creativity of all their artisans from across Western Canada while showcasing their handcrafted pottery, jewelry, sculpture and glass works. The gallery and artwork on display serve as wonderful memories of the past and their many guests cherish the space as a way to share their own stories.
Visit the Yvette Moore Gallery website for hours and events.
We next make our way to a beautiful century-old brick building in Davidson, Saskatchewan where Gail Prpick owns and operates the And Art Gallery.
The building that houses the And Art Gallery was built in 1914 and was a Bank of Montreal until 1998 when it went up for sale. Gail had a look at the building and realized what a gem she had on her hands. “I had someone come in to look at the building and he told me it would be the last building standing in this town. So I just bought it for a song and put a lot of work into it. It just felt like a good investment.”
Where did the name And Art Gallery come from? Gail laughs, “For years I had always found myself saying ‘well I do farming and bookkeeping…and art.” Gail had painted with a group of painters out of Saskatoon for years. After she retired from her long-time bookkeeping career, her interest in art never faded and she took the plunge by starting a gallery in the beautiful building that she luckily invested in earlier. The group that she painted with provided a lot of access to Saskatchewan art to house in her gallery and now studio.
“We have all the talent we need in Saskatchewan, we don’t need to go any further,” Gail says. “Every artist I represent is Saskatchewan-based. It just kind of happened that way.”
And Art Gallery has been a part of SaskGalleries for four years. “They helped me so much and it’s been great to connect to other galleries,” Gail says effusively. “There’s no competition in art.”
And Art Gallery hours are flexible and by appointment. If Gail is in, it’s open- and she’s there a lot.
While the gallery that Laureen Marchand owns and operates was started at the table of her Val Marie home, the last South Saskatchewan gallery on our tour does not find itself at a physical space at all. Instead, the Grassland Gallery Online can be found…you guessed it, online.
Laureen established the gallery in the fall of 2021 as a response to the changes in the world. “Artist’s work weren’t being viewed and I wanted to create some opportunities where you don’t have to be in the same location.” Saskatchewan has big distances to travel and small populations to do so, facts that spurred Laureen Marchand to begin this endeavor.
“I am the sole proprietor…and staff, communications, designer and curator,” she laughs. Laureen has had experience building websites before by designing pages for other artists but this particular venture required a steep learning curve. “I had never created something with e-commerce functionality.”
Furthering the tech complications, she created a sample room that you could view the art in, as well as host virtual exhibitions to give viewers different ways of viewing art online. “Luckily my web host lives across the street from me in Val Marie so I can send a text.”
Grassland Gallery Online began by representing six artists and has slowly added to the roster as to give each artist a fair amount of focus. Now she has worked her way up to sixteen local artisans.
“Every artist is a Saskatchewan artist,” says Laureen. “We have so many talented and productive artists.”
While people message her afterwards or post their reactions on social media, the one thing she misses is getting to see people’s reaction when they see the art they want. That’s what was so great about Art Now, an event put on by SaskGalleries, was getting to see those reactions in real life and realizing there was something for everyone.
Laureen joined SaskGalleries very soon after the gallery opened and also currently serves as a board member. “They are very supportive of the artists. They are so cheerful, enthusiastic and capable,” says Laureen. “It really widens your audience reach.”
Currently she only deals with two-dimensional art. Grasslands Gallery doesn’t house the art so when someone buys a piece, the artists ship it themselves so there are limitations in terms of scale. However, “I want people to know that we are very responsive to questions and alternatives, like different shipping systems,” Laureen makes clear. “I really like to help people solve problems and really want to make it work for the artist and the customer.”
Visit Grassland Gallery Online 24/7!