First Stop- The Wave Artists' Studio Tour

I decided to start off my tour of the province on Sunday (September 5th) with the Interlake Art Tour, officially known as the Wave Artists' Studio Tour. This was my first time ever attending it and, truth be told, I had never heard of it in the past. 2010 was the tour's 9th running year. I didn't really know what to expect when I began the tour. For some reason I had this weird expectation of walking through some large building, like the Convention Centre, gazing at the artwork of extremely talented people. While I was right about the extreme talent, I was wrong about the location. It was an art TOUR, duh, so I visited each artists' studio. Luckily the people I was touring with knew this and maps were printed with the names and art type of each exhibitor. This tour extended from close to Oak Hammock Marsh all the way up to the Northern part of Gimli. We ended up visiting 10 places in total but will only document on a few.

My first visit was to the workshop of Alan Lacovetsky, who specializes in wood fired pottery. My first thought when I arrived there was, "Are we in the right place?" I don't really know what my expectations were but it wasn't until I looked towards an old garage/shed type building on the North side of his yard, that I saw multiple tables of beautiful pottery. I immediately fell in love with his work, wishing that I didn't live off the salary of a student so I could buy the whole place out. He took us further inside his workplace, where I saw the massive window that provides him with inspiration, his old style pottery tables, and the ancient (somewhat decrepit) looking wood-burning kilns. According to the Wave handbook, Lacovetsky's work is showcased nationally throughout Canada, and internationally throughout the US, Japan, Australia, Hong Kong, Thailand, and France. He informed my group of Manitoban tourists that he would be taking off for China in the near future to teach the fine art of pottery and to indulge his inspirations further. What a place to start! 
Check out his website: http://www.alclay.ca  

My second stop was to see the glass creations of Angel Calnek. She specializes in slumped glass and kiln casting. Her pieces are heavily influenced by nature and her spirituality. Her love of creating was very apparent in the variety of work that she had on display and in her reportoire. While recently recuping from a medical condition that rendered her unable to work with glass, she spent much of her time knitting dish cloths and towels.

Calnek is not only known for her artistic abilities with glass, however. She is also a vocalist in the local band, Hillbilly Burlesque. The band describes their music as "raunchy blues with a down-home feel." They performed at the Neepawa Lily Festival on July 25th and have a show coming up on September 24 at the Women In The Wilds Blues Festival. I will admit that the group's name threw me off because of it's juxtaposition meaning. But, after hearing a few tracks, I could understand their appeal to some listeners. Calnek has a strong voice and her bandmates are a talented group of people. 
The website for Angel Calnek's artwork is:http://www.angelcalnek.com/Art.html 
Hillbilly Burlesque also has a MySpace page. Click on the following link and hear the musical stylings of these women:
http://www.myspace.com/hillbillyburlesque 

 After heading out from Angel's, we drove to where Tim Schouten works with wax at Tunnelwood Studios. When we got out of the car, we were greeted by three of Schouten's most popular muses-his dogs. Following these muses into the studio, we noticed immediately how often they appeared in his work. I really appreciated how different his pictures were from the usual art that I encounter. Schouten begins every new canvas with a photo. From his picture, he brings to life a wax creation of the same image. The end result is a much more abstract version of his photograph but unique and eye-catching. He has been recognized by the Canada Council of the Arts, Manitoba Arts Council, and the Ontario Arts Council. 
His work can be found at: http://www.timschouten.com

One of our final stops was to the Mermaid's Kiss Gallery. At this gallery, there were multiple local and national artists on display. Alan Lacovetsky had several pottery pieces there for sale. I particularly enjoyed Linda Vermeulen's artwork. She won awards for her ability to capture dramatic moments depicting the Interlake region through photograph and printing them on watercolour paper. One of her limited edition pieces that was on display was titled "Don't Look Back."

Photo by: Linda Vermeulen

You can experience the variety of art available at the Mermaid's Kiss Gallery on their website as well:

http://www.mermaidskissgallery.com