New Show at Kerrobert Courtroom Gallery
The Kerrobert Courtroom Gallery has a new show going up!
The Opening reception for Gordon Bland’s “Allegories: Medications on Religion and Society” and Leslie Stadnichuk “Florals and Other Daydreams” will be November 7 at 7 pm, and the show will by up until the end of December.
Leslie Stadnichuk
Leslie took up drawing in the early 90’s and then transitioned into painting. Many workshops and classes have informed her practice including folk art, pastels, watercolors and acrylic painting as well as USCAD classes. In the last 15 years she has painted almost exclusively in oils.
Her florals and landscapes are an attempt to capture the beauty that surrounds us in creation. Her realistic pieces, often done with bold colors, capture the essence of her subject bringing the viewer into the emotion which inspired the work.
Leslie is a juried member of the Saskatchewan Craft Council and the Artists’ Workshop group.
Visit her website, stadnichukart.com, to check out her wearable art!
Gordon Bland
In this series of acrylic paintings, I explore the allegorical potential of geometric forms, using intense
colour and varied texture, playing with balance and imbalance to suggest meaning.
The ancient Greek philosopher Plato argued that the world that we experience is illusory and
impermanent, yet reflects eternal and unchanging Truths, which he called “Forms” or Ideas (eidos).
For Plato, the world we perceive “participates” in these Truths, even though their expression may be
varied or even hidden.
Religion and myth, science and philosophy, literature and art have all sought to tell stories of our past,
present and future. What we accept as Truth about ourselves relies on our interpretations of such
stories. To what extent would the “Truths” portrayed in an abstract, or highly symbolic, painting be
interpreted similarly by different viewers? Would viewers accept such abstractions as a recognizable
allegorical reference? How would the viewer’s own beliefs inform an interpretation of the painting?
These are questions that the series “Allegories” seeks to pose and, perhaps, to answer.
For want of a better term, I am referring to the illustrative style I have used in this series of paintings
as narrative abstraction.
An essential aspect of the series is the interpretation that the viewer brings. I want to explore this by
having response sheets available to viewers where their thoughts and/or emotional reactions can be
recorded and submitted to the gallery and artist, so that the dialogue is not entirely one way (artist to
viewer), but two-way. Ultimately, these responses will be included as part of the show.
Gordon Frederick Bland is a North Battleford artist. He was born in Regina, moved with his family to
Prince Albert, and attended the University of Saskatchewan, where he obtained degrees in Political
Science and Education. He taught in Prince Albert for 30 years. Interested in art for as long as he can
remember, Gordon has attended workshops by many wonderful tutors, including Kevin Quinlan, Myles
McDonald, Degan Lindner, Donna Kreikle and George Glenn. He has acted, designed sets and directed
plays for amateur theatrre groups in Prince Albert, Melfort and North Battleford, as well as designed
sets for two plays for Persephone Theatre in Saskatoon.