Despite the cold weather on Friday night, about 35 people gathered at the Spiritwood Main Street Art Gallery for the opening of Rigmor Clarke’s gallery show, The Untamed Landscape.
Rigmor Clarke is an artist now based in Shell Lake, who grew up in Sweden. The collection of paintings will be featured at the Spiritwood Main Street Gallery until March 30.
Clarke, influenced by Nordic painters including Helmer Osslund and Akseli Gallen Kallela, spends a lot of time in Northern Saskatchewan painting landscapes. Clarke’s art has been featured in galleries in cities including Saskatoon (at the University of Saskatchewan) and Vancouver.
Clarke’s show is the second held at the Spiritwood Main Street Gallery after the gallery’s opening earlier in 2017. The work of Rick Pilling, from Spiritwood, was the space’s first show in an exhibit called Old School.
The event on Friday night lasted from 7 to 9 p.m., and Clarke gave a short artist’s talk.
Clarke said she’s been a serious artist for over 40 years.
“Serious artist means you put your time, your effort, and all your money into art,” Clarke said.
Attendees were invited to ask questions. One comment pointed out the similarity of Clarke’s work to Canada’s Group of Seven painters. Clarke said this was likely because the Group of Seven was influenced by Nordic painters.
One of the event’s organizers, Northern Lakes Economic Development Corporation’s Managing Director Bevra Fee, was very happy with the turnout.
“I’m seeing about a third of the people who were at the first [opening], but the other two thirds are all new.”
Another of the event’s organizers, Heather Beauchesne, said the plan is to host exhibits in the gallery every two months, and invites artists in the area to contact her if they’d like to show their work.
