Ninety-two-year-old artist publishes children’s book
When Rita Dahl was a child, the bottom third of the family’s kitchen door was her canvas. The top sections were for her older sisters to draw on. “We were products of the Depression and we couldn’t buy a lot of paper, so our mother let us draw on the kitchen door,” she said. “We…
Poems and paintings mark 499th anniversary
The story of Anabaptist origins came to life on Sunday, January 21, as Gareth Brandt marked the 499th anniversary of the Anabaptist movement with a presentation of art and spoken word. The event was held in a portable gallery set up at Emmanuel Mennonite Church in Abbotsford, B.C., where Brandt serves as an interim member of…
Watch: Rockway sparks community with new music video
What better way to bring a community together than 350 red umbrellas? Starting at the beginning of COVID-19, Rockway Mennonite Collegiate in Kitchener, Ont ., has been working on creating a music video for “Someone to You” by the Banners. The result was uploaded to the school’s YouTube channel last month. “I’m kinda the crazy one…
Music comes alive through synesthesia, art
Imagine if you could see sound. When Anna Schwartz listens to music, she not only hears the different instruments, keys and dynamics—she sees them. That’s because she has synesthesia, a neurological condition in which information entering a person’s brain stimulates multiple senses at once. Only four percent of people worldwide are synesthetes. For some, biting…
Graphic novel by Mennonite creator set for publication in May
Nova Scotia-based Conundrum Press has announced a new title from creator Jonathan Dyck. Shelterbelts, a graphic novel, will arrive in bookstores in May. “Through a series of linked stories, Dyck, who was raised in Winkler, Man., and is based in Winnipeg, weaves a rich tapestry that depicts a close-knit Mennonite community in the midst of…
Gallery to feature ‘Daily Diaries by the Assiniboine River and Lake Winnipeg’
WINNIPEG—The next exhibit at the Mennonite Heritage Centre Gallery will feature the work of Manitoba painter Jane Gateson. “Daily Diaries by the Assiniboine River and Lake Winnipeg” is on display from Monday, Jan. 31 until Saturday, April 2. Gateson divides her time between Winnipeg and Victoria Beach. The exhibit is the result of a project…
Artist ‘aims to empower’ with webinar logo
Working with the theme of “What we need is here,” young Canadian artist Dona Park of Emmanuel Mennonite Church in Abbotsford, B.C. was commissioned to illustrate the logo and banner for the Women Doing Theology webinar series for Mennonite Church U.S.A. The logo Park created. (Photo courtesy of Dona Park) Explaining her artwork, Park says,…
Watch: Winnipeg artist Curtis L. Wiebe is ‘The Imperfectionist’
How do you make a thrift shop come to life? That’s the question dogging Winnipeg artist Curtis L. Wiebe in a 30-minute documentary called The Imperfectionist. Released on TV in Manitoba in 2017 and uploaded to Vimeo this past May, the documentary follows Wiebe as he constructs a corner of a thrift shop that comes…
Impressive work at Hutterite art exhibit
There are one hundred and seven Hutterite colonies in Manitoba and those colonies are home to a talented enclave of visual artists. I recently visited the Mennonite Heritage Centre Gallery in Winnipeg to see Our (Hutterite) Life in Art, a new exhibit of artwork by members of some of Manitoba’s Hutterite communities. “Chasing Rainbows,” a…
Exhibit features professor’s paintings of historic Anabaptist sites
A love for the arts, combined with an interest in Anabaptist history, has inspired a professor at Columbia Bible College in Abbotsford to create paintings depicting early Anabaptist history. The exhibit of Gareth Brandt’s water-colour paintings, “Stories of the Anabaptists,” was introduced Sept. 11 at the Mennonite Heritage Museum in Abbotsford. Brandt said that he…
