Art Now, the Saskatchewan Fine Art Fair took place this year in Regina at the cities Sound Stage and featured twelve exhibitors from across the prairies. These exhibitors brought diverse selections of work, acting as a snapshot of how traditional and contemporary prairie art exists in the commercial space. The event put on by SaskGalleries also featured several vendors, BlackFlash included, and a weekend’s worth of programed talks and panels.
Among the selection of exhibitors, two galleries maintain an integral presence at Art Now and within the commercial art community in Saskatchewan as a whole, The Gallery / art placement inc. from Saskatoon and Regina’s Slate Fine Art Gallery.Both galleries have been present at all four iterations of the Art Now and each year bring along with them a full roster of Saskatchewan-based contemporary artists.
The Gallery / art placement inc. is a staple within the Saskatoon art community, specializing in contemporary art as well as art supplies and framing. The gallery is operated by Levi Nicholat, Director/Curator and Linda Stark, Gallery Manager/Client Services. The Gallery / art placement inc. originally started as an art consulting firm in 1978, eventually expanding with an exhibition space and art supply store. Nicholat has been an integral part of the development and current vision of art placement since 2013, he bolsters having curated over 50 exhibitions in the space and introduced nearly 20 new and emerging artists to their roster. Nicholat was also active in developing the early stages of Art Now and currently sits on the planning committee.
The Gallery / art placement inc. showcases and represents predominately Saskatchewan artists with a strong focus, but not exclusively, on abstract and landscape painting. Represented artists residing outside Saskatchewan predominantly maintain a connection to the province through family, education, artistic history, or even their participation in the Emma Lake artist workshops. Nicholat’s curated selection of artists offer a strong cohesion of geographic expression and proximity, while still showcasing a dynamic display of artistic styles and mediums. There is a clear understanding that featured emerging and mid-career artists such as Steph Krawchuk were chosen to work in conversation with canonized Saskatchewan artists like William Perehudoff and Dorothy Knowles.
Located in Regina, Slate Fine Art Gallery first opened its doors in 2013 by owners and operators Kimberley Fyfe and Gina Fafard. In 2012 the two crossed paths while Fafard was curating a show in the same space Fyfe had recently assisted with a pop-up exhibition, an exhibition which featured the work of Gina’s father, the late Joe Fafard. The two combined their skills and collective vision to create a new commercial space in Regina where they could work directly with emerging and senior artists. Fyfe is currently Vice President of SaskGalleries, and Fafard is on the Art Now planning committee, embedding Slate Fine Art Gallery into the fabric of the Saskatchewan fair. Slate has had the opportunity to exhibit at other national art fairs such as Art Toronto and therefore imparted invaluable knowledge and feedback to Art Now.
The selection of artists represented by Slate are strongly supported by Fyfe and Fafard’s belief in their artist’s stylistic and aesthetic vision. This passionate approach to artist representation is in direct relation to the kinetic success the gallery has achieved in only six years. As Slate’s identity has been organically developing, inherently the careers of their artists have been growing alongside them. Slate is covering contemporary prairie artists from several different generations and genres to highlight a variety of voices, mediums and subject matters from within the province. The representation of celebrated seminal artists such as David Thauberger and Victor Cicansky are balanced by a superstar roster of internationally recognized emerging artists such as Catherine Blackburn, Wall Dion, and Zachari Logan.
Art Now is a platform for galleries and artists within the prairies to showcase their work and unique curatorial perspective, with an intention to raise the profile of Saskatchewan galleries. Art Now is currently the largest fine art fair in the province and offers the breadth of prairie talent. The fair creates a welcoming environment that is reminiscent of other trade shows, and therefore more accessible to those who do not frequently attend art galleries. My time in Regina affirmed our closely-knit art community, one built upon a history of responding to our landscape, agriculture, and people. As the fair grows, Art Now hopes to increase their reach and bring in more galleries from Alberta and Manitoba. This will expand the lexicon of stories and perspectives shared at Art Now and will grow this fair into a larger event that covers a wider prairie experience.
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