Last year was the second for the Mann Art Gallery’s display of works from the large MacGregor and Beth Hone collection.
A large donation of the celebrated artists’ work was donated to the gallery in 2015. Macgregor (Mac) Hone was born in Prince Albert in 1920 and spent the early part of his life in the city.
“He was quite a significant figure in encouraging an active art community in Saskatoon and P.A., and eventually in Saskatchewan,” Gallery curator Jesse Campbell told the Herald in 2018.
The first two exhibitions focused on Mac’s work, both his paintings and his printmaking.
This year’s show is a little bit different.
“This is Beth’s year,” said Tia Furstenberg, who curated the show alongside Mann Art Gallery summer student Nicholas Markowski and acting gallery curator Lana Wilson.
“We pulled what we thought were the pieces that best showcased her skill and her style,” Furstenberg continued.
Beth Hone was born in 1918 in Halkirk, Manitoba. She taught at a one-room school near Eatonia, before teaching at other schools across Saskatchewan and in B.C. She met fellow teacher and artist MacGregor Hone, marrying him in 1944.
Beth Hone completed her Bachelor of Arts in Toronto in 1941 and travelled to Farnham, England to continue her studies.
She’s known for her sculpture and ceramics work and has exhibited across Canada and in England and Mexico. She taught at the Regina College School of Art from 1959 until 1966 and has led workshops fort eh MacKenzie Art Gallery, the Saskatchewan Arts Board and the Hone-James studio which she founded with Ann James n 1968.
In 1973, she moved to Lumsden and continued creating art from her home studio. She passed way in April of 2011.
“She does a lot of folded sculpture. She’s very interested in mythology and especially Greek mythology. She sculpts a lot of Venuses and goddesses.”
Furstenberg and Markowski worked to clean, catalogue and select Hone’s most representative work.
“It’s been a lot of fun. I’ve really enjoyed it,” Furstenberg said.
“Nicholas did a lot of research and even put a lot of suggestions in. I got to jump off from there and Lana gave me a lot of freedom. I got to know all the work.”
Furstenberg worked to meticulously clean all of the pieces, which number in the dozens. Only 35 of them were eventually selected for the exhibition.
In addition to the folded forms, the Hone exhibition includes plates, gobbles and small vessels, as well as goddess sculptures. Furstenberg arranged them each in their own little sections, accompanied by a series of drawings Hone did which are displayed along the walls.
“The drawings, they are all dated the same day or within a couple of days of one another,” Furstenberg said.
“We’re guessing she maybe did them up north because they’re a lot of landscapes and leaves and flowers, kind of really abstract works. They almost look like folded sculptures, sot hey have a really great conversation with the rest of the pieces.”
The opening reception for Beth Hone: Forms and Folds will be held tonight and feature a curator’s talk with Furstenberg. The show will run until Jan. 11.
