Mann Art Gallery draws 90 visitors as two new exhibitions debut

The Mann Art Gallery (MAG) is celebrating the work of one professional artist and 61 promising up-and-comers.

On Thursday night an estimated crowd of 90 art appreciators attended a joint reception at the MAG for the sixth annual High School Juried Art Show and an exhibition, A Prairie Gothic: Let our Fields be Broader, but our Nights so Much Darker, by Saskatchewan artist Heather Benning. Both shows will be on display until May 13.

“I’m particularly pleased with this evening because we can bring together a lot of different groups,” MAG director and curator Jesse Campbell said.

“It’s wonderful that we have Heather Benning, a professional artist, here to talk about her work and there are high school students who are perhaps maybe at the beginning of their artistic careers who can glean a lot of information from her. That speaks to what we endeavour to do at the gallery, which is bring people together through art and hopefully get some great ideas and information and inspiration through that.”

The evening began with opening remarks from Campbell, followed by Benning giving an introduction to her work and taking questions from those in attendance.

“It was great to see so many people here. It was a packed house. I was a little a little bit nervous when I first started talking, but then I caught myself,” Benning said later in the evening.

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