It was a record-breaking Saturday for the Mann Art Gallery.

More than 70 people showed up for the curator’s walk through of the 2017 Winter Festival Exhibition.

According to staff, that’s the largest crowd that’s ever attended the event.

It was the second straight day of large crowds at the gallery, as it was standing room only Friday night for the exhibition’s opening reception.

Over 225 pieces made it to this year’s show, and of those pieces, 19 awards were handed out to very deserving artists.

The winner of the 2017 show is Saskatoon-based artist Carol Wylie for her oil on canvas piece titled Odalisque.

The win caught the artist off guard.

“Never in a million years would I have expected to win,” she said. “I’m absolutely shocked. There’s so much beautiful work here. I’m stunned.”

Wylie’s piece depicts a male, clothed figure splayed out in a sultry style. That’s part of the inspiration of the piece, Wylie said.

“The painting is called Odalisque, and it’s a bit of a joke because there’s a real history of paintings of nude women who are part of harems, and they were done by a lot of artists during the renaissance and post-renaissance, and they’re all called odalisque,” she explained.

For more on this story, please see the Feb. 14 print or e-edition of the Daily Herald