Art family affair Three generations display work at Gwen Fox
Friday March 07, 2008
By Amie Lesyk
Apparently, artistic ability can be genetic.
The Kanne family has joined creative forces to put together a exhibit showcasing each family member’s work in a variety of mediums.
Gordon Kanne, a member of Gwen Fox Gallery, said the joint exhibit was actually his wife’s idea.
“She said since we have all these artists in the family, we should come up with a family show,” he explained, taking a break from setting up the exhibit.
Kanne has 11 pieces displaying his work in watercolour, graphite pencil, wood carving and rug hooking.
His sons Virgel and Mason are photographers and his other son Miles, a tattoo artist in Edmonton, is displaying water colour paintings.
“[Mason}has a variety of shots from around Winnipeg,” said Kanne.
Kanne’s brother John and his son Richard are also included in the exhibit.
Oil paintings of landscapes done by Kanne’s late-father have the exhibit spanning three generations.
“It’s nice to see everyone’s work together,” said Virgel, who has contributed contemporary photography to the show.
“To see it all in once place is really neat.”
Virgel said he doesn’t often exhibit his work, but his latest show was in Vancouver. Black and white, modern portraits were amongst work Virgel had chosen to display.
Kanne’s last show at Gwen Fox was in 2005. Visitors can expect to see new work at this month’s exhibit.
“The oldest was probably...done in 2005,” he said, looking at one of his watercolours.
The newest, he points out, is an intricate wood carving of a fox in mid-stride amongst carefully crafted, skinny reeds.
Kanne has entered and won at local and provincial wood-carving championships and will be taking this new creation to another contest mid-month.
He started drawing and painting when he lived in Thompson. Coming from Nova Scotia in 1966, the retired bricklayer lived in Winnipeg for several years before moving to Thompson and later making his way to Selkirk.
“I’ve been in Selkirk for just under four years,” he said.
Kanne said he is “pretty much self-taught.”
“I’ve been drawing and painting since 1995 and carving for about 2 1/2 years now.”
Kanne also teaches drawing classes at the Gordon Howard Seniors Centre.
The exhibit opened March 4 and runs until March 30.
All of the artist’s will be on hand for the opening reception March 10 from 1 p.m. until 4 p.m.
“All of the artists will be here. Miles is flying in just for this,” Kanne said. “It’s going to be one of the few chances we all get together again.”
Kanne joked that the rest of the family has been invited to the show.
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