Cover Image by Danny Roscoe.

From now until May 25, the Community Gallery at the Pavilion is hosting Memories: Artwork by the Urban Art Group, comprising of pieces from Elizabeth (Liz) Sellors, Kris Ryan, and Danny Roscoe. While each artist has come into this collection showcasing a variety of individual talents in different mediums, their art flows well together, creating a collection that shines on both themselves and their collective whole.

The interview below features the perspectives of Liz and Kris. Sadly, Danny passed away a few weeks before the start of this show. Kris and Liz are dedicating Memories to their friend and partner, Danny.

Q: Tell us about your collection in the Community Gallery.

LS: My work is primarily oil on canvas subjects that range from portraits, landscapes and still life. I have put in a few outliers too; a three-dimensional piece, an abstract, a collage, and a sketch, which in many cases tie to memories. Danny's work was in large part experimental. He worked in several media and subjects, much of which involved photography and screen printing. 

KR: My collection is of watercolour images and creations of caribou tuftings. I fell in love with aquarelle painting in the last few years and have divided my creative time between watercolours and caribou tuftings. 

Q: How did the Urban Art Group come together?

LS: Before we knew each other, Danny and I had separately quit our jobs and gone back to the University of Manitoba to take Fine Arts. We met through our classes and continued to be friends following the four-year program. Along with a third person whose background was similar, we formed a three-person art collective that we called The Urban Art Group. The third person resigned from the group, and since we felt that out group worked best as a trio, our friend suggested we connect with Kris to join. We asked her last spring and we were thrilled when she said yes. Kris and I get along so well that it feels like we have known each other forever, even though it's only been a year.

Q: What inspired your artwork in this collection?

LS: My inspirations come from my main interest in subject-matter: portraiture and the human body, landscapes of primarily wide-open spaces, and still life. I have produced a few abstract pieces, one of which is in the show, which allowed me to try various techniques. 

KR: I am inspired by the elegant human motion in dance and the ever-changing forms in nature.  I was taught the art of caribou tuftings in the 1980’s by a friend who lived and worked in Churchill, Manitoba.  My finished works of tufting are of a different style than the original Northern pieces, but the basic technique is similar. 

Q: What inspired you to become an artist?

LS: I learned from a very young age that I could draw with reasonable preciseness what I saw around me. It was that ability that made drawing a pleasure for me. I drew all the time as a child and later I branched out into creating different art forms such as painting and working with wood to create sculptural pieces. Art and design have been major influences in my creations.

KR: I have been creating art since I was a child and have oil paintings and drawings that I created when I was in my early teens.  Art has always been my passion, whether designing, painting, woodworking or stained glass, and has become a full-time occupation since I retired. 

Q: What would you like visitors to get out of this collection?

LS: I hope that the visitors who come to see our work connect with our pieces. I have chosen to show several ways I creatively express myself in this collection, and I hope that’s interesting to the visitors. I believe that a gallery that shows a variety of creative approaches to art is stimulating to the viewer. I also believe that it is the viewer that finishes each piece.

KR: I hope that visitors feel the connection to the beautiful patterns in nature and the stunning capabilities of the human form. 

Q: What is your favourite/most impactful piece to make?

LS: In general, portraiture. You will see from the show that I have expressed the human in many ways, and I never tire of seeing what I can do to elicit emotion and try something new. I don't have a favourite piece, but I do have favourite outcomes from many of my pieces. I like the "Loraine" piece a lot. The idea is only partially my own since I took the idea from Freud, but it amazes me that it is not my sister-in-law, and yet it is my sister-in-law! I like my self-portrait as well, which I borrowed from John Currin, and yet very much me. 

KR: My favourite piece in my collection is the caribou tufting named Arctic Aurora. It depicts the breathtaking Aurora Borealis, the unending Arctic tundra and the majestic Polar bears of Manitoba’s unique Hudson Bay shore. 

Arctic Aurora, Kris Ryan

Q: Tell us about Danny. What was he like as an artist and person? How would you want him and his memory to be remembered?

LS: Danny was a very genuine, gentle, quiet human being who treated everyone with dignity and respect. He also had a great sense of humour. He was a creator extraordinaire! He came up with endless ideas for creating art, and was ever on the look-out for new gadgets to create art. He had so many ideas that he left much of his work unfinished. He had a quiet manner but was a big supporter of art in Winnipeg.  He also enjoyed teaching kids about art. He rarely missed an art show or a lecture on art and was familiar with many people in the Winnipeg art world, and knowledgeable about a vast range of art that takes place in our city.

KR: Danny was a kind, patient, and talented artist who always offered to go the extra mile to help others in any way he could. I hope that we can portray his image well and let visitors see through his art what a wonderful person and artist he was. 

LS: We have lost a significant member of the arts and an amazing friend. I think he would want to be remembered as someone who cared deeply about art in Winnipeg and someone who enjoyed spending time appreciating and interacting with the work of other artists, learning from them and experimenting with new ideas.

The opening reception of Memories: Artwork by the Urban Art Group will be on Sunday, March 9 from 1:00 pm – 4:00 pm.

The Community Gallery is open in the Pavilion every day from 9:00 am – 4:00 pm.