Ken van Rees
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Picture
Breaking Ground
Saskatchewan Artists Paint the Landscape with the Landscape.

Works by MEN WHO PAINT
April 9 & 10th (Saturday 7- 10 / Sunday 10 - 4)
Wascana Country Club
6500 Wascana Parkway
Regina, SK
Artist Reception Saturday 7-10 PM


This April, Regina will host an innovative exhibition of paintings celebrating the importance of soil in mark-making, with soil as a pigment. Canadian landscape artists Cam Forrester, Greg Hargarten, Paul Trottier, Roger Trottier, and Ken Van Rees, also known as the Men Who Paint, will be hosting a showing of the paintings on April 9th and 10th 2016, at the Wascana Country Club, 6500 Wascana Parkway in Regina. The Artists’ reception will take place Saturday from 7pm - 10pm.

Breaking Ground features recent works by the group including soil profile artwork done on site in Saskatchewan, as well as works painted with pigments made from soil, bone and antler. The soil, collected from areas in Saskatchewan and other parts of Canada, was chosen for its color and consistency. It was ground up with pestle and mortar then mixed with egg tempura or acrylic gel. The bone and antlers collected were heated in a fire and similarly ground and mixed. The result is a collection of paintings with a unique relationship to the landscape they represent.

The idea began with Men Who Paint artist Ken Van Rees, a soil scientist at the U of S, who discovered the work of Symeon Van Donkelaar through Canadian Geographic Magazine. Van Donkelaar was making art with materials collected within 100 miles of his home. Van Rees was intrigued with the idea and realized that painting with soil could further connect art to a sense of place. “It seemed a natural step to paint the landscape with the landscape.” says Van Rees. The other members of Men Who Paint were equally excited and last June began collecting and grinding soil and bone to make pigments.

A connection with German artist/soil scientist Gerd Wessolek, and a desire to incorporate soil in a more playful manner furthered exploration. Van Rees’s position at the U of S involves extensive work in the field. He discovered a very unique site where the soil’s colors, textures, arrangement, and organic matter are unlike other places in Western Canada. In fact, the soil near the surface has been carbon-dated and is between 25,000 - 30,000 years old–it’s unusual for soil and matter of this age to be so close to the surface. The extraordinary patterns and colors led to what the group calls soil profile pieces. Freshly painted canvases are pressed into the soil profile retaining some of the earth’s unique patterns and textures. The exhibit debuted at the Gordon Snelgrove Gallery in Saskatoon in December, and will now be on display in Regina for the first time.

Men Who Paint
Since their formation in 2007, Men Who Paint have embraced plein air painting. Inspired by the work and adventurous spirit of the early Canadian painters, the group, until recently, has spent most of their painting time outdoors. Their travels have seen them at many Canadian locations, including Banff National Park, Ontario’s Algonquin Park, Ellesmere Island, and Yukon’s Ivvavik National Park, as well as Saskatchewan locations Prince Albert National Park, Emma Lake, La Ronge and Cypress Hills.
Their work is held in private, corporate, and museum collections including The Mann Gallery in Prince Albert and the Parks Canada Permanent Collections.

 





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