A new art exhibition presented jointly by the Mud Pie Girls and the River Street Potters opened Dec. 2 at the Moose Jaw Cultural Centre (MJCC), inspired by a quote from Vincent Van Gogh, "Find Things Beautiful As Much As You Can."
The Mud Pie Girls are Kathy Verbeke and Dorothy Yakiwchuk. The River Street Potters are Faithe Sovdi, Melanie McFarlane, Shannan Taylor, and Dianne Newman.
The new exhibition features contributions from all six artists. The two dominant mediums are acrylic paintings and pottery art, from functional to decorative to sculptural. All the pieces draw inspiration in some way from Van Gogh's work and philosophy, from his use of colour to his letters with his faithful brother Theo, from the heavy, impressionistic brush strokes of his portrait work to his bright experiments in landscape and flowers.
The show also serves to celebrate the one-year anniversary of the River Street Potters taking up residence in the Cultural Centre, across the hall from long-time residents Verbeke and Yakiwchuk.
"Thank you to everyone who has been involved in us transitioning here, and we're excited to have you here to celebrate the River Street Potters and Mud Pie Girls at the Moose Jaw Cultural Centre," Faithe Sovdi said at the show's opening reception. "This would not have happened with the vision of Kathy Verbeke, and we want to thank her for that. It's been such a pleasure and an honour working with her again, we've learned so much from her over the years, and we continue to learn from her and benefit from her knowledge of pottery, friendship, and business.
"The other person we have to thank is Sarah Simison (executive director of the MJCC), because she listened to Kathy's vision and came and invited us. As a result, we've been here for a whole year."
Sovdi also thanked staff at the MJCC for making them welcome and helping them settle in.
Kathy Verbeke said having the River Street Potters in the building has been a joy and has helped to further create a cultural community.
"Well, when there wasn't a show going on, the building felt so empty, and there's so much space here and so many rooms," she said. "Now that the girls have moved in, it's really brought the place to life. And they're teaching, so there are students coming and going, and it's just been wonderful."
"Anybody can create something beautiful from with a lump of clay, and we really speak to that a lot when we're working with our friends, our family, our students who come and learn from us, anybody," Sovdi said. "Melanie found this quote by Van Gogh, which says to 'Find things beautiful as much as you can, most people find too little beautiful.'
"So this is our theme, to find things beautiful in the work that we do. ... And what we're asking today, this is our little interactive part, is that you take a sticky note, think of something you've seen or felt in the world today ... and just put the sticky note up (on the wall), and we want to fill this by the end of December."
The new exhibition is free to view at the MJCC on Main Street, and galley visitors are encouraged to write a note or two for the 'find something beautiful' wall.
'Find Things Beautiful As Much As You Can' will be at the MJCC through December.
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