Edith Krause - Neil Dyck

Edith Krause - Neil Dyck
June 9– July 30, 2005

Edith Krause

maintains a studio on the family farm in British Columbia’s Fraser Valley. I first met Krause a number of years ago when I participated in the Fraser Valley Arts and Peace Festival, initiated by Krause’s church, Langley Mennonite Fellowship, as an alternative event to the militarized Abbotsford Air Show. As with Dyck, I was interested in Krause as an artist before I saw her art, drawn to her soul. She first participated at the MHCGallery several years ago, with two painted quilts gaining a place in a juried cross country quilt exhibition. That led to several conversations dawdling along over a period of years until I asked her to contribute a piece to the In God’s Image exhibition and then, after visiting her studio, asked her to bring a solo exhibition to Winnipeg.

Krause is primarily known as a printmaker. This exhibition includes a variety of other art besides prints. Peeking in the boxes brought here from B.C. one sees driftwood, socks, canvas, paint, prints, organic images, banners, ceramic tiles, under glass, under foot….

Krause is a member of the Malaspina Printmakers Society located on Granville Island in Vancouver. Her work was selected for the Biennial International Miniature Print Exhibition (BIMPE II), an exhibition featuring the work of printmakers from 19 countries. She also teaches in the Trinity Western University art department.

Click images for large version

Edith Krause assembling the tile installation Tread Lightly If You Must. Inset, one of the nearly 1,000 printed tiles in the installation	Accumulating Heaven, driftwood collected from a beach near Edith and Henry’s Krause’s cottage on one of B.C.’s Gulf Islands.	This Week’s Menu in C.A.
Detail: Tread Lightly If You Must	Detail: Accumulating Heaven	Redeemed, dryer “orphan” socks made into a rug. Socks were donated by members of Krause’s church.

Neil Dyck

is a young artist quickly making a name for himself in Winnipeg. I was first attracted to Dyck by his spirit rather than his work, which I had not yet seen. In February 2000 he challenged the hallowed halls (perhaps better to be described as stalls in this case) of the Winnipeg Art Gallery, in his way declaring the gallery to be an institution of the masses by placing his art in a washroom. Needless to say, the exhibition did not last long. But long enough to become Dyck’s first solo show.

Hanging a first show in a washroom does not mean Dyck is a gimmicky attention seeker. He is not. He is a serious and seriously dedicated artist. Dyck’s abstract work demands attention and earns it. The following excerpt comes from a review in The Manitoban of his two person show at Winnipeg’s Graffiti Gallery:

“Dyck’s work is a careful process of adding, removing and obscuring non-representational forms. At first glance, the paintings seem to offer a quick narrative — an illustrated avenue to interpretation — but it is not that easy. As the viewer approaches these works, any literal association formed at a distance is challenged by the various detailed components. In proximity, a process of layering is evident that reveals a balance between free, expressive form and an intentional constraint.

“The result of this fusion is the expression of a modern-bohemian aesthetic, an artistic freedom and confidence within the historical precedent of abstraction.”

Dyck says of his work, "I am currently creating non-representational paintings both large and small. I enjoy the process of intuitive painting, and to an extent, gradually becoming aware of what I am doing. I play with the paint as though I'm solving some sort of puzzle, building the image up to a point where I feel the composition is complete."

Dyck’s exhibition featured both painting and sculpture.

Some of Neil Dyck’s paintings and three dimensional artworks

Come visit our Gallery in the Mennonite Heritage Centre
600 Shaftesbury Blvd., Winnipeg, MB R3P 0M4
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