Exhibits on nature and grains on display at Steinbach Arts Council’s Hall Gallery

The Steinbach Arts Council’s (SAC) Hall Gallery exhibits this season will close with the showing of mixed media artists Earl Talatala and Naomi Gerrard who rely on nature to produce their paintings.

“After my (heart attack), I realized that there’s beauty all around us,” said Talatala. “It’s just so natural and common and sometimes we forget to appreciate the beauty and how blessed we are to have all this blessings from above.”

Talatala has been producing art since childhood growing up in Bukidnon, Philippines. He arrived in Steinbach in 2007 as a skilled worker for Maple Leaf Foods for four years before working as a manufacturing operator for Bausch Health for the last 13 years.

It was after a major heart attack that Talatala realized that “tomorrow is not a promise” and that he had to show his work. He brought two paintings to SAC to see if they would exhibit his pieces.

“They were so supportive and that’s why I applied to have an exhibit,” he said.

Initially, Talatala would reproduce famous paintings and give them away to this family, friends, and co-workers. But he stopped reproductions and turned to scenes of nature for his Raw and Simple exhibit where he will showcase 17 original works.

“The one thing that I want to share with the public is that my artwork is simple and I did spend a few hours only every day before I go to sleep and some of the artwork are made within three to five days,” he said.

“I want people to know that the only challenge in doing a painting is when to start. If you started from something everything will just follow and you finish it and there is nothing to worry because whatever…the outcome, someone will like it.”

For Gerrard, she has incorporated grains into her artwork for her exhibit Multi-Grains of Energy.

“When we were living amongst the farmers I started incorporating some of the grains that they were growing and I thought, ‘Huh, I should put together a story of the grain,’” she said, later adding, “Grain is such a hard little piece of matter and if it has the right conditions, good soil, moisture and right environment it sprouts into something quite remarkable. Our famers have learned to use it to feed the world.”

Gerrard is originally from Pennsylvania and received her fine art degree from the University of Minnesota in 1980. She met and married a Canadian and when he got a job in Manitoba they moved just west of Winnipeg and later to Winnipeg. Now as a retired registered nurse, Gerrard is making art that sends a message.

“I think it’s bringing attention to the importance of agriculture particularly related to feeding the world. The importance of agriculture in the prairies as well as the importance of good healthy foods needed for life,” she said.

What Gerrard wants people to take away from Multi-Grains of Energy is the marvel of grains, what they represent, and how valuable they are in our lives.

“I’m not sure of that comes through. I think people sort of see what I’ve done with the grains I’m not sure that they appreciate the grains themselves as a result. It’s hard to get that message across.”

Gerrard will hold a talk on June 18 and 19 from 10:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. to talk about the importance of art in today’s society.

Raw and Simple and Multi-Grains of Energy will run until June 27.