New Hall Gallery exhibit a love letter to Manitoba

Artist Dawn Schmidt has an eye for light. She has the ability to look at a scene in nature or a Winnipeg street and see the way the sun hits the bows of trees or reflects in the brick work of an Exchange District building to capture a moment.

Now, people in the Southeast can get a view of Schmidt’s artwork as she is currently showing at the Steinbach Cultural Arts Centre.

“(The scene) definitely has to speak to me,” said Schmidt. “When I’m looking at nature, and you’ll see through all of my work, that (what is) particularly recognizable about my work is light, whether it’s sunlight breaking through, across the lake, or through the Prairie skies or reflections in the Winnipeg streets, or on the snow, I feel like people have recognized my work through light, through that lens.”

Schmidt’s 28-piece exhibit, Places that Stay with Us, is all about the impact certain places have in our lives and how they become a part of “our story,” according to the artist.

“So, whether it’s city streets or say the shorelines or whatever, but the paintings are sort of tied together less by subject, but more about what I’m trying to capture in the subject,” she said.

Schmidt’s journey as an artist only began in her late 30s, when she was the mother of small children, and she decided to pick up a brush and paint. She took painting classes through the Steinbach Art Council and developed a style that focuses not only on the scene, but how the brush applies the paint on the canvas in fluid strokes.

“I loved it and I loved exploring it and it was a great way for me to express myself outside of family,” she said.

Schmidt defines herself as a contemporary impressionist in that she doesn’t want to do realistic paintings as that would “drive” her “crazy,” in that it would be too much pressure. She feels if she wanted artwork that was realistic, she would just take a photograph.

She lists Tom Thompson, David Langevin, Stephanie Golden, and Erica Hawkes as influences in her work. When viewing her landscapes, it is evident that she has been influenced by these artists as she uses long flowing lines and plays with colour to capture light and shadow. But she also imparts her own take on what is in front of her, especially with her cityscapes of the Exchange District in Winnipeg.

“The old buildings and the graffiti down there and the stuff that makes it the interesting part of Winnipeg is in the Exchange District, if you ask me…I’ve always been drawn to that,” she said, adding later, “A hundred percent. It’s about the feeling or the essence (of a scene that I’m trying to show). A hundred percent… it’s just the expression that you can view through colour is absolutely amazing and it makes everything interesting.”

Schmidt loves the Canadian Shield and lake country and a lot of her landscapes come from that environment. She’s represented by the Avens Gallery in Canmore, Alta., and since becoming a part of that gallery and going there to drop off her latest works, her paintings have incorporated more mountain scenes as well.

“(I’m) currently working on mountain-scape type work or like trees. I love trees. I love painting trees. So, I do a lot of long, sort of thin canvases…The subject matter right now is because we’re coming into winter. So, I’m painting more winter scenes either here in Manitoba or out in Alberta.”

Schmidt said a viewer’s connection to one of her paintings is created when it invokes a memory or a place within themselves, and it is that connection that compels the viewer to purchase the painting for their home.

“(What I want viewers to take away from my work is) I think maybe just celebrating the beauty of our country, the beauty of light through expressive brushwork and bold colour, like (an) emotion(al) connection to Canadian landscapes.”

Schmidt will show 28 of her canvases until the end of Nov. 20.