From the moment it first began 25 years ago, the WAVE Interlake Artists Studio Tour has been a hit with art lovers from Gimli to Winnipeg Beach to St. Andrews and beyond.
“We’ve always got tons and tons of people coming out,” says potter Alan Lacovetsky, who has been on the tour since its second year.
The key to the tour’s success has not only been its popularity with the communities that host it, but also the community of artists that have created such a wide range of pieces to enjoy. “The reason that I joined the tour was because I wanted to connect with other local artists,” shares glass artist Heather Dawson. “The friendships that I’ve created over the last eight years have been incredible.”
Now, that community has come to downtown Winnipeg as the 210 Gallery on Princess Street in an exhibition called WAVE Action: 25 Years in Motion.
Regional diversity on display
The distance between the communities means that the art both shown on the tour and on display at WAVE Action have an array of inspirations and mediums. “The Interlake is such a diverse region because you’ve got lakes on either side of an expanse area where you have fields and you have forests,” explains Dawson.
“I just look out my studio window and get all the inspiration and influence that I could ever use,” adds Lacovetsky.
The connections that the tour allows across the region means that artists have another source of inspiration to tap into: each other. “Previously, I hadn’t really given myself permission to explore other mediums,” Dawson says. “I was inside my box of glasswork and that was the only thing I was allowed to do, and then Alan actually gave me the permission to try using clay and creating different molds, so that’s kind of what I’ve been dabbling in lately.”
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Clay, glass, pottery and more have now come together at WAVE Action in a rare collection of works. Dawson has enjoyed the interactions that she has had with Winnipeggers who may not be familiar with what creative living is like in her part of the province.
“Being able to share a little piece of the Interlake or a little piece of nature and being able to have people in Winnipeg or around the world be able to share in that piece of nature that I’m enjoying right at my back door, it’s really special to me,” says Dawson.
“Some of the conversations that I had with the people that were there weren’t necessarily all entirely about my art,” she says as she describes how the artistic community has supported each other during the exhibition, “and that’s something that I really enjoy about this group is the community and being able to share in the joy of other people’s artwork.”
WAVE Action: 25 Years in Motion runs at the 210 Gallery until May 23. Hours and more details are available at the gallery’s website.
