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It’s late March, one week prior to the opening of Gabrielle Funk’s show Psychopomp at Gurevich Fine Art, when I climb the stairs to her new apartment on Assinaboine. Gabrielle’s spent more than a hundred hours making points over the last two weeks.
Her breathtaking pointillist self-portraits feature human figures and animals, born out from what she calls an “obsessive” practice.
The concept for the show has, according to Gabrielle, “come to fruition over the last few months.” Originally, she had planed a more conceptual, structured show based on a book she read this past fall. But after a recent parting-of-ways with her partner and the studio space they shared in their home, the show took a different direction. Psychopomp “emerged in a very natural way out of a pretty raw, transitional emotional state,” Gabrielle says. Each piece serves as “a sort of spiritual identity” simultaneously representing Gabrielle herself as well as a kind of spiritual guide through a state of transition “from one self to another.”
Gabrielle busies herself, making tea, adding more detail to the last self-portrait to join the show, pulling old work from an antique trunk, shooing her cats away from me and my allergic nose. We sit down to talk more about her work.
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Jesse Oberman, Taylor Archibald and Peter Hill have been part of Winnipeg’s food and drink scene for more than a few years. Their collective education is a hodgepodge of gigs at some of Winnipeg’s hottest restaurants, pop-up dinners, formal training in wine and spirits, and a lot of travel.
Two years ago, when Jesse and Taylor launched Élevage Selections and started bringing natural wines to Winnipeg, there were a lot of naysayers. Jesse says, “Natural wines are harder to ship, because they don’t contain preservatives. People also thought wine drinkers wouldn’t get it. These wines taste different.”
But steadily, they’ve been building a following. Wines they’ve sourced are popping up at restaurants and wine stores around the city, and Élevage hosts regular natural wine parties at Forth bar. “We are thrilled to have an amazing network of support here. The stores we work with have given us a real chance. And there are restaurants that have agreed to put our wines on their list and challenge their guests. That’s an awesome thing for us,” says Jesse.
Now Élevage is branching out in new ways. Taylor’s stepping back to take over management of Fenton’s wine merchants at The Forks, where he'll be making some major changes. Jesse is moving to England to continue his wine education. He’ll be back and forth between London and Winnipeg over the next year and a half. To help ease the transition, they’ve brought in Peter Hill, who was instrumental in bringing together the drink menu when Albert Street Cocktail Company first opened its doors.
I meet with Jesse, Taylor and Peter at Fools & Horses on a bright Saturday in the early afternoon. Jesse brings over four glasses and a bottle of red wine made by Escoda Sanahuja, one of the natural wines Élevage has made available to Winnipeg. He pours out the glasses, and remarks on the mould visible in the cork, telling me this is an indication that the wine has been stored in a healthy environment, where natural bacterias are allowed to grow, instead of being chemically sanitized.
The minute I empty my glass, he’s pouring again. Our talk rambles into the afternoon and I stroll home with a rosy flush and smile on my face. It’s not just the wine.
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LEZ EAT is a lesbian pop-up dinner series hosted by Uzoma Chioma and Chef Natalie Davis. It provides space for cis or trans lesbian and queer woman, as well as non-binary individuals, to share in community and consume delicious food.
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It’s one of the first nice days in recent memory, and the sun is shining. In Beth Gage’s studio up the stairs of 333 Garry Street, it’s more than a few degrees warmer. “Yeah, it’s hot as hell,” she comments as we push open the old window looking out from her painted black desk.
Beth sits down to work the settings on a ring while I photograph her small, warm space. Roughly half of the room is given over to work: the desk she’s sitting at and an adjacent table where soldering equipment and a small gas tank wait. Pushed against the opposite wall are a worn-in couch and a rack of vintage leather and denim jackets Beth sells alongside her jewellery at pop-ups. The white walls are dotted with small framed prints and a few 1960’s Shriner figurines. An old plastic doll, Miss Yvonne from Peewee’s playhouse, hangs high in one corner.
Scraping back her chair and sitting down at the soldering table, Beth turns the flame on a ring of precious metal, transforming it into a glowing orange circle. After working for a few minutes, she asks me if I’d like to try. She pulls a small piece of scrap metal from a drawer and begins to set things up for me. “The most important thing is that you feel safe,” she says as she strikes the flint. I reassure her that I do, and she’s bringing the broad flame down to a focused point, then handing it to me and gently instructing me as I bring the point toward the scrap. The small piece of metal suddenly loses its shape and becomes a molten bead. I exclaim, and Beth smiles. She puts each tool back in its place, and we sit down to talk more about her work.
Read More![CPA [Consistent Partial Attention] for Cluster Festival](https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/55452eaee4b06698c528a7bd/1489406581359-CF3JFBOFMO03JAOMDJLP/_MG_7764-2.jpg)
On Friday night, Cluster New Music + Integrated Arts Festival opened for a packed house with CPA [Consistent Partial Attention], Freya Björg Olafson's exploration of technology and its impact "on our bodies and psyches." The show double billed with Training is the Opposite at the Rachel Browne Theatre.
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Last week, we had the pleasure of photographing Jill Sawatzky while she worked on the Tony chestnut Spring 2017 Collection. For this line, Jill drew inspiration from the eccentric art teachers in her life. It includes hand-dyed fabrics and embroidery alongside several collaborations with Winnipeg locals.
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It’s First Friday in the Exchange District and Wilder, Commonwealth and Oldhat’s new studio space is hopping. People mill over a spread of cured meats, cheeses, beer, and boxed wine laid out on a large work table; others lean against sewing machine tables and desks, deep in conversation. Occasionally a spirited game of darts or ping pong starts up. I pick up a paddle and manage to best a friend in a game - a fact of luck more than actual skill, since neither of us is a particularly strong player. The pleasant murmur of conversation and a subdued Spotify playlist is occasionally punctuated by peals of laughter, small cheers for winners, good-natured exclamations of disappointment by players who’ve missed their shot.
When I return for my interview with Brendon, Nate, Andrew and Nathan on a late weekday afternoon, the pitch is less ebullient, but still friendly. Each is huddled at his workstation, making cracks about “keeping things pretty” for the camera.
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