The Central Region Juried Art Exhibition is now on display at Prairie Fusion Arts & Entertainment in Portage la Prairie.

Manager of gallery operations Lee Beaton outlines the annual event.

"Last week, the Central Region Juried Art Exhibition took place and we had 37 entries by about 16 artists from the Central region," says Beaton. "Carmen Hathaway and Annette Henderson were the jurors. They spent all day on Wednesday and then most of Thursday afternoon, writing critiques for each and every entry. And then they selected 25 pieces to tour the central region. Once they had selected those then they selected 10 pieces, too, that would be part of the Manitoba Rural and Northern Juried Art Show put on by the Manitoba Arts Network that's going to be on display in September through their website."

She describes how the event took place with COVID restrictions in effect.

"I think it went really well," continues Beaton. "We did a lot of thinking about how we could do it where we're going to keep people as safe as possible, limiting our number of people within the gallery at any time. The jurors pretty much were distant. They were six feet apart with their masks on and they kind of rolled around the gallery on chairs looking at each piece. They were on opposite ends each time they did it."

She explains they decided not to have people come into a public opening.

"What we did, however, for people to still have the opportunity to continue with our tradition of coming up with the People's Choice winner, we decided to put everything on a virtual gallery on our website," adds Beaton. "And then people were able to vote by emailing us. They had all day on the 28th and until noon on the 29th to send us their selection. They voted for which artist it was, which medium, and the title of the piece and their name. The winner was Levina Cunningham and her piece was called Oak Island Guardians. She painted with oil on a handsaw."

Beaton says she spoke with Cunningham who said it was her father's handsaw that has quite an ornate handle that really added to the overall art of the piece.

"The 25 pieces that were selected are on display here in our main gallery until the 27th of May," adds Beaton. "Then it moves for the month of June. It goes to Carman to the Golden Prairie Arts Council and then in July it goes to Morden at the Pembina Hills Arts Council. And then in August, it goes to Holland at the Tiger Hills Art Association. September is the Manitoba Rural and Northern Juried Art Show, and then the tour goes for the month of October to the Winkler Arts and Culture in Winkler. And then in November, all of the artists' pieces will be coming back to the depots and people will be taking their items home."

She notes if you'd like to purchase a piece, they are displayed on their website where you can actually see the entire virtual exhibit and make your purchase.

Hours are Monday to Wednesday, from 10:00 a.m. until 3:00 p.m. If you cannot come during those hours, you must call ahead of time and ensure someone is there to help you enter the gallery. You will find a doorbell at their south entrance.

Website: prairiefusion.ca.