Gallery finishes summer with double artist show

Joel Bouchard and Jim Fergusen's art styles couldn't be any more different, but they come together to deliver a wonderful show at this month's Gwen Fox Gallery exhibit.

The show, which opened on Aug. 2 and will run until the end of the month, feature's Bouchard's watercolor, acrylic and oil paintings, as well as Fergusen's wood art that is created by using a scroll saw - a technique that he says took him more than 20 years to perfect.

"I've been doing this for 25 years, I started playing around with wood by making toys and eventually started making pictures," said Fergusen. "It takes practice, a lot of practice."

Fergusen, who lives in Matlock, says each of his pieces that are on display in the gallery have taken him dozens of hours to create. Fergusen first sketches his image on a very thin piece of oak or birch panel, and then painstakingly cuts out his pattern.

One picture in particular, a leopard walking in the grass, has over 1,100 cuts alone and took an upwards of 40 hours to complete.

His other pieces depict pictures of other jungle animals, motorcycles, rodeo scenes, and he even has plaques of Hollywood legends John Wayne and Marilyn Monroe for sale in the gallery's gift shop.

"I like to do it to see the finished product. I sketch it out and sometimes I don't know if I'm going to be able to do it," explains Fergusen. "But I look at it after and see that I could."

Meanwhile Bouchard, who grew up in Laurier, began drawing in elementary school and began painting at the age of 12 having been inspired by reproductions of famous paintings by Monet and Gauguin hanging in his grandmothers living room.

He says he is most interested in oil painting reproduction Manitoba scenery and landscape, particularly the vanishing buildings built by pioneers.

"The rugged landscape of the Precambrian shield, the open prairies, and the unpopulated north draw my attention and inspire me to record these uniquely Manitoba wonders," Bouchard writes in his biography.

Bouchard says he also enjoys photography and painting on ceramic tiles, and has displayed his work in several exhibitions and gallerys throughout the years.