A new exhibit is on offer at Minden’s Agnes Jamieson Gallery, featuring painter André Lapine.
Shannon Kelly, the township’s Manager of Cultural Services, says it’s a selection of the more than 100 pieces by Lapine in the gallery’s collection.
According to Kelly, the Latvian-born painter had deep ties to our local area. After being hit by a car in 1940s Toronto, Lapine moved to Minden to recover, and was good friends with local resident Frank Welch and gallery namesake Dr. Agnes Jamieson. Kelly says Lapine spent the last decade of his life here, where the local landscape inspired much of his later work.
“The majority of the oil paintings were donated in 1973 by Frank Welch, and that’s what we’ve pulled out for the exhibit,” says Kelly. “[It’s] focusing on some of his work done in the local area, primarily in Minden and the surrounding area. As well as much of his work dealing with one of his favourite subject matters, which was horses.”
If you do come to visit, Kelly says to look out for two standout paintings: Horses Pulling Sled and Collecting the Sap.
“The depiction of the horses is remarkable, they’re beautifully rendered,” says Kelly. “But it’s definitely the forest and the light on the snow that’s just so striking. It makes the paintings pop. We have those two side-by-side on the one wall of the gallery, and they’re my favourites that I would point to.”
Admission is by donation, which Kelly says keeps the Minden Hills Cultural Centre up and running. The exhibit is available until the end of March.
