The winning piece, "Big Span" was painted using pigments mixed with hot wax. (Submitted/Mann Art Gallery)

By Alison Sandstrom

People's Choice

Mann Art Gallery announces award and goes virtual

Mar 21, 2020 | 8:00 AM

The Mann Art Gallery has named the winner of the Winter Festival’s People’s Choice Award. Visitors to the exhibition voted Kathy Bradshaw’s encaustic painting, “Big Span” as their favorite piece in the show.

Gallery staff made the announcement on Friday on Facebook Live, a platform they plan to use to connect with the public during their closure due to COVID-19.

“It’s absolutely a striking artwork,” Mann Gallery acting director and curator Lana Wilson told paNOW. “It’s unusual to see encaustic work too because really I’m only aware of two artists in the region who regularly work in encaustics.”

Encaustic painting uses pigments mixed with hot wax to create forms, usually on a wooden board.

Wilson explained the gallery had already been hoping to ramp up their social media presence, but now it’s their best option to reach their patrons, while the gallery like most city facilities remain closed to slow the spread of COVID-19.

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“We know so many of our visitors really love coming to us for the face-to-face contact with the staff as well as engaging with the artwork,” she said.

Wilson and her team will host a series of discussions on Facebook Live based around works in the Winter Festival exhibition. The first theme is already posted on the gallery’s Facebook page.

“People can respond to us, they can write on the Facebook page or it would be fantastic if children want to write in with their responses,” she said.

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alison.sandstrom@jpbg.ca

On Twitter: @alisandstrom