1art original : handcoloured etching on paper ; 50.5 cm x 50.5 cm
Notes:
To view image click on "Access Content Now" above This delicately hand-coloured print depicts a Saskatoon berry wreath in a cycle through the seasons. Spring flowers make their journey into lush summer berries, colourful fall leaves, and finally empty winter branches, before circling back to Spring. The cycle invites us to contemplate death, renewal, and the passage of time. This style of painting is known as a “Vanitas”, a genre of still-life composition with hidden philosophical symbolism. Popularized in the 17th century by Dutch artists, these often highly detailed compositions featuring flowers, insects, fruit, wine glasses, skulls and other objects that both document and criticize the material culture of their time and remind the viewer that the pleasures of life are fleeting. Here, Donna Kriekle uses a local prairie plant to create a twentieth-century Vanitas. The Saskatoon berry plant, “Amelanchier alnifolia” grows throughout North America. Known by several different names including prairie berry, serviceberry, shadbush, juneberry, or pigeon berry, the poetic “saskatoon” is an anglicization derived from the Cree language word, misâskwatômina (Mis-sack-qua-too-mina), which means “the fruit of the tree of many branches”. Donna Kriekle (1945 - ) was born in Southey, Saskatchewan. She earned her Bachelor of Arts (1969) at the University of Regina, studying painting with Arthur McKay, Ted Godwin, and Doug Morton. Moving to Montreal, she continued her studies in the History of Art, and Comparative Religions programs at Concordia University. In 1979, Kriekle returned to Saskatchewan. She established her studio in Regina, and taught art through University of Regina Extension, MacKenzie Art Gallery Outreach, Emma Lake Arts Program, and the OSAC travelling exhibitions program. A master of watercolour, Kriekle also works in oils, acrylics, photography, drawing, and digital media. Her artwork has exhibited nationally and is held in numerous private and public collections, including Saskatchewan Arts Board and the Canada Council Arts Bank. In 2015, Kriekle’s artwork was featured on the fine silver maple leaf fractional set of collector coins released in 2015 from the Royal Canadian Mint commemorating the historic reign of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II
