Blog
On April 27th 2025 our Westman Region Juried Art Show - hosted by the Reston Art Club and held at the R.E.S. Centre in Reston, MB - drew quite the crowd! We had 240 attendees who signed the guest book. There were 142 artworks entered by 83 Artists - 53 Adults, 22 Youth, and 8 from the Touchwood Art Class. A majority of these artists were in attendance as well. The age categories for the 142 pieces entered were: 94 adults, 32 youth, and 16 from the Touchwood Art Class in Neepawa.
The People’s Choice Award went to Christina Guenther from Boissevain, MB with her original artwork titled: 1955 (newspaper collage and acrylic paint)
This year’s Theme Category was Surprise! and the Award went to Kerri Wilson from Hamiota, MB with her mixed-media artwork titled: Oh! What a Surprise
The Best In Show was awarded by the Jurors to Dianne van den Ham of Brandon for her delicately detailed fibre art work titled: Exploring The Sleeping Giant
Our 2025 Jurors – Ben Davis from Brandon and Leona Brown from Winnipeg - provided written feedback on every artwork entered into the show and also recognized the participating artists’ creative efforts with the following additional awards: 10 Honorable Mentions in the Adult Category and 4 Youth Awards (2 in the 11-13 age category and 2 in the 13-19 age category). 20 artworks (2 youth, 18 adult) meeting the size criteria for touring were also selected for the Travelling Gallery. Ben and Leona were also on hand at the public reception to chat with the artists individually about their work. A huge thank-you to our Jurors for their dedication and outstanding work with our artists. Go to our webpage 2025 Juried Show Awards to view these award-winning works.
Gerry Oliver, Arts West Council President with Jurors Ben Davis and Leona Brown.
Juror Leona Brown also shared with the audience a most inspiring insight on being creative: "Make sure that whatever creative work you do, you enjoy doing the work. If you enjoy doing the work you will do more of it and the more you do of it the better you will become at doing it".
The Travelling Gallery artworks will be on display over the next year in 16 different communities around the Westman Region. The 2025 Travelling Gallery Touring Schedule is available for download from the Arts West Council website and photos taken at the 2025 Juried Art Show are on our website for viewing as well.
The 2025 Westman Region Juried Art Show was sponsored in part by: 3 Brandon businesses - Lasting Image, The New System Store and Janzens Paint & Decorating, as well as The Ralph Oliver Family from Carberry, The Rural Municipality of Pipestone, and Rob and Kristine MacDonald from Killarney. We greatly appreciate the support our sponsors provided along with the Reston Art Club members who were superb hosts for this year's show. We would not have had such an amazing event without all their work.
2025 was the 46th year Arts West Council has organized the annual Westman Region Juried Art Show and co-ordinated it being hosted by various arts groups in communities across the Westman Region of Manitoba. The purpose of the show is to provide amateur and emerging artists the opportunity for professional feedback on their work and public showcase for their creative work.
We look forward to bringing you the 47th show in 2026 - stay tuned for details later this year.