Do you have some free time and a soft spot for the visual arts? If so, help us establish this gallery space at 113 Broad Street for the artists and arts enthusiasts of Cut Knife and surrounding area. Email Randy at cmmmcutknife@gmail.com.
More: 1- The Spare Room and 2- What Kind of Art Gallery?
If you didn’t know, and to be honest, a few of us at that first meeting didn’t, there are different types of art galleries. Listed below are the two main types with very brief descriptions of the differences between them.
COMMERCIAL: These include private galleries, co-operative galleries, vanity galleries, and more. Commercial galleries are businesses set up specifically to sell art. Some of these galleries offer additional services like rentals, home decor, or gift shops. Artists for these venues are selected to suit a particular clientele, or to make a splash in the art world, but always to be profitable for the gallery through sales.
PUBLIC: These galleries are usually established at the municipal level in the public’s interest. They tend to showcase and celebrate local, regional, and / or under-represented artists and creators. Public galleries operate as not-for-profits and may receive funding through granting organizations, donations, and / or memberships.
This gallery will be set up as a non-profit division of the Clayton McLain Memorial Museum. It will have its own funding and Advisory Committee. The gallery will seek submissions from artists within an approx. 80 kilometer radius.
Do you have some free time and a soft spot for the visual arts? If so, help us establish this gallery space for the artists and arts enthusiasts of Cut Knife and surrounding area. Email Randy at cmmmcutknife@gmail.com.
SHOUTOUT to Aleah Anseth (Fragment Media / Alte Studios) who insisted the first step in this process would be to find enough artists willing to exhibit in a new space. Thank you for your Facebook post in Cut Knife Events. You were right!
~ Debbie M.
Research requests are always varied and interesting, and it’s easy to get lost in the stories from decades ago. Just before Christmas, the Museum received a request for any information regarding Dan Munsell and the western horses he sold out east in the mid-1940’s.
Dan Munsell had sold a carload of western horses to the lumbermen and farmers of the Sussex, NB area. [The researcher’s grandfather] had bought a team of horses from them. During this horse purchasing transaction, [the researcher’s father] was able to get to know Mr. Munsell and his stepson.
After all the carload of horses were sold, Mr. Dan Munsell bought a second-hand car from a car dealer in St. John, NB. The car was a used 1940’s dark green 4 door Chevrolet, which had a standard transmission, whose previous owner was a doctor in St. John.
In early May 1946, [the researcher’s 19 year-old father] and his high school buddy Ernie started their fascinating journey west. They drove from Sussex, New Brunswick to Cut Knife, Saskatchewan with Dan Munsell and his stepson.
– from the request
The researcher had numerous questions about the horses, their transportation out east, and other details. Unfortunately, very little information turned up in the Museum’s search. The following excerpt was the only direct reference:
When farming was horse power, the Munsell family were involved in securing and breaking bronchos. This meant they would go down to Medicine Hat, Alta. and drive back a number of head of range bronchos and then commence the work of breaking the animals to harness and work. When broken these were sold to other farmers in the area. This also meant that the problem of getting the animals to Cut Knife meant overland drives of many miles and several days duration.
from Blended Heritage: Zera Albert and Mary Ellen Munsell family history, page 773.
So Randy S. went looking further afield and offered up the following notes from Glen Brebner, a lifelong horse aficionado:
The horses referenced as broncos in the text were likely feral horses from the Alberta foothills. They were smaller, tougher, and stronger, and were captured, broke, and sold for work in those days. They were sometimes called cayuses or broomtails because of their long bushy tails which they’d turn to the wind to protect themselves from the cold in the winter and which would swish flies in the summer.
Glen says that sometimes people would try to “improve” these horses by culling out their natural stallions and substituting draught horse stallions to try to increase the size. The curious thing is that the interbreeding would only take for one generation, then the horses would always revert to their smaller ancestors. They were often sold for work around Saskatchewan and transported to the east coast by rail car.
from a conversation between Glen Brebner and Randy S.
So many stories, so little time…
~ Debbie M.
At 113 Broad Street, the relatively “new” home of the Cut Knife Library and the Museum’s Admin. & Archives Centre (MAAC), is a small room to the right of the front entry way. In early planning stages, this street-facing room was to be an office rental however, that idea was impractical. The Library’s Used Book Sale has occupied it most recently but is now winding down. Currently, an initiative has begun that hopes to transform that ‘spare’ room into a gallery / visual arts space.
The Board of Trustees of the CMMM passed a motion at their November meeting to support the development of an art gallery that would have its own advisory committee and its own funding but would operate as a division of the Museum and share its corporate infrastructure. The Town of Cut Knife has also expressed its support for the creation of an art gallery in the building. An informal poll of Cut Knife and area artists and creators via Facebook produced a very positive reaction and has prompted the working group to begin planning next steps.
With that in mind, keep your eye on the Museum’s blog and Facebook page for updates, for next steps and, of course, for calls for volunteers, donors, and artists.
Interested in being a part of the gallery working group? Have questions? Email Randy Strelioff at cmmmcutknife@gmail.com.
~ Debbie M.
CMMM’s current display in the Cut Knife Library features vintage calendars from former area businesses and from a few companies still operating today. Years represented range from the mid-1920’s to the late-1970’s. As marketing materials and as customer appreciation items, these sponsored calendars were a useful tool for families and also provided easily accessible contact information. Many also featured beautiful art work, photography and / or typesetting. Here are a few examples.
These calendars and in fact, all of our Library exhibits, are best viewed in person as the overhead lighting and the limitations of the glass cases make for poor photos. To browse the complete exhibit which includes another dozen calendars, visit 113 Broad Street.
~ Debbie M.
Clayton McLain Memorial Museum 