Exhibits: MHC Gallery 2020 Fundraiser
MHCGALLERY annual fundraiser, 2020
Looking forward...
to welcoming artists back...
to welcoming visitors again...
to welcoming communities back...
to welcoming you once again...
In 2019 our annual fundraiser packed the CMU chapel. The theme was "welcome". Hutterite art, music, faith, food and hospitality were at the heart of the welcome. Memories are fresh and yet it also feels so long ago. Who could have imagined we would be where we are today, while being inspired that evening by music, art, spoken word and while enjoying scrumptious desserts. As with everyone and everywhere, worlds have been turned upside down.
COVID-19 has meant closed gallery doors that will last at least through the just starting academic year. But this is not a sign that the gallery mission has ended.
The gallery is on pause, not at an end. We do not know when it will reopen but my and CMU's commitment is that it will. We already have what we expect to be a timely exhibition featuring Karen Cornelius and Patricia Eschuk confirmed for whenever that opening will take place. Plans are to reschedule Breaking the Silence on Domestic Violence, an important, powerful group show asking all, and especially people of faith, particularly Christian leaders, to break the silence on domestic violence happening in all of our communities.
Looking back, looking forward
The MHC Gallery is a Mennonite institution. It is a Christian institution. It is a Mennonite Christian institution that for 22 years has welcomed all of goodwill to tell us about themselves through their art, faith and culture. We believe there is no other arts institution, not just in Winnipeg, but in all of Canada that has carried forward a mandate to work, based in a faith setting, as extensively as the MHC Gallery has with artists, and faith and cultural communities.
That work is on pause in the gallery. It is not on pause outside of the gallery. The Leap in Faith project continues with the upcoming completion of a visually oriented book that will focus on and reveal Manitoba's faith diversity as nothing has before.
A number of years ago, referring to the MHC Gallery's work across cultures and faiths, The Winnipeg Foundation's Community Grants Coordinator said, "The MHC Gallery has been doing for years what most arts institutions are still talking about doing." The Leap in Faith project book continues that, "doing" what we've been doing for years.
Looking forward to the completion of the book, looking forward to reopening, looking forward to a hoped and prayed for bright future, the MHC Gallery cherishes your faithful support. We know in these unprecedented times we certainly cannot take that support for granted. We thank all those who have and will support our continuing work, work I pray is what God would have us do.
I look forward to welcoming you back.
Ray Dirks
MHC Gallery curator
The MHC Gallery is a self-funded gallery of Canadian Mennonite University. The budget, from hammers and nails to salaries, is met almost entirely by the donations of its supporters. During the current COVID-19 caused closure, Selenna Wolfe is no longer employed by the gallery. Ray Dirks is the lone staff member through this period.
Often times when a program has multiple purposes either one dimension becomes dominant and the other ones secondary, or the overall quality suffers. Such is not true for the MHC Gallery. Over 22 years Ray Dirks has cultivated a Gallery of superb artistic quality, authentic faith expression, and exemplary relationship building. Artists have been celebrated, and understandings and trust across religious communities have been nurtured. The MHC Gallery is a treasure that CMU is honoured to house, and sustains a vision the University is committed to carrying forward. In this pandemic time of locked buildings, the Gallery is not hosting exhibitions. Its walls are graced with Ray's paintings, and these are inspiring students as they spend time in the Gallery studying and trying their own hands at visual art. Thanks for considering a donation to a vision that continues through this unusual year and as Ray takes the time to complete the impressive Leap in Faith book. We look forward to welcoming you to a Gallery exhibition again before too long.
Cheryl Pauls
President, Canadian Mennonite University
Donation Options
- by cheques payable to Canadian Mennonite University, MHC Gallery on the memo line, mailed to 500 Shaftesbury Blvd., Winnipeg, MB R3P 2N2
- online at cmu.ca/donate (by credit or debit card)
- make a monthly commitment using the online portal or by contacting Ray Dirks at rdirks
:@:cmu.ca or (204) 487 3300, ext. 346
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