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Item Name: Painting
Title: Inside Views of Whitkow
Maker: Ann Harbuz
Year: 1980
Country: Canadian
Materials: acrylic paint;pen;canvas
Measurements: overall: 60.5 cm x 122 cm
ID Number: PC2001.5
Legal Status: PERMANENT COLLECTION


Extended Label Info: In her life and her art, Ann Harbuz did not follow social convention. A self-taught artist, she began painting at the age of fifty-eight. She depicted the events of Ukrainian settler life on local farms and villages based on observation and memory. Working with the style of “folk art”, Harbuz’s work reveals important personal, cultural and social histories in a style that is immediate, playful and unconventional. Much like Indigenous painter Allen Sapp, Harbuz provides a record of early prairie life from her perspective, as a rural settler and culturally Ukrainian woman. Her art-work documents a range of events from daily chores to ceremonial occasions, often focusing on the immense labour undertaken by women, and their specific social conditions within a patriarchical society. This painting, “Inside Views of Whitkow” is good example of Harbuz’s sophisticated compositions and use of extraordinary detail. A birds-eye view of several interior scenes unfold within a panoramic prairie landscape to reveal the social spaces of a small prairie town: store, school, post-office, telephone exchange and mayor’s office. Ann Alexandra (nee Napastiuk) Harbuz (1908-1989) The Napastiuk family emigrated from Ukraine, to Winnipeg, Manitoba in 1908. They settled near Whitlow, Saskatchewan, and their early days were marked by poverty and hardship. After marrying her second husband Mike Harbuz, she moved to Ponoka, Alberta and began to study painting by visiting with local artists. In 1967 while in North Battleford, Ann began her art career in earnest with support from the local artists and community. Her work has been exhibited nationally, and is part of many private and public collections, including the Canadian Museum of History, the Mendel Art collection at Remai Gallery, and the Saskatchewan Arts Board.