Grab a cup of culture at the Moose Jaw Museum and Art Gallery

To reside in a community requires a home and employment within it.

To know a community requires a little more effort. The heart of any village, town or city lies in its culture. Like sports, music, enterprise and entertainment, a region’s art and history are integral to the ongoing development and collectivity within a shared hometown.

Residents and visitors to Moose Jaw get all this and more at the Moose Jaw Museum and Art Gallery (MJMAG) at 461 Langdon Crescent where it sits below the Moose Jaw Public Library. Established in 1967 as part of Canada’s Centennial Celebrations, MJMAG has highlighted local and nationally renowned artists for more than five decades while collecting a vast inventory of historical documents and display items featuring the Central Prairies and its people.

MJMAG includes three main exhibition areas, including the Norma Lang Gallery, the Heritage Museum Gallery, and a Lobby Gallery. The latter room hosts a rotating selection of work from the facility’s 10,000-piece collection alongside special events and displays. This summer, MJMAG celebrates the artistic talents of the region’s LGBTQ creators in the Lobby Gallery.

The “Moose Jaw Pride” exhibit is featured in a room that also hosts annual exhibitions for the Moose Jaw Art Guild, which was established in 1929. The guild is open to all artists from the area and includes a variety of mediums.

Meanwhile, the Norma Lang Gallery features a variety of exhibits on a seasonal basis and features artists located here and around the world. The gallery’s 2023 display from May through September is called “tRACES: Lines, Lives, Loves” by Jeannie Mah and Heidi McKenzie. This body of work features pieces by the ceramic artists portraying the stories of two immigrant individuals. It also in-

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The MJMAG’s Heritage Museum Gallery is an immersive look at Moose Jaw, Saskatchewan, Canada, its people, its development and the culturally impressionable history that makes the city what it is today. The current feature display is the “Lost Children of the Residential School System,” which includes hundreds of pairs of shoes that were collected on the steps of the local St. Andrews United Church in 2021 as part of a memorial honoring missing aboriginal children. Organized by Cassidy and Kayleigh Olson, the display specifically notes the 215 missing Tk’emlups te Secwepemc First Nation children who attended the Kamloops Indian Residential School in British Columbia through the 19th and 20th Centuries.

Both MJMAG and the City of Moose Jaw, through the Crescent Park Foundation Initiative, have taken their cultural exhibitions outdoors as well. A tree-carving installation surrounding MJMAG and the Moose Jaw Public Library opened in 2016 in adjacent Crescent Park. Artists have used the trunks of damaged and fallen trees to both clean up the park and feature their work.

Especially exciting for 2023 is the scheduled opening of the MJMAG giftshop this summer. The store will be open Tuesday through Saturday along the same operating hours as the gallery.

Finally, art connoisseurs and local burgeoning artists can learn from the best via MJMAG’s intermittent talks from established creators. These are held in person in the gallery and can be seen on the museum and gallery’s YouTube page. The MJMAG can also be found on Facebook and Instagram. Otherwise, the facility can be contacted through its website at mjmag. ca, or by telephone at 306.692.4471. The Moose Jaw Museum and Art Gallery is open noon to 5 p.m. Tuesday through Friday; noon to 6 p.m. Saturday; and 1 to 5 p.m. Sunday.

The MJMAG is funded in part by the City of Moose Jaw, SK Arts, Saskatchewan Lotteries and SaskCulture Inc., the Museums Assistance Program of the Department of Canadian Heritage, the Canada Council for the Arts, and the Community Initiatives Fund.

Tucked away in the Village of Mortlach is a military museum featuring nearly 1,000 miniature models of planes, tanks, vehicles, and ships — and one man has made them all.

Steve Apperley’s interest in model military vehicles began when he was six years old after his father gave him a tube of glue to play with. His dad — a Second World War air force veteran — built many models out of wood during his military career following the war.

The first model plane Apperley received — planes are his favourite — was a DC-8 Air Canada transport plane. This kickstarted his love for the hobby, which continued into high school and adulthood. That first model plane has now grown into a collection of 840 models of various military vehicles and aircraft.

Apperley initially stored his collection at home but outgrew that location. After a years-long journey to find a new spot, he moved into a building four years ago along the main street in Mortlach. Since then, he has enjoyed running the Military Memories Model Museum, which features his creations, his father’s military uniforms and memorabilia, and his grandfather’s attestation papers from the First World War.

One room features models from the Second World War, while a second room showcases models from the Cold War to today.

If you’re observant, you might also notice the four American Sherman tanks from the movie “Fury,” with a little Brad Pitt figurine sticking out of the hatch.

Every model that Apperley made during the last 12 years came from kits. He had more models years ago but sold many of them, saying he would need a warehouse to keep everything he’s built. Besides the models, the hobbyist has also created dioramas. For example, there is a scene featuring a British Commonwealth Air Training Plan airbase, while another scene shows heavy vehicles pulling a tank out of a lake.

Most of his models are from the Second World War since there is more variety of kits. For example, it’s easier to acquire models of German tanks since there were many versions, while there are only four models of American tanks.

Apperley’s favourite models to build are Spitfires and B-17 bombers from the Second World War. Apperley enjoys making models since he can work with his hands. Furthermore, he likes to fact-check everything he makes to ensure they’re as accurate as possible.

Whether it’s a German tank or an AT-6 Harvard plane, he browses through books or the internet to ensure the decals and designs are correct. Sometimes, though, he also likes to paint or design a model the way he wants.

It usually takes Apperley a week to build a 1:32-scale model, three to five days to build a 1:48-scale model aircraft or tank, and minutes to build a 1:72-scale model aircraft.

Apperley will not sell any of the models he has made but does sell boxed kits.

The Military Memories Model Museum is open year-round. For more information, call 306-6304598.

The St. Victor Petroglyphs Interpretive Centre and Museum helps tell the story of the site’s importance and the history of the symbols, which archaeologists believe date back roughly 1,700 years.

Of the 364 glyphs found at the site — located about 30 kilometres southeast of Assiniboia off Highway 2 — none are related to the horse, which suggests that Aboriginal people carved the designs before horses arrived on the plains in 1750.

Some experts believe some petroglyphs date back to the 1200s AD, while others think the stonecarved drawings originated around 300 AD. While there is no definite dating of the site or when Aboriginal peoples made the carvings, archaeologists believe the drawings belong to the ancestors of the Siouan-speaking tribes.

Glyphs are carvings of human feet, hands, faces, animal tracks, designs and symbols. Using stone and wood tools, Aboriginals drilled, carved and pounded out the symbols. The glyphs tell the relationship between man and animals, living in harmony over centuries.

The interpretive centre uses 10 colourful panels to tell the story of the site’s importance, the petro- glyphs’ history, and the site’s future. Also on display are exhibits of how Aboriginal people used the bison, a replica of endangered glyphs, a display of Mortlach pottery — created between the years 1250 and 1750 — and worked bone, bone tools and stone tools.

The centre is located in a log structure from the former Moose Jaw Wild Animal Park and is called the Monarch Lodge, named after the “monarch of the plains,” the Plains Grizzly, and the Monarch butterfly.

The petroglyphs are located within the provincial

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Aerating heritage park, an area First Nations consider to be a sacred place because of the “living stones” there. The glyphs are on the flat surface of an outcropping of sandstone on the upper level of the Missouri Escarpment about 2.5 kilometre south of St. Victor. From the plateau’s top, visitors can look out over the prairie landscape 700 feet below. The water channel that the last glacier cut through the area and the deep coulee system likely provided a source of shelter and plants for Aboriginal people for centuries.

While tourists can visit the site at any time and view a magnificent vista, the best time to see the glyphs is in the late afternoon or early evening.

This is when the shadows grow longer and it’s easier to see the carvings.

The centre and museum are open in July and August from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., Wednesday to Sunday.

Friends of St. Victor Petroglyphs offers tours throughout the summer. Visitors can join a late evening tour or can arrange for a special tour after dark to experience the carvings up close with the assistance of special lighting.

Tickets are $7 for adults, while children under age 12 are free. Bus tours should inquire about special rates.

To arrange a tour, call 306-642-5386 or 306-6424016. The website is stvictorpetroglyphs.ca.

The Perfect Find is a unique gift store located in the heart of downtown Moose Jaw

We carry a variety of your favourite gifting brands including Jellycat, Thymes, Capri Blue, Gourmet Village, April Cornell, Tag, along with a variety of other products ranging from jewellery and accessories, garden items, clothing, and children’s gifts and books.

Stop in and let us help you find the “perfect” gift for yourself or someone else.

“Goods for you home, gifts for your friends”