GAIL SAWATZKY

A Stitch in Time

Size: 11” x 14”

Acrylic

Price: $350.00

Part of a woman's job of homemaking was sewing and needlework.

All Dressed Up

Size: 14” x 11”

Acrylic

Price: $350.00

Young men and women often became aquainted through relatives and friends or at church activities.

Arrival

Size: 18” x 24”

Acrylic

Price: $425.00

In the 1870's thousands of Mennonites migrated from Russia.

Baptism

Size: 24” x 18”

Acrylic

Private Collection

Pastor Karen Schellenberg prays after baptizing a new member of the church.

Canning

Size: 16” x 20”

Acrylic

Price: $400.00

Food preservation provided food for the winter months.

Daily Devotions

Size: 16” x 20”

Acrylic

Price: $400.00

Sustenance of religious belief through prayer, Bible reading & hymn singing.

Domestics

Size: 14” x 11”

Acrylic

Price: $350.00

Mennonite girls were sent to the cities to earn money to help their families. They were known for their hard work, cleanliness and honesty.

Education

Size: 14” x 11”

Acrylic

Price: $350.00

It was acceptable for a single woman to become a teacher. Later married women without children were also accepted. The first teaching academy was founded in 1889 in Gretna, MB.

Gathering

Size: 20” x 24”

Acrylic

Price: $500.00

At gatherings men ate first, then the women often off of their husband's unwashed plates and then the children.

Grandma's Pearls

Size: 11” x 14”

Acrylic

Price: $350.00

Homemade Entertainment

Size: 14” x 11”

Acrylic

Private Collection

Before cell phones, computers, and facebook, entertainment was homemade.

I am a Farmer

Size: 24” x 20”

Acrylic

Private Collection

The new generation of farmers include women who have chosen farming as their career.

Be Fruitful and Multiply

Size: 11” x 14”

Acrylic

Private Collection

Large families were common among rural Mennonites for economical, biblical interpretation of "Be fruitful & multiply", and group survival.

Laundry Day

Size: 14” x 11”

Acrylic

Private Collection

My grandmother always said, "A woman's work is never done!" Imagine the amount of laundry and cooking that needed to be done for the large families.

Living in Darkness

Size: 20” x 16”

Acrylic

Private Collection

Log Cabin Quilt

Size: 18” x 18”

Acrylic

Private Collection

An art form that continues to this day.

Man's Work

Size: 11” x 14”

Acrylic

Private Collection

Lack of man power due to alternative or military work or simply being one of the oldest in the family allowed females to do "man's work".

Mennonite Woman

Size: 11” x 9”

Acrylic

Price: $350.00

Strict dress codes including head coverings indicated submission, humility and baptism.

Milk Money

Size: 11” x 14”

Acrylic

Price: $350.00

Extra money was earned by my grandmother by selling milk, cream and cottage cheese.

Mother of Thirteen

Size: 16” x 12”

Acrylic

Price: $375.00

Domestic Engineer is hardly a good job description for a mother of thirteen children. Large families were common as fertility management was not encouraged.

No Electricity Required

Size: 24” x 20”

Acrylic

Private Collection

Laundry was an all consuming task, water needed to hauled and boiled over a wood fire. Then the clothes were scrubbed by hand, wrung out and hung to dry year round.

Off to America

Size: 16” x 20”

Acrylic

Price: $400.00

A dream come true for some but not for all.

Self Portrait

Size: 20” x 16”

Acrylic

Private Collection

A farmer's wife who is a Mennonite artist. As a visitor to my studio asked, "Why are there so many talented people in this rural area?" "Is it something in the water?"

Sod House

Size: 16” x 20”

Acrylic

Private Collection

First homes were made of sod.

Spinning Wool

Size: 14” x 11”

Acrylic

Price: $350.00

Hand spinning wool into yarn which was then used for clothing.

The Quilters

Size: 30” x 40”

Acrylic

Price: $700.00

Quilting bees allowed women to socialize and express themselves while creating a functional item therefore being an acceptable art form.

The Sod House

Size: 16” x 20”

Acrylic

Price: $400.00

First homes were made of sod.