An exhibition opened up last night with a reception held at the Weyburn Art Gallery. 'A Nikkel's Worth' features photos taken by the late Greg Nikkel, spanning the better part of his more than 30-year career with the Weyburn Review.
City Curator Regan Lanning said the timing couldn't be better to hold the reception, at a time when his friends and family, not from Weyburn, would be in town for Greg's funeral today.
"I like that it will maybe be able to show his family how much he meant to our community."
During the reception, Lanning explained she had hundreds of photos to choose from, which she was able to whittle down to a selection of 19 photos, ranging from 2001 to 2024. While some are his award-winning photos, she noted some reveal how Greg saw his community over the years.
"There are a lot of photos of just people doing everyday Weyburn things. There are pictures of the crowds at events. There are pictures of instantly recognizable events that happened in Weyburn that he covered."
"His job was looking at us and he was easy to overlook. He was just the quiet guy with the camera. But he was everywhere. So this exhibition is a loving tribute to his work over the past generation."
Lanning encouraged attendees to write in a guest book unique to the event, in which those who wished to write a message about Greg could take the opportunity to do so, as it would be given to his family after the closing of the exhibition on May 27th.
She said many remember Greg at events, as there wasn't one she could recall in Weyburn that he didn't cover.
"He captured us. His job was capturing us. He had a unique viewpoint. He saw things that other people missed. I used to joke with him and I said, 'you know, if a tree fell in Weyburn and you weren't there to take photos of it, did it happen?' He was ubiquitous to Weyburn and his passing is a huge blow to our community, because you don't know what you've got until you lose it."
"He saw us all. He was in it and a part of it, but also not. It was fascinating. It was like Greg was the 'Fourth Wall'. You almost didn't notice him. He was so unassuming and quiet in his ways. But at the same time, he saw us in the good, he saw us in the bad, and he saw us in the ugly and he still loved us."
Jill Thorn with the Rotary Club of Weyburn presented Greg's wife Tracy with a Paul Harris Fellow Recognition pin, which had been planned to be presented to Greg in January - his second of its kind - but that had been postponed at the time.
"It is named for our founder, Paul Harris, who was a Chicago lawyer, and started Rotary International with three business associates in 1905. Rotarians often designated the Paul Harris Fellowship pin as a tribute to a person whose life demonstrates the shared purpose with the objectives of the Rotary Foundation."
Thorn said Greg was designated to receive the recognition as a special expression of appreciation from the club, for covering all of their events, as well as every other event held in Weyburn.
She added some of the slightly more famous Rotarian recipients of the Harris Pin include Mother Teresa, Nelson Mandela, Indira Gandhi, and King Charles.
The quotes from Regan Lanning were originally published on April 22nd: 'He saw us all': Weyburn Art Gallery to celebrate photographic works of Greg Nikkel
