The city’s arts district in downtown St. Albert buzzed with activity on July 6 as approximately 500 people attended the kickoff of ArtWalk’s 20th anniversary.
“We had a great turnout in July. We had beautiful weather, there was music and people purchased items at the outdoor market,” said Leah Loudan, co-chair of ArtWalk St. Albert.
Now the word is out, organizers are hoping for an uptick at the next ArtWalk, which takes place Thursday, Aug. 3. Once more, seven venues are showcasing original art while roots artist Braden Gates and Celtic/traditional trio Inn Echo perform outdoors at the Plaza Series.
The seven participating venues are: Art Gallery of St. Albert, Bookstore on Perron, St. Albert Place Plaza, St. Albert Public Library, Musée Heritage Museum, VASA Gallery and Big Lake Artists’ Studio hosted at St. Albert Curling Club.
ArtWalk runs from 6 p.m. to 8:30 p.m.
• Art Gallery of St. Albert
19 Perron St.
The gallery continues to feature the same artists indoors as July; however, it is introducing a group sidewalk chalk display where people can contribute.
• Big Lake Artists’ Studio
At St. Albert Curling Club
3 Tache St.
Once again Big Lake Artists' Studio stages its visual artists at St. Albert Curling Club. August's feature artists are Carol Donald, Jan Peters and Ros Schell.
Donald is a longtime artist who switched to mosaics in 2015 after working in watercolour, acrylic, printmaking and sculpture for numerous years. She uses both the traditional stone, porcelain and glass, as well as inspiring materials such as old coins, beads, bark and antique tools.
Both Peters and Schell are paper and book artists who continue to uphold the traditional craft of paper marbling. In addition, they create one-of-a-kind artist books, handbound books and journals.
• Bookstore on Perron
7 Perron St.
Four St. Albert Painters’ Guild artists are showcasing their works. Al Anderson’s, the guild’s longest-serving member, will feature his prairie landscapes. A self-taught artist, his choice of media is oils and he developed his art under the mentorship of the late John Hannley.
He is joined by watercolourist Francoise Noel who started taking art classes after her retirement. She explores different styles, from botanicals to folk art, and is refining a looser style of watercolour painting.
Tony Overweel, formerly an architect and a passionate outdoors man with a special love of hiking and backcountry skiing, is inspired by nature and uses oil, acrylic and pastels to express his awe.
And Andrew Raczynski works primarily in watercolours. However, in his genre paintings, the former high school teacher uses graphite and charcoal marks, pen and ink as well as various tools and reductive techniques to fulfill his vision.
• Musée Heritage Museum
St. Albert Place
The museum trains a spotlight on visual artist and historical miniaturist Glen Hamilton.
• St. Albert Place Plaza
5 St. Anne Street
An outdoor artist market with more than 20 artists displaying wares including handcrafted wearable art, paintings, photography, pottery, fashion wear, animal sculptures and digital illustrations.
• St. Albert Place Lobby
St. Anne Street
St. Albert Painters’ Guild and the Paper Guild will set up tables in the rotunda. Visitors can look forward to demonstrations, sales of artwork and artist interactions.
• St. Albert Public Library
St. Albert Place
The library will feature art works created by staff, both current and retired.
• VASA Gallery
25 Sir Winston Churchill Avenue
VASA instead showcases the mosaics of Buenos Aires born Christian Péres Gibaut. He has refined his technique over a decade and constantly challenges the limits of mosaic art adopting fresh possibilities.
