The gallery space in the Morinville Community Cultural Centre is not empty space. It has been filled by an appropriately titled exhibit that has been making its rounds from point to point across Alberta.
The gallery space in the Morinville Community Cultural Centre is not empty space. It has been filled by an appropriately titled exhibit that has been making its rounds from point to point across Alberta.
Emplir le Vide is the French phrase that means filling the void. It's a collaboration between the Alberta Foundation for the Arts' Travelling Exhibition (TREX) program and Regroupement Artistique Francophone de l'Alberta.
“We, as a rural community, have access to exhibits that they curate and send out across Alberta,” explained Laurie Stalker, the town's cultural services manager.
“We were lucky enough to get this one, which is a compilation of seven Alberta francophone artists whose arts practices are in Alberta currently.”
The show features an eclectic group of paintings, photographs and mixed media works created by these artists of French Canadian heritage.
“The show has shown in small and large communities, in community halls, in libraries, in schools, in art galleries… trying to reach out to as many people as possible,” Doris Charest said, noting that the province's population is 10 per cent francophone. “In a way, it shows that there are francophone artists out there. The visibility of these artists is low and this show helps show people we exist.”
It recently had a month-long stay at Leo Nickerson School in the spring. Another TREX exhibit, Eye and the City, found itself at Morinville's Notre Dame Elementary just last month.
According to the promotional literature on the exhibit, the artists have created works that are unique to their specific interests and artistic directions, and it fills a void that speaks to the growing francophone and bilingual community in Alberta.
“The works that they have produced do not all necessarily portray specific French culture but rather were chosen by the jury to show their individual interests and strengths as artists and to collectively represent the French community in Alberta.
The participating artists include Daniele Petit-Chatelet, Doris Charest, Jean-Rene LeBlanc, Patricia Lortie, Rachelle Bugeaud, Sabine Lecorre-Moore, and Sylvie Pinard.
The Regroupement Artistique Francophone de l'Alberta is a provincial arts service organization and the official voice of Alberta's francophone arts and culture community. It works to bring together French-speaking artists and arts and culture organizations to ensure the development and vitality of all forms of artistic expression in the province.
Emplir le Vide is one of several shows from the TREX program that the town has planned for the venue. The next one is set to open in the fall. People can learn more about the program at www.affta.ab.ca/art-collection/trex-program or www.youraga.ca/exhibitions/trex.
The Morinville Community Cultural Centre is located at 9502 100 Ave. Call 780-939-4361 for more details. The show runs until next Wednesday.
If you find yourself in Nakusp, B.C., before Saturday and you're looking for an art exhibit then you can always stop by the Studio Connexion Gallery. That's where Rick Rogers has brought his Texture series, and it's just ending its two-week run.
He actually has two small ‘t' texture series on the go right now. Ologies explores textural contrasts in large works and Homage, he explained, was born out of a need to explore and understand properties of texture more deeply.
“In doing research about texture, I was surprised that there was so little academic research about the use and effects of texture in fine art,” he began, noting that his interest led him to return to Josef Albers' book, Interaction of Color. Homage, in turn, is an homage to the book.
“Like Albers' series, Homage uses concentric squares, but rather than flat colours, raised textures. I believe they are most successful when the viewer cannot discern the objects or media that comprise the textures. Then they are reacting to the texture itself. Our experiences lead us to interpret visual cues to predict the experience of touching what we see. I hope to learn to leverage this common learned experience to impact the viewer with textural paintings.”
The Studio Connexion Gallery is located at 203 Fifth Ave. in Nakusp, six hours west of Calgary on the TransCanada Highway. Call 250-265-3586 or visit www.facebook.com/studioconnexion.
The Night of Artists is setting up a booth at the Taste of Edmonton, starting tomorrow. There will be art on display and for sale by Mural Mosaic, Phil Alain, Miles Constable, Saeed Hojjati, Denise Lefebvre, Carmen Gonzalez, Leanne Schnierer, Bernadette McCormack, and Lori Frank.
The food festival can be found in Churchill Square in downtown Edmonton from July 16 to 25. It runs daily from 11 a.m. to 11 p.m.
