There are five guilds that make up the brotherhood of the well-regarded St. Albert Place Visual Arts Council but they don’t normally interact with each other.
That disconnection changes every fall when Profiles Public Art Gallery offers up its annual combo exhibit to give them all one spotlight and show the city the best visual arts and crafts going on behind closed doors.
Guilded is the juried show that features nine representatives from three of the five groups including the potters’, painters’ and quilters’ guilds. Most of the work comes from painters’ guild members Elizabeth Tessier, Patricia Trudeau, Rick Rogers, Doris Charest, Valerie Solash, Mike Dendy and Karen Blanchet.
Blanchet said she was trying to put together a joint exhibit with Charest and even though that didn’t pan out, they’re still getting what they wanted.
“[She] and I applied for a combined show at Profiles. We didn’t make that one but we’re showing there anyway,” she laughed. “The forces that be are definitely on our side!”
Her work is a series of collages of face sketches over rustic backgrounds with barns and ponds and the like. They instil a feeling of nostalgia even for city people who never grew up in the country. Charest, on the other hand, has a set of paintings that strike me as similar in technique but vastly different in impact. These are busy works with a lot of texture and imagery, reminiscent of visuals included in the Griffin and Sabine books combined with the cover of a Sarah McLachlan album.
Mike Dendy is enjoying the anticipation of his first gallery show. A relatively new member of the painters’ guild, the former Edmonton high school art teacher seems to have a pretty good grasp on Impressionistic landscapes. His diptych of River Lot 56 is a real pleasure to look at.
“It was fall. It was a brilliant, brilliant day, just beautiful colour,” he explained, relating his artistic philosophy. “When I see something I like, I try to figure out why it is I like it and then to paint it so that other people would look at it and see to like it for exactly the same reason.”
His other works like Spirit Island are pretty splendid too.
He said that he came to St. Albert not just to practice his art but for the sense of community as well.
“It’s pretty hard to beat. The guild is wonderful. It’s just a tremendously encouraging place to work and to be around. They’re wonderful people.”
You can also enjoy Gina Joys’ raku breastplates and the intricately detailed quilt by Kathie Pavelich. Since this is Profiles’ 25th anniversary, they will be serving cake at tomorrow’s opening.
