The Works has opened to take over Edmonton for the next two weeks. The annual art and design festival features hundreds of artists showing their work at numerous venues with more than 60 exhibits and 700 individual pieces of art. It's a massive undertaking that makes it near impossible to turn 90 degrees without seeing or experiencing new art.
One could even say that there's a lot of work that goes into the works that make up The Works.
Karen Blanchet is one of the many visual artists who are involved in this year's festival, and attendees to the Harcourt House Gallery can find her work on the wall as usual. The artist-run centre has two shows now on display: Exposed (the annual show of nude figurative work) and New Territories (the 27th annual members' show).
While she would normally participate in the former, she only has two watercolours on the walls for the latter this Works around. The images were borne out of a painting workshop in Jasper that she attended a number of years ago and the photographs that she took during that time lingered in her imagination ever since.
That is until now.
"Sometimes it takes 10 years to incubate," she laughed. "Somehow, you just take the pictures and just let them sit for awhile. They were just hanging around and I needed something to show so I thought that I would dig out [my photo collection] and see what I could find."
The long-time Harcourt member described the images of a man either relaxing in a pool or walking through the trail system of a well-forested area in the mountain park.
Exposed runs until June 30 while New Territories will stay up until July 10.
Other artists participating in The Works include Daniel Evans (Atavistic at SNAP Gallery, 10123 121 St., until July 18) and Patricia Trudeau (Tangent at Centre d'arts visuels de l'Alberta, 9103 95 Ave., until July 7).
The Works runs until July 1. For more information on the festival and all of its events, please visit www.theworks.ab.ca.
Duk takes top prize again
St. Albert Painters' Guild member Olga Duk wasn't just at Art in the Park (Allen) on the weekend to enjoy the culture of culture and the fine weather. For the second time in three years, she came home with the Artist of the Year title.
The juried prize means she earns not only the title and bragging rights but a solo show at Art Trends Gallery and a $1,000 cash prize.
The event is a one-day-only outdoor arts and music festival with a gallery and marketplace, featuring more than 70 artists. It was all organized by Art Trends magazine, described on its Facebook page as "a cutting edge arts magazine available … profiling artists of all disciplines while providing an alternative, non-mainstream perspective on art and artists."
Special event for PEKOE
The artist known as PEKOE is holding a one-day only showcase of his summer collection of canvas work, sculptural work, and light installations.
"AESTAS is the essence of summer," says PEKOE who recently also unveiled a new clothing line called ABP. "Focusing on the relaxing aspects of the season that reminds us why we wait nine months of the year to get here."
The exhibit, AESTAS, is set for an open to the public event today only from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. at the Art Gallery of Alberta, 2 Sir Winston Churchill Square in downtown Edmonton. A separate event will be held from 7 to 11 p.m. Food will be provided by ZINC Restaurant.
Tickets for the private event are $20 and are available at the Art Gallery of Alberta and at the ABP Shop in Vacancy Hall in the lower level of the Mercer Building, 10359 104 St.
For more information, email [email protected].
