Visual arts guilds join forces again for annual show

The old gang is back again for another edition of the group show that gives everyone a chance. Everyone, that is, who comes from one of the five guilds that comprise the St. Albert Place Visual Arts Council, or SAPVAC.

Michelle Eaton, the organization’s chairperson, can’t wait for the public to get a glimpse of some of the new talents coming from the painters, potters, quilters, and floral and paper arts guilds. She co-ordinated this year’s instalment of Guilded, and the selection, she says, is stellar.

That’s one of the reasons why she’s sticking with the local quilters even though she just moved to Edmonton.

“The city has this kind of ‘work-live-play’ idea and that’s what a lot of the guilds and artists feel too,” she said.

Eaton herself is one of the almost two-dozen artists who have contributed the 50 pieces to the show. A long-time fabric artist, she is now getting into three-dimensional quilting projects. She has a cloth bowl with a mermaid embedded in it that must be seen to be understood.

“I had a lot of fun with it,” she said. “Quilting is really changing and fibre arts is really becoming a modern art. We’re doing things that are off beds and off the wall obviously.”

While it is somewhat disappointing that the paper and floral arts guilds generally don’t have much representation in Guilded from year to year, there are enough of the others to satisfy most audiences.

I really enjoy Kristine McGuinty’s Modigliani-inspired portraits and Shirley Vandersteen’s crazy, paint splattered florals. Tom Steele impressed me with his two forest scapes with their bold colours and wide lines.

The satellite studio space of the Art Gallery of St. Albert is usually a modest 77-square metres. This show, however, only gets to use half of that as fake walls have cut the space off from the more functional and practical artists’ area in the back.

That’s an ample size for what’s on display. At least you won’t hear Eaton complaining. She has nothing but good things to say about the show, the guild and the city for that matter.

“It’s the most awesome arts community. Of all the towns I’ve lived in, St. Albert really supports their artists,” she said.

She also pointed out that the day Guilded ends is also the same day that SAPVAC puts on its annual Country Craft Fair at St. Albert Place. The annual event goes a long way to supporting local artists while giving shoppers a creative selection of Christmas gift ideas.