Westlock’s celebration of Alberta Culture Days, formerly Alberta Art Days, is getting bigger and better this year with more options for residents to get involved.
While the celebration has historically been limited to the Heritage Building, with the Westlock Community Art Club having moved into its new digs in the Spirit Centre, there will now be two sites to choose from.
Furthermore, the art club’s annual fall show and sale, along with the gallery grand opening, will coincide with the Culture Days celebration this year. Works from many of Westlock’s talented artists will be on display.
Some of those artists will also be on hand demonstrating the process they use to achieve their finished products.
“Mostly, it’s going to be having somebody painting as a demonstration of what they do when they paint,” club president Guy Gokiert said. “We have some other people who are doing calligraphy, and we’re trying to get somebody out to do some child artwork.”
He added that amidst the confusion that comes with any big move, grand opening and setting up a new gallery, there may well also be some unscheduled demonstrations.
The demonstrations are scheduled to take place on the second floor foyer of the Westlock Rotary Spirit Centre, while art will be on display throughout that area and into the gallery space in the northwest corner of the building’s second floor.
Gokiert said the main reason folks should take the time to come out and enjoy the festivities is because not only is the art club a big part of Westlock’s cultural community, it is now a big part of the Spirit Centre — a facility that has a lot to offer to all members of the community.
The exhibition and sale are scheduled to run from noon to 8 p.m. this Friday, and from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Saturday.
While established artists will be demonstrating their skills over at the Spirit Centre, the Westlock Municipal Library will be helping residents discover their own artistic side.
Wendy Hodgson-Sadgrove, the library’s assistant director and Alberta Culture Days organizer, said with the art gallery having moved out of the Heritage Building and doing demonstrations in the new space she wanted to try something different at the library.
“Some people think you need to be excellent at what you do when you’re doing art, but the truth of the matter is doing art is about having fun,” she said. “It’s about personal enjoyment.”
Visitors will have the opportunity to take part in several different hands-on art projects, and will be able to take their creations home with them.
“Usually we have artists come in and you get to see artists in action,” she said. “This year, you’re going to be the artist in action.”
There will be three one-hour workshops: the first will give old books new life by turning pages into three-dimensional sculptures, the second will teach a bit about colour theory and painting abstracts, and the third will focus on paper making.
The workshops begin at 10 a.m., noon and 2 p.m., respectively, and participants are asked to register beforehand.
“All the activities are for people from four to 94,” she said, adding it’s a great opportunity to get out with your family.
Hodgson-Sadgrove said she hopes the expanded culture days celebrations this year will continue on into the future, with even more celebration sites established.
“Arts exist in the community, and we sort of wanted people to know there’s all kinds of different things that happen,” she said. “Over the next few years I’d like to see Westlock Culture & Arts Days include fabric artists, wood carvers and potters.”
For more about the library’s Culture Days celebration, visit www.westlocklibrary.ca.
