The expansion of the Alberta Culture Days celebrations in Westlock is without a doubt a step in the right direction.
There is so often a perception in smaller, rural communities that if you want to see good art, or good culture, you have to travel into the city to do it. This past weekend should serve as proof positive that’s simply not the case.
At the Westlock Rotary Spirit Centre, the Westlock Community Art Club held the grand opening of their gallery space on Friday and Saturday, coinciding with the annual fall show and sale. Attendance was steady throughout the weekend, with folks not only enjoying the art on the walls, but many also taking some home.
Certainly anyone who attended would have been impressed by not just the quality of the work, but with the variety of styles and media on display.
Friday evening a hallmark of Westlock’s performing arts scene, the Cultural Arts Theatre Series, kicked off with Canadian blues great Matt Andersen playing to a capacity crowd. Judging from the audience reaction, there was little doubt Westlock has a strong fan base for the performing arts.
At the library on Saturday, many residents were given the opportunity to develop their own artistic side. While the room wasn’t overflowing, dozens of residents took the opportunity to discover the artist within — several different projects used recycled materials to demonstrate that art doesn’t have to be difficult or expensive. Certainly, Westlock is not unique in having such a strong and vibrant arts community. Nonetheless, we should consider ourselves lucky to have access to the depth of talent we do.
More importantly, we should consider ourselves lucky to live in a community with so many people who are willing to put in volunteers hours to keep the arts and culture scene here as vibrant as it is — many towns Westlock’s size have little to no arts community to speak of.
Here, not only do we have an active community, it’s one that continues to seek to involve others, whether through free activities at the library or the many classes available through the local art club.
The talent, not to mention the passion amongst those who possess it, truly does credit to our community.
