If you are interested in having your art showcased in the library, please contact the Library Manager.
The Alberta Foundation for the Arts (AFA) has supported a provincial travelling exhibition program since 1981. The mandate of the AFA Travelling Exhibition Program is to provide every Albertan with the opportunity to enjoy visual art exhibitions in their community.
Three regional galleries and one arts organization coordinate the program for the AFA: Northwest Region: The Art Gallery of Grande Prairie, Grande Prairie Northeast and North Central Region: The Art Gallery of Alberta, Edmonton Southwest Region: The Alberta Society of Artists, Calgary Southeast Region: The Esplanade Arts and Heritage Centre, Medicine Hat
Each year, more than 300,000 Albertans enjoy many exhibitions in communities ranging from High Level in the north to Milk River in the south and virtually everywhere in between. The AFA Travelling Exhibition Program also offers educational support material to help educators integrate the visual arts into the school curriculum. Exhibitions for the TREX program are curated from a variety of sources, including private and public collections. A major part of the program assists in making the AFA’s extensive art collection available to Albertans. This growing art collection consists of over 8,000 artworks showcasing the creative talents of more than 2000 artists. As the only provincial art collection in Alberta, the AFA collection reflects the development of the vibrant visual arts community in the province and has become an important cultural legacy for all Albertans.
The Rotary Club of Slave Lake Public Library is proud to be a part of the AFA Travelling Exhibition Program and will continue to showcase Alberta. Local artists will be showcased as well throughout the year. There is always something new on the walls, so come down and visit the library!
Upcoming Exhibits Schedule
October 7 to November 4, 2020
"Microcosm"
Artist - Bailey Merkley
Artist Statement: All my paintings explore, in progressively greater consideration and detail, lush and vibrant landscapes which act as a background, or prelude, for the creatures and characters inhabiting them. [...] These narratives are intricate, detailed, but most importantly they are undecided, free to be interpreted in a different and unique perspective by each person that these pieces have reached. (Alberta Foundation for the Arts Travelling Exhibition Guide - 2020-2021)
"Portraits in Light"
Artist - Petra Mala Miller
This exhibition will feature 20 portraits and a 150-page book of portraits by Petra Malá Miller. Originally from the Czech Republic and now based in Lethbridge, Malá Miller began her Portraits in Light series to become more acquainted with her new home in southeast Alberta. Her portraits represent the individuals she met throughout her community. They are portraits of friends, schoolmates, colleagues, students, and friends of friends.
The artist’s portrait sessions were an extension of the relationship between Malá Miller and her subjects. She explains, “My portraits grow from an exchange between my subjects and myself and are made in a classical portrait style using a soft light, while I emphasize my subject’s gaze in a three-quarter pose. My subjects are at once vulnerable and yielding. Each person’s appearance is clearly articulated, but his or her social status is cast in doubt, placed on the same symbolic level. Each person is depicted as if without clothing.” These works are quiet and powerful, and capture humanity’s vulnerability and strength. They express how we are simultaneously similar but unique.
Petra Malá Miller grew up in Blatnice, a village in southern Moravia. Her photographic work explores the poetics of childhood, innocence, aging, memory, and loss and raises questions surrounding representation, cultural identity, the individual, the family, and the community.
Curated by Xanthe Isbister, Esplanade Arts and Heritage Centre (TREX Region 4)
Cover Image: Petra Mala Miller, Roy (Portraits in Light), 2015, Archival inkjet print, Collection of the artist
(Write up and picture borrowed from https://www.youraga.ca/exhibitions/portraits-light)
December 16, 2020 to January 20, 2021
"Glimpse: Gabrielle Lussier"
Artist Statement: My artistic practice revolves around mental health as it has to do with public and private space, emotional vulnerability, and underlying stigma. I combine the mediums of photography, paint, print, collage, and poetry to create mixed media interpretations exploring the relationship between physical and emotional spaces. After struggling with my mental health and the repercussions of having gone undiagnosed for much of my adolescence, writing became a cathartic release, and integral to my overall wellbeing. I continue to use these poems, as well as my training in the fine arts as means to investigate the nature of my illness, as well as a chronology of the cyclical phases of deterioration and recovery. By taking photos of places in which I’ve cried, or felt overwhelmed by the crushing weight of my mental illness I am able to take ownership of the moment, allowing me to feel in control. I combine these images with gestural marks, loud colours and expressive text to make the space my own, mark my presence, and create a tangible remnant of the moment. I combine the resulting imagery with my poetry, which come together to create an intimate portrayal of day-to-day life of someone struggling with their mental health. Rather than trying to hide these private moments from the public eye, I instead take ownership of my vulnerability and shed light on moments that are otherwise invisible, unseen. I aim to reclaim the spaces in which I’ve attempted to hide my psychiatric condition, and instead showcase them as works of art in which I can take pride. (Alberta Foundation for the Arts Travelling Exhibition Guide - 2020-2021)
We will have an exhibition break from January 27 to February 24, 2021. If you are a local artist wanting to display your work at our library during this time, please contact the Library Manager at librarian@slavelakelibrary.ab.ca or call the library: 780-849-5250! We love showing off the talent within our community!!