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!
July 29 to August 25, 2021
Woman x Woman
Ruth Syme
WINNIE, 1982
Watercolour on paper
Collection of the Alberta Foundation for the Arts
This exhibition features portraits of women by fifteen female artists. It showcases works from the Alberta Foundation for the Arts’ permanent collection that span several decades—from 1947 to 2015. The motivation behind the female focus came from a 2017 Canadian Art magazine article on gender diversity within Canadian galleries and museums. Consider the following statistics: women constitute 63 percent of living artists in Canada, but in 2012, only 36% of exhibitions were solo female, compared to 64% solo male. This exhibition not only highlights the conceptual strength and facility each of the works conveys—it also celebrates the vast scope of femininity and the female psyche through the eyes of women. Watercolour paintings, etchings, charcoal and pencil drawings, inkjet prints, sewn plastic, photography, mixed-fibre yarn, and oil on canvas are the various mediums used to create the eighteen works featured in this exhibition. The artists include Helen Mackie, Marion Nicoll, Bev Pike, Ruth Syme, Dana Shukster, Jill Thomson, Maureen Harvey, Megan Dickie, Allyson Glenn, Carolyn Campbell, Dana Holst, Petra Malá Miller, Megan Morman, Tammy Salzl, and Allison Tunis. (Picture and text borrowed from the AGA TREX 2020-2021 Booking Catalogue)
September 2 to 29, 2021
The Maze Gaze
Fren Mah
It’s Okay, 2020
Oil on canvas
Be a man… Man up…This will make a man out of you…Take it like a man….Boys and men hear such statements throughout their lives but what, exactly, does it mean to be ‘a man’? In feminist theory the phrase ‘the male gaze’ refers to the act of depicting women in the visual arts and literature from a masculine, heterosexual perspective that presents women as objects for the pleasure of the male viewer. The travelling exhibition The Male Gaze disrupts this performance by presenting the work of three male artists from Edmonton who investigate male subjects and concerns as themes in their work; exploring concepts of gender and what it means or could mean to be ‘a man’. Since the 1980s the history of masculinity and the nature of gender identity have come under the microscope and been debated by psychology and gender theorists in the western world. Such studies have given birth to the concept of ‘toxic’ masculinity and a belief, in some circles, of a ‘crisis’ in masculinity which has found voice in social and political clashes throughout the world. The exhibition The Male Gaze addresses these conflicts and through the art works presented invites viewers to consider and question the character and roles of men in society through both the lens of history and in the present day. Curated by Shane Golby, Art Gallery of Alberta (TREX Region 2). (Picture and text borrowed from AGGP TREX 2021-2022 Booking Catalogue)