The Southern Alberta Art Gallery is exploring some of the word’s greatest artists through the ”Power of Art” — a series of Simon Schama’s BBC films every Tuesday at noon as part of the  gallery’s Tuesday’s @noon series. The 50 minute long films focus on the work of eight iconic artists.

The series began Feb. 9 with a feature of Caravagio and continues Feb. 16  with Bernini. This series reveals the history of visual imagination through the ages. 

The Southern Alberta Art Gallery describes them as A“ combination of dramatic reconstruction, spectacular photography and Simon Schama’s unique, personal style of storytelling.” They transport the viewer back to the intense moments when great works were conceived and born: the murderous, messianic work of Baroque Rome; opulent, parvenu Amsterdam; paranoid, revolutionary Paris; Victorian England suffocating beneath riches and righteousness; the madhouses and brothels of Provence; the carnage of civil war Spain; 1950s New York, caught between Cold War jitters and Manhattan glitter.

In each place, a great artist is backed into a corner, facing a crisis, given a chance to confound his rivals, enemies and critics one more time.

Tea and coffee are complimentary at the Southern Alberta Art Gallery‘s free weekly film series, which runs annually from September through June to compliment our changing exhibition program and highlight issues of the day. All Tuesdays @ Noon films are screened in the Turcotte Library at the Southern Alberta Art Gallery.

February 9: Caravagio
February 16: Bernini
February 23: Rembrandt
March 2: David
March 9: Turner
March 16: Van Gogh
March 23: Picasso
March 30: Rothko

— Submitted to L.A, Beat

The GCBC Lounge was a surreal sight on Jan. 29 for the inaugural Dr. Sketchy’s anti-art school session in Lethbridge.
As approximately 60 would be artists clustered around an old fireplace in the GCBC Lounge concentrating on drawing a couple black leather bondage clad performance artists striking various poses, mellow ukulele music wafted through the air breaking the otherwise dead silence, punctuated only by the call of “Change” after which the models changed poses. You could almost hear the artistic wheels spinning.
“I’m overwhelmed actually. Of course we hoped we’d get that many,” said Loralee Edwards who, along with her friend Kelaine Devine, brought this Brooklyn based international program to Lethbridge — the first time anywhere in Alberta and only the fourth one in Canada. Dr. Sketchy’s is the perfect combination of  performance art and visual art, combined with music. It’s about the process of drawing rather than the work itself, which is why  some of the poses are a short as two minutes  followed by longer poses, to allow artists to stretch their artistic muscles. Dr. Sketchy’s Anti-Art School is a unique drawing program founded in 2005 by artist Molly Crabapple in Brooklyn, New York. This will be the first Alberta branch. In addition to having branches all over the U.S., United Kingdom, Asia, Europe and South America, there are Canadian branches in Winnipeg, Toronto, Vancouver and Montreal.
“ It shows there is a desire for this sort of  thing in Lethbridge,” she said.
Perhaps more apt, someone plugged in a Hank and Lily Show CD as a bed of nails was placed on the floor for the main attraction — Calgary performance artist and fashion designer Demonika, who was bustling around the crowded room checking out the work of those brave enough to show it. When it was her turn on stage, she struck numerous poses on and around the bed of 1,200 solid steel nails. She lay face down, then face down on the nails, and more impressively with the other model sitting on top of her lying on top of the nails.
“It’s very, very exciting to be part of this,” enthused Demonika, who goes by the name Danika Challand when out in the real world and off the stage.
“It’s like a ghetto version of Cirque Du Soleil,” she described adding there is a similar program in Calgary.
“It’s (Dr. Sketchy’s) is performance art, it’s not just still art. It’s a fun night,” said Demonika, who is not afraid to push the boundaries in her own art.

Plenty of new art shows opened this past weekend.
Textile artist Dot Nixey is excited about her very first exhibition, called Sewing Art, taking place at Mueller Art Gallery Jan.  23-March 6.
“I sew heirlooms,” Nixey said gesturing to an assortment  blankets, baby dresses, gowns and table decor hanging from the walls of the Mueller gallery, during the opening reception, Jan. 23.
“I just retired, and now I get to do what I really want,” said Nixey, who spent the past 11 years as sales manager for Creative Memories.
“I just started making these. This is my first exhibition so I’m excited for people to see them and enjoy them,” she continued adding a lot of her “heirlooms” are meant to be worn once for special occasions like christenings and weddings and then passed down through the generations. Tyler Bird provided some pretty acoustic music for a steady stream of visitors to the opening.