Local artist Rob Bechtel goes back to his originals influences for his new Exhibit  “Lineage” in the Concourse Gallery, one of five new exhibits opening tonight, June 23.

“I started thinking of my influences when I was starting out as an artists. There are so many of them — a lot of twentieth century artists,” Bechtel said, noting his exhibit includes the oil and canvass works he is known for which he created at the McNally Arts Centre studio as well as ink on paper he completed at home.

“ I can’t get  to the studio every day, so I’ve been doing a lot more  work on paper at home,” he observed, adding all of the works were completed in 2017 and 2018.

Local film-maker C Blake Evernden explores the history of movie poster design by looking back on his very earliest films for his movie poster themed exhibition “Cinematic Imaginings,” which opens at Casa tonight, Saturday, June 23.

“I’ve been making movies since I was 11 or 12 and usually the budget wasn’t enough to reflect what was in my head.

So I thought making a movie poster could better reflect it,” he said, adding the works include posters for short films and featured he’s  completed throughout his career, but also three new films he is working on. The new films include a romantic comedy set  in, aptly, a movie theatre.

“And on another of the new ones, I’ve used a couple actresses I hope to be working with on the film,” he said.

Local artists explore Alberta during new exhibits opening at Casa, April 28.
 But first, as you enter the building, Abed  Mouslli has and a exhibit “Alberta Muslims” in the concourse gallery.

 Upstairs, Eric Dyck, creator of the Slaughterhouse Slough comic, has an exhibition of work inspired by his visits to numerous small towns and farmer’s markets called “The Great Slough Heap.”
“ I went to a lot of small towns and met people and interacted with them. So this exhibition is  driven by the conversations  I had with them,” he said.

 The 30 pieces feature caricatures of some of the people he met with speech bubbles including some of the phrases  he heard, though the person in the picture may not have actually said the words.
“ A lot of times I’d be talking to somebody and half way through the drawing, they’d leave and somebody else would start talking to me. The speech was the most important part of it,” he said, adding it often took a couple of visits before people would approach him.
“I had to do a lot of trust building with people. At first I’d be the weird guy drawing in the corner . Then I’d be back the next week and they’d  recognize me and engage me,” he said.
 He visited a lot of small town farmer’s markets between July and November 2017 in Blairmore, Taber, Bow Island, Pincher Creek, and, of course, Lethbridge to name a few.
 Word spread quickly on social media.
“ I had people almost saying they knew the person on social media, almost before I was done the drawing,” he observed.

 “The Great Slough Hop is in the upper Concourse of Casa.”
There is a fascinating take on landscapes in one half of the main gallery downstairs from local artist Rob Miller.