Lethbridge artists are ‘making it big’ for the annual Summer Salon, which officially opens at casa, Saturday, June 17 with an opening reception from 5-7 p.m.
The show “ Making It Big in Lethbridge” is a group exhibition featuring 52 local artists who explored scale while embracing the theme of “ Making it Big In Lethbridge.”
It is one of three shows opening on Saturday.
“It’s an open community group exhibition. I was able to select at least one pice from all 52 artists,” said casa curator Darcy Logan, noting there are a lot of familiar faces including Jason Trotter, who has a massive stencil about homeless Canadian Forces veterans and comic artist who was frantically adding an expanded version of one of his autobiographical wood cut prints to one of the walls of the main gallery.
The works take over both floors of casa except for the showcase outside the main gallery.
“ I was really impressed with all of them because you never know what you’ll get when you have an open call,” Logan said, adding there is a mix of age levels and experience in the exhibition from established local artists to University of Lethbridge students.
There is a also a mix of artistic mediums.
“They’re exploring scale, so if they usually have smaller pieces, they will have larger pieces in the exhibition,” Logan said.
“They are throughout the entire building,” he continued.
Eric Dyck, best known for his comic Slaughterhouse Slough was excited to go back to his roots for his contribution to the exhibition.
“I’ve been fortunate enough to work with murals and canvass, but when I started drawing, I studied woodcarving printed on paper,” Dyck said.
“ But the comic is always part of everything I do. There are a lot of little details in this piece,” Dyck continued.
“ This piece is autobiographical, and it reflects on my last 10 years living in Lethbridge,” he said, adding he created his piece just for this exhibition.
The opening reception for “Making it Big in Lethbridge is 7-9 p.m. It runs until Aug. 19.
Darcy Logan and Alexis Bialobzyski, also have exhibits opening at the Trianon Art Gallery this weekend.
“Alexis has a suite of large expressionistic paintings reflecting on pressing social issues called ‘First World Problems,’” Logan said.
“ I have a smaller exhibition in the back ‘A Formless Shade of Divinity, ’ which is a suite of smaller paintings. It is an analogous cluster as a point of departure to reflect ideology,” he said.
It runs from June 17 to mid August. The opening reception is 8-11 p.m.
University of Lethbridge MFA student David Knight’s new thesis exhibition “ Attic Foot and Elbow to Tip of Middle Finger opens at the Dr. Penny Foster Building downtown.
The opening reception for that show is 5-8 p.m. It runs June 17-27.
“ So you can go to all three and see what a vibrant community of artists we have in Lethbridge,” Logan encouraged.
— by Richard Amery, L.A. beat editor
