The University of Lethbridge  art gallery opened their new exhibit Thursday, Sept. 16 with Lebanese - Canadian, London, Ontario born artist Jamelie Hassan.

 Hassan’s new survey exhibition, ”At the Far Edge of Words,” features a variety of different mediums including a woodcut, calligraphy,  black and white photographs,  found objects including a sign from a Chinese restaurant in London which closed after being robbed, neon and colour photographs and neon letters plus multi-

media.

“For this exhibition, I wanted to show the very first pieces I did in the medium,” she said, explaining the exhibit of her Chinese restaurant sign came about after the owners of the restaurant gave her  their sign, and it revealed another, older sign of marble from an older Chinese restaurant, of which she has a piece posted on the wall as part of the exhibit.

“Pretty much every town in Canada has a Chinese restaurant. I used to eat there and the owners gave me their hand painted sign, but when we took it down, there was another, older sign made of marble, ” she said adding  the government looks at Lebanese people from an immigration perspective labeled Asians including Chinese, Japanese and Mid-Eastern people.

 Galt Garden is going to be alive with the sounds of music and the downtown core awash with the colours of a cornucopia of multi-faceted local artists,  Sept. 17-19 for Arts Days. So make sure you are part of this one of a kind festival, which is taking place in Lethbridge due to the hard work of the Allied Arts Council , who’s application got Lethbridge qualified to receive a provincial grant to put on a massive showcase of the arts.

One local artist, Maria Livingston, is excited about not only creating her unique artwork out of whitefish scales at Elusis Beads during Artwalk, but also performing as a hoop dancer in Galt Gardens.

“It will be my first time (participating in Art Walk) I’m looking forward to it because I just want to share my artwork with other people. When I paint. It makes me think of my heritage and it inspires me,” Livingston said, looking at a wall of her and her mother’s works in the Blackfoot Gallery in the Lethbridge Centre Mall.

“It’s dried whitefish scales that you clean and dip in  several store bought dyes,” Livingston described adding she then used them to enhance her paintings by pasting the scales on them with clear glue.

“My mom taught me. She took a class 22 years ago when she was pregnant with me,” continued the recently married 22-year-old Cree woman, adding this unique artform also keeps her in touch with her  Cree roots. 

Artwalk this year features over 50 local businesses who will have local artists from photographers to painters plus weavers and beadworkers— anything you can imagine, creating their art during business hours.

“I do a painting first. I like to explore nature, I paint a lot of trees and especially flowers, because they are important to traditional Cree culture,” she continued adding when inspiration strikes, she can complete two or three pieces a week depending on if she has the time to create them, as she has to factor school into the equation now.

“My mom  is a big motivator. She  wants to keep native traditions alive, especially Cree traditions,” she said adding she gets her supply of whitefish scales when she visits her mom in High Prairie, west of Slave Lake.

“She liked how they glisten. She cleans them and everything because I don’t know how to do that,” she said adding her mom learned how to  do fish scale art from Mary Periard, who invented the process.