There were several excellent art exhibits opening around the city over the weekend.
Downtown, The Southern Alberta Art Gallery opened an impressive survey of local artist and jazzman Billy McCarroll’s work.
Dominating the whole building, the well attended exhibit followed all of the various artistic styles he has explored since the early ’70s.
His older works, including samples of his Slant series featuring colourful, angular shapes as well as some interesting works incorporating masking tape and even an old photograph of him, dominate the upstairs gallery.
Downstairs in the SAAG entry Hall there are surreal depictions of lamps and golf tees. There is even an old video of McCarroll playing in a jazz combo in 1976 showing in an adjoining viewing room, which gives the exhibit a ’70s feel.
Samples of his golf works series is featured in the main gallery with a variety of colourful golfing stances, abstracts of golf flags and tees, and some of my favourite pieces which feature golfers, Picasso-style cos and even a tornado.
Plus a couple pretty golfing landscapes on black velvet.
A major piece features all three of his styles in one massive work, a golfer taking a swing, framed by a variety of abstracts and slants.
Across the Street at The Trianon are several new pieces by local artist Jason Trotter, who has several massive murals on display downtown on the side of several buildings.
The Trianon Exhibit ( Upstairs 104, 5th Street South) features Canadiana themed subject matter including stamps, beavers, First Nations Chiefs and even a
Lethbridge flying ace on wire mesh, which is the medium he is best known for.
Over at the Mueller Gallery ( 105-8th St South) , a new exhibit of Scott Cumberland, Charcoal works are on display.
They feature a variety of black and white “ribbon/circus tent candy swirl” shapes 
and smooth contours.
The exhibits dominated by a massive colourful oil painting featuring similar shapes and styles.
The University of Lethbridge art gallery opened a new exhibit as well — a juried student exhibit featuring a variety of quirky works including Arianna Richardson’s tinsel bed, which was on display at the Tongue N Groove as well as a squid made of nylon panty hose and accompanying DVD footage of it in a swimming pool by Corrinne Thiessen Hepher.
One of the most political pieces is a based on the Indian Act. There are a couple works including copies of the Indian Act placed on top of each other so it looks like a giant black blob and a series of handmade paper made from copies of the Indian Act, put into a blender, and turned back into paper with pieces of artist Allison Crop Eared Wolf’s own hair.
The exhibit runs until April 15.
Also at the university, there are more works from Billy McCarroll in the Helen Christou Gallery next to the library.
