Casa’s new exhibits focus on crafts and music

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It will be a busy weekend at Casa with four new crafty art exhibits opening on Saturday, April 30.Casa curator Darcy Logan plays with a clay rain shaker which is part of Musicality, opening this weekend. Photo by Richard Amery
“Musicality” is a milestone exhibit for the Old Man River Potter’s Guild, which turns 50 years old this year.


“That's a pretty serious milestone for  any arts organization in Lethbridge,” observed Casa curator Darcy Logan.


 The artists  Bridgitte Berke, Natalie Brewster, Louise Cormier, Karen Dormaar, Craig Fawcett, Rosemary Foder, Caroline Freeman, Vicki Gibson, Elaine Harrison, Sandra McKay, Gail Mckenzie, Eileen Schuler, Olivia Sieniewicz, Donna Schenher and Heather Sorochan really embraced the exhibit’s theme.


 Many  of them opted  to build actual functional instruments, including flutes, rain shakers, musical cups and even a  mandolin.


 Logan said patrons will be able to try some of the instruments out at the opening reception, April 30 at 7 p.m. Signs will be posted next to ones the can‘t.


 Another artist created a mosaic of music incorporating pennies and dimes.


“ They are all new pieces created just for this exhibit,” Logan said.
He was impressed with the artists’ work.
“The mandolin is fretted and everything,” he said.


“With a theme like musicality you will have as many different interpretations of it as there are people participating,” he observed.


The other exhibit in the main gallery, “Hanging By A Thread”  is a family affair featuring works from a couple groups of Canmore based ladies, their daughters and grand daughters.

 “ It’s about how women pass knowledge down through the generations,” Logan described.
 There are a variety of mixed-media textile based arts created by  Ilse Anysas- Salkauskas, Monika Salkauskas, Pat Strakowski, Lynda Strakowski, Emily E. Rigaux, Barbara J West and Robin West.
 Pieces include books made of fabric and  a pair of knitted underwear.

 
“ It’s not just textile, it’s fibre art and conceptual pieces. I want to showcase as wide a range of artists as I can,” Logan said.
 The potters are local artists, while the textile artists are from the Canmore area.


“ Both of the exhibits are very craft orientated. I thought people would enjoy them,” Logan said.
new exhibits also open upstairs at Casa on April 30.


Spreading branches  features members of the Lethbridge Surface design Guild who created work based on trees, branches and arboreal themes.
 The other exhibit upstairs features abstract photographs from John MacDonald.
 The exhibits run until June 17.


 The Southern Alberta Art Gallery also opens new exhibits. Art’s Alive and Well in the Schools returns to the SAAG, May 1-June 12. It features hundreds f works created by Lethbridge Grade K to 12 students plus and collaborative works from students in Tatsikiisaapo'p Middle School in Cardston and Sir John Franklin School in Calgary.
 The opening reception is 1 p.m., May 1.


The collaborative works from Sir John Franklin School and Tatsikiisaapo’p Middle School from Kainai arose as the students began collaborating on art projects addressing various cultural issues, perspectives and understandings regarding truth and reconciliation. They focused on themes of trust, exchange, and dialogue so artists and teachers developed a methodology  where one student would begin a work of art and send it to the other school to be completed by another student.

— by Richard Amery, L.A. Beat Editor
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