EMERGENCE
APRIL 5 - MAY 4, 2025, RECEPTION APRIL 5, 1-3PM
Join us to celebrate art in our local schools
Isabelle Sellon School, Crowsnest Consolidated High School, & Livingstone
ALPHABETICAL ORDER
RHONDA KUPSCH
MAY 10 - JUNE 8, 2025, RECEPTION MAY 8, 1-3PM
As an educator, I came across a picture book of paintings called Alphabet City, by Stephen T. Johnson. My students enjoyed finding the letters that were in each painting, and talking about the context in which they were found.
As a fine art photographer, the book inspired me to take a closer look at my surroundings, no matter where I happen to be. I thought that if Mr. Johnson could paint them, I could photograph them! That’s when I began my search. It took several years to find at least one version of each letter, while following my simple, self-imposed rules, which were similar to those of Mr. Johnson: They had to be upper-case, and they had to be as found (in situ). Some were much more difficult to find than others! While Stephen Johnson confined his search to urban settings, I went further afield. Basically, wherever I went with a camera was fair game. All of my images were made in Canada, with some being from right here in Southern Alberta, and others being from as far away as the East Coast. They are all from film, which was processed in my traditional darkroom, and later made into silver gelatin prints.
My hope is that viewing my work will trigger your curiosity, and you’ll look for letters in your everyday lives. Please enjoy! ~R. Kupsch
OBJECTS IN THE LANDSCAPE (TOO)
BETH GALLUP
JUNE 14 - JULY 13, 2025, RECEPTION JUNE 14, 1-3PM
Prime Lakefront Parking
Guy Wires
One bright morning, I looked – again – at a power pole obstructing a scenic view, thought about how we’ve trained ourselves to ignore utilitarian necessities, look past, over or around them.
Back in the studio, I painted the power pole: the moss growing on it, the birds flitting with it, the tangle of wires and transformers and connections stretching in all directions. From there, my awareness snowballed. There are functional objects in almost every Western Canadian vista, almost every landscape view.
“Why be interested in these often-ugly, usually-large objects?” I asked myself. Art, especially commercial art, usually depicts what we collectively define as beautiful. Deviations from what we believe to be the natural landscape norm rarely make it into the picture. Deftly omitted, the lack of infrastructure has become a significant visual silence. Rarely, do we stand in front of an aesthetic work and say, “I wonder what material objects were left out.”
Philosophers view objects as places of discovery about our perceptions of reality. From this perspective, the utilitarian objects widely present in natural landscapes are places of discovery. This is exciting, an opportunity for audience and artist to together explore new views. These might just be literal views. They could also be emotional views, the letting go of bucolic myths, the (re)discovery of our dependence on the power industrial intrusions give us to manage nature. ~Beth Gallup
VOICES OF ABSTRACTION
MARCH 1 - MARCH 30 - RECEPTION: MARCH 8, 1-3PM
BARB KREUTTER & SHARON THOMPSON
images above are: “the work of love” - ST; “dancing in the city” - BK; “the garden of knowing” - ST; “somewhere in time” - BK
What propels Sharon Thompson to make art is her desire to express the beauty and wonder of how life is interconnected, and how, beneath the delicate appearance of life, there is great strength. She is particularly attracted to the challenge of how to evoke these experiences and feelings without direct visual appearance, believing that to do so successfully can create a powerful immediate impact which bypasses the thinking mind. Although each of her paintings is unique in its thrust, as a body of work they express an overall specific orientation and interest in probing what lies beneath appearance.
Barb Kreutter's approach to photography is largely influenced by her background as a textile designer. Now as an artist whose principal medium starts with the use of a camera, the interplay of colour is her primary creative motivator. She is drawn to capture the subtle, beautiful patterns and textures found in our everyday life. Photography has allowed Barb to not only capture what she sees, but to express how she feels when seeing it. Over the past few years, she has been exploring the use of the complex software within her camera to create the initial multiple exposure images. She uses additional creative editing techniques to create her final artwork.