Are you feeling a little curious this weekend?

 In addition to Love And Records, the Lethbridge Fringe Festival and the Lethbridge Folk club’s opening season, Bekk Wells’ new exhibit “… and You’ll Never Believe What they Saw!!!” opens at Casa, Sept. 17.

 Wells, who had an exhibit at the Bowman  Arts Centre  in September 2010 posing the question why stuffed animals are portrayed they way they are, asks a few other interesting questions in his latest exhibit which consists of  a few unrelated installations.

“This one is six  complete circulatory systems all interwoven. You can actually see the shape of the bodies,” Wells said, indicating what looks like an intricate web of red wires and hearts hanging from the ceiling in the middle of the Casa gallery.

Lethbridge artist Jeanne Kollee  explores Germany in the early twentieth century through abstract expressionism in her new exhibit Unter dem Messer which runs at Casa June 25-Sept. 2.
“It’s my  interpretation of  early 1900s-20s and 30s Germany during the Weimar republic,” Kollee said.

 She was inspired to produce the colourful works by reading Otto Friedrich’s book “ DeLuge — A Portrait of Berlin in the 1920s.”
“ I used the colour palettes of artists like Otto Dix and Wassily Kandinsky for this project,” she said adding she was inspired by the conditions faced by artists of the time.
“It was a frustrating time for  artists, writers and actors trying to get their message across to people. It was a time of revolution and worker’s strikes. A lot of art was considered degenerate and debauchery. There were cabaret shows done in the nude,” she said, adding the artists had a lot of tough times to be inspired by.

“ Inflation was high. It was a time of reparations that had to be be paid after the First World War  but they couldn’t afford to pay them, so they printed more money which lead to higher inflation,“ said Kollee , who has German ancestry going back to the 1600s and has visited Frankfurt and Aachen.

“ So I was trying to visualize what they would have seen,” she said  she  expects audiences to read the titles of the work and interpret the works individually.
 She said her works are very textured as she liberally layered the colour palette of the day with a palette knife.
 All the works  were done over the past two years. So it was a project of intent,” she said.
Casa also opens  Pass it On, June 25.

“ Five local artists (Amy Dodic, Donna Gallant, barb Goodman, Angela H’Wood and Karina Mark) selected an item and painted a still life. When they were done, they passed it on to the next artist until the cycle was complete,” said Casa curator Darcy Logan.

“ So there are 25 paintings. and the items they chose are on display too so you can see the source material,” he continued.

“It’s interesting to see the unique interpretations of each item. It’s a simple item, but there are five radically different  interpretations,” he said.
 The opening reception for both exhibits  is at 7 p.m., June 25.

 But before that, new exhibitions also open at the Southern Alberta Art Gallery and Trianon Galleries tonight, June 24.
The SAAG features Germany born, Winnipeg based artist Holger Kalberg’s new exhibit the Colony with an opening reception at 7 p.m., June 24.

 It is no secret that Lethbridge has an amazing arts scene  full of  super creative people.

So the second edition of SOAR takes flight in the first weekend of June to not only let  young artists aged 18-35 show what they can do during three cabaret nights at Casa, June 2 and 4, but also share some of their expertise during a series of symposiums simultaneously happening that week.

“We started SOAR in conjunction with the Lt. Governor’s Awards and part of hosting the event was to create an ongoing project that was sustainable, so we began SOAR for young emerging artists,” said Allied Arts Council projects co-ordinator Muffy McKay.

Local visual artists also have an event happening with M.A.P.S ( Making Art in Peculiar Spaces) which begins at the Casa Gallery on Friday. Patrons will take a tour of the downtown where original works in identical wooden boxes will be installed.
“ Last year we had the exhibition Loose Leaves, which exhibited work on paper,” McKay said.

“ This year we created plexiglass boxes for young artists to showcase their works,” she added, noting Casa curator Darcy Logan put out a call for artists to participate in M.A.P.S.

The SOAR cabarets  feature an array of entertainment including music, dance, drama, comedy and magic.The first SOAR cabaret on Wednesday, June 1 features Griffin Cork, Justin Many Fingers and Newman Mentalism.

 Cabaret 2, June 2 features Sundari, Tanya Plonka, The Bear, Kristin Krein and The Waif.
 Cabaret 3, June 4 features Improv with David Gabert, dance from Claire Lint and magician Ben Price
Admission to each cabaret night is $10 with performances beginning at 7 p.m.