Lethbridge was in the midst of art madness with five new exhibits opening this weekend.
 All of the local galleries tend to  open new exhibits on the same night, which makes it a bit of an experience for art aficionados. A reason to go out and tour downtown to see what’s going on as all of them are within a few blocks of each other.
 But the fun began on Friday at the University of Lethbridge. In the Helen Christou Gallery next to  the library, an exhibition called Semiotica — the Persuasion of Text opened with six large works featuring text, including a  large ‘Swoooooooosh’ backlit by neon lights, as well as a paper with lines “I Will Not Create Boring Art” written on it.
Downstairs in the main gallery, the new annual curated student  exhibition “The Objects of My Attention” featured some unusual works including a “Totem Pole” which was  a large pole with a  Totem receipt tacked to it leaning against a wall featuring  some works by Arianna Richardson who covered dollar store plates and assorted bric a brac with sugar and sparkles, some large multi-coloured bread bag tags. there was also an oversized box camera which you could look inside of, some interesting textile works. All the while a giant video of a freaky looking, cackling clown getting his make-up done to a soundtrack of assorted dissonance, white noise and weird sounds from Jarrett Duncan which was guaranteed to either trigger long repressed fears of clowns or start one, wax casts of hand sanitizers and some unusual photos which looked like they were taken from inside someone’s mouth from Monique Bedard. There was also interesting abstract watercolour works and multi-coloured textiles.
This exhibit runs until April 9.

Baggage at the Paramount

The big event was Saturday, with a special exhibit from the Potemkin Collective, which dominated three rooms   in the old Paramount Theatre building.
Numerous  local artists let their imaginations run wild to figure out unique uses for baggage, in particular examining  how artists get their art to exhibits.
 Some, like Will Osler interpreted the theme literally, putting a painting  in his luggage.
 Others filled their suitcases with old clothing and family heirlooms that might be found in any attic. Others like  Sarah Christensen filled her suitcase with a complete divorce kit.
Others were weird. One suitcase was filled with red licorice and another in a darkened basement room  lead to a heart-stopping zombie.
 You can see for yourself as the exhibit continues this Thursday, Friday and Saturday from 1-4 p.m.