You’ve got to admire Lethbridge’s art community. Bone chilling weather which didn’t deter art aficionados from being out in force to take in no less than five different exhibit openings, Jan. 15.
First of all, most of them stopped by the Bowman Art Gallery first to check out the legend of Deergirl and the Magical Forest.
Attendees were asked to remove their shoes to enter the main room of the Bowman for a screening of the short, quirky, “silent” film by Robert Bechtel and Kathy Zaborsky.
In pitch black darkness, there were stills of some of the dialogue posted on the wall along with spooky forest images.
They rounded a corner and sat on the floor among more forest images to watch the film. In the other room were the original stills from the film posted on the wall and in a binder. The exhibit runs until Feb. 26.
The next stop for most was two vastly different exhibits at the Southern Alberta Art Gallery.
The first one, in the upstairs gallery, was a selection of disturbing ink on paper drawings from Osvaldo Ramirez Castillio.
Several busy and disturbing pieces were on display featuring an array of demons, soldiers, wild animals and dolls with their hands cut off, surrounded by barbed wire and evil looking soldiers toting machine guns.
They were simultaneously thought provoking and stomach churning in vivid orange colours and intricate detail.
Castillo has another stop-image animated piece featuring similar images in one of the smaller, downstairs rooms.
For a complete counterpoint to Castillo’s chaos, Kelly Richardson has a more tranquil multi-media piece showing in the main gallery downstairs.
Featuring Southern Alberta hoodoo images shot at night, you can see stars twinkle and alien trees blowing in the wind, as the sound effects of wind howling in the background add to the more tranquil atmosphere of the room. She has still photographs and a map posted in the other half of the room.
The Trianon featured a more standard exhibit from artist Klehwetua Rodney Sayers.
His exhibit includes a cross-section of iconograph photos of old trucks, heavy machinery and pieces of vehicles plus shots of a couple well known Calgary dive bars, The King Edward and the Cecil hotel as well as a couple totem poles.
The Mueller exhibit was also a more ordinary display of southern Alberta Artist George Kush’s paintings and drawings reflecting the history of southern Alberta’s old west.
There are numerous images of Royal Canadia
n Mounted Police, horses, cowboys and First nations people and icons.
“As a historian, I’m trying to bring the old west to life in Southern Alberta because not a lot of people are doing it,” Kush said, adding after a discussion with gallery owner Stuart Mueller, he jumped at the chance to have his first show in Lethbridge as he has never had one here before. He does a lot of shows in Calgary and has a following in the United States. He is also a consultant for TV and movies.
“They are drawings, but not standard, there are 30 layers of colour on this one,” he said, indicating one of his favourite pieces — Chief Crowfoot’s war shield.
“I’m a historian, so it’s in my blood. I’m trying to bring history to life. It’s all accurate, so there are no boy scout hats on the Northwest Mounted Policemen,” he said. Kush’s works are on display at the Mueller until March 6.
