Anybody can draw. That’s the philosophy behind a brand new Dr. Sketchy’s program which begins for the first time anywhere in Alberta, Jan. 29 at Henotic.
 Dr. Sketchy’s Anti-Art School is a unique drawing program founded in 2005 by artist Molly Crabapple in Brooklyn, New York. This will be the first Alberta branch. In addition to having branches all over the U.S., United Kingdom, Asia, Europe and South America, there are Canadian branches in Winnipeg, Toronto, Vancouver and Montreal.
“We’ve been following Molly Crabapple on Twitter and I’ve been reading her blog and books and looking at different needs in the community. It’s more about the art experience. It’s a fun, community building exercise,” said Kelaine Divine who, along  with Loralee Edwards, is working together to bring  this international program to Lethbridge. It kicks off at Henotic, Jan. 29 with special guest, Calgary performance artist Demonika, who will be the model and is known for lying on a bed of nails.
Dr. Sketchy’s  subjects — burlesque performers—  strike several poses, quickly  to begin with to  “build the artist’s drawing muscle and eye,” then they strike longer poses for the artists to draw. Even stick figure drawings are all right, it’s the act of drawing that matters, not the end result. Works aren’t shown around the room, though they can be if the artist chooses.
“Visual artists do tend to work alone a lot so  this is a chance to come out, have a beer and  draw together. It’s a lot more fun” she said.
“It’s about the experience not  the project,” she said.

The University of Lethbridge art gallery ‘popped’ with activity, Jan. 15 during the official opening of Snap, Crackle and Pop which runs until Feb. 26.
Chris Moore set up his ‘Cuddle Commando’ recruitment booth right outside of  the gallery hosting the new exhibit, which is a celebration of pop art with a Canadian and sometimes political twist.

The first  thing  catching the viewer’s eye is a half dozen unusual  trailer units set in a variety of  odd and  chaotic situations including an Ent attack, a  trailer island and  a crashing trailer shaped blimp.

The University of Lethbridge Art Gallery  will Snap Crackle  and Pop for the next month with their  new exhibit .
“The exhibit  explores  images found in pop art, mostly found in TV or print, and explores  the ways they look at politics,” said University of Lethbridge art gallery’s Jane Edmundson. The exhibit features  several artists with southern Alberta roots including Christopher Moore, Lisa Brawn, Dave and Jenn, Jason Mathis, Len Komanac plus Shanell Papp in the main gallery,  runs Jan. 15- Feb. 26.
 Leading up to the event is  the  opening reception, Jan. 15  from 4 p.m.-6 p.m.
“A lot of  the pieces are based on images  of war and disaster in the media. i these images are pretty pervasive so a lot of the artists are examining that,” she said .
“Pop art examines these issues,” she said.
A variety of mediums have been used by the individual artists. There  are woodcut prints, sculptures, paintings, crochet and  fabric art as well as multi-media art.
The opening  reception for the exhibit is from 4-6 p.m., Friday, Jan. 15