ArtsFFWD REW

Arts Seen – Week of Aug 1 2013

Edmonton may call itself Canada’s “festival city” and it certainly has its share of annual events but Calgary could also lay claim to that title. Summer used to be considered the “slow” season for the arts but no more — from weekly Cowtown Opera performances on Stephen Avenue to non-stop programming at the Epcor Centre (more on that later) there is always something going on. This week leaving just enough time to recover from the folk festival is the start of the Calgary Fringe Festival ( calgaryfringe.ca ) which runs from August 2 to 10 at venues throughout Inglewood. This year’s festival has zombies clowns superheroes and more. Find out what our writers chose as the best bets on page 11 of this issue.

Heading back to the Epcor Centre a new series of short films and video will launch on its three monitors on Thursday August 1 and continue screening until October 28 as part of the Gallery of Alberta Media Arts (GAMA) program. The featured works include: go so we may see (lady of gold arms doom) a collection of animated vignettes by Elisabeth Belliveau (pictured); the video work Chase by Erik Osberg depicting an endless street chase through Glasgow Scotland; and the video somewhere beyond by Teresa Tam which examines how memory is selective and subjective. GAMA is the result of a partnership between the Epcor Centre the Alberta Media Arts Alliance Society (AMAAS) and more recently the new Casa centre in Lethbridge which is a 42000-square-foot facility dedicated to arts programming. “This means that all of the artists who are being showcased here at the Epcor Centre for GAMA are also gaining exposure in Lethbridge. Audiences from both cities now have an opportunity to view contemporary new media arts for free in public spaces” says Epcor Centre’s Tammy McGrath. She adds that Kevin Allen from AMAAS has been working on expanding the GAMA program to other cities for a number of years and was instrumental in the new partnership.

After three years Haight Gallery is closing its doors. But first you can take in one more show WE a two-part geographical-based show experienced in two cites: Calgary Canada and Glasgow Scotland. Curated by Yvonne Mullock and Matthew Bourree the Calgary leg of the exhibition features works by six Glasgow-based artists who “share a visual language that uses print collage and sculpture to consider expressions of process method and materials.” The gallery is open until August 3 by appointment or Saturday from noon to 5 p.m. ( haightgallery.com ).

The generosity of Calgarians in the wake of June’s flooding continues. On Saturday July 27 the Calgary Public Library foundation’s 20000 Books Under the Bow fundraiser was 10 times more successful than expected — early estimates indicate that more than 200000 gently used books CDs and DVDs were donated to the public library which will sell them to raise money to buy new materials for its collection.

Speaking of the ongoing generosity of Calgarians the Glenbow Museum which itself gave a helping hand to organizations like Stride Gallery that suffered severe damage from flooding is now extending a thank you to Calgarians for their valiant efforts to help the city recover. The museum is offering free admission on Heritage Day the civic holiday on Monday August 5. This is a great chance to catch the current exhibitions — M.C. Escher: The Mathemagician Kent Monkman’s The Big Four and group show Made in Calgary: The 1970s — before they close on August 18.

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