Destination Red Deer

AIRDRIE PUBLIC LIBRARY PRESENTS...
DESTINATION RED DEER
July 4 – August 21, 2012

As a prior Art & Design student of Red Deer College, I was excited to see this new travelling exhibit available through the Alberta Foundation for the Arts Travelling Exhibit program.  For many years, educational facilities have acquired a collection of works by extremely talented Canadian artists and we are privileged to view a small portion of the College’s valuable collection which began in 1975 and includes over five hundred pieces. 
This collection is rarely seen outside the campus.  

The selection exhibited at the Airdrie Public Library includes an eclectic mix of mediums and genres and relates stories of the time period and geography of each artist through still life, landscape or abstract work.  Though this body of work is considered contemporary, many of the pieces
were created between 1939 and 1990, a number of pieces are quite raditional in style and subject matter.

I was especially pleased to see the work of Margaret Shelton as she led an interesting life, living near Drumheller and
cycling to Banff in the summers on her bicycle which she painted orange to avoid theft.  Once there, she would set
up her pup tent and spend the summers completing watercolour paintings and pencil sketches.  The rest of her
year was spent capturing the images and icons of the prairies that surrounded her home.

The featured artists are Kenojuak Ashevak, Anthony Benjamin, Bruno Bobak, John K. Esler, H.G. Glyde, David Hockney, Robert Indiana, Dennis Kardon, Marion Nicoll, Linda Ohama, Jack Radetsky, Margaret Shelton, Antoni
Tàpies and William T. Wiley.  Destination Red Deer features historical and contemporary Alberta based
artists beside well recognized North American and international artists.

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