Art Wall

If you are interested in having your art showcased in the library, please contact the Library Manager. 

Alberta Foundation for the Arts Travelling Exhibition Program

The Alberta Foundation for the Arts (AFA) has supported a provincial travelling exhibition program since 1981. The mandate of the AFA Travelling Exhibition Program is to provide every Albertan with the opportunity to enjoy visual art exhibitions in their community.

Three regional galleries and one arts organization coordinate the program for the AFA: Northwest Region: The Art Gallery of Grande Prairie, Grande Prairie Northeast and North Central Region: The Art Gallery of Alberta, Edmonton Southwest Region: The Alberta Society of Artists, Calgary Southeast Region: The Esplanade Arts and Heritage Centre, Medicine Hat

Each year, more than 300,000 Albertans enjoy many exhibitions in communities ranging from High Level in the north to Milk River in the south and virtually everywhere in between. The AFA Travelling Exhibition Program also offers educational support material to help educators integrate the visual arts into the school curriculum. Exhibitions for the TREX program are curated from a variety of sources, including private and public collections. A major part of the program assists in making the AFA’s extensive art collection available to Albertans. This growing art collection consists of over 8,000 artworks showcasing the creative talents of more than 2000 artists. As the only provincial art collection in Alberta, the AFA collection reflects the development of the vibrant visual arts community in the province and has become an important cultural legacy for all Albertans.

The Rotary Club of Slave Lake Public Library is proud to be a part of the AFA Travelling Exhibition Program and will continue to showcase Alberta.  Local artists will be showcased as well throughout the year.  There is always something new on the walls, so come down and visit the library!

Upcoming Exhibits Schedule

Alone Together

December 21, 2023 - January 24, 2024

Curated by Ashley Slemming, Alberta Society of Artists (TREX Region 3)

Alone, Together is a solo exhibition of hyper-realistic pencil crayon portraits by Calgary artist Kelly Isaak. These are not just generic portraits, however. During one of the more severe COVID 19 lockdowns in Alberta, Isaak put a call out on Instagram asking if anyone would be interested in submitting photographs of themselves while in isolation that she would later draw. Isaak received an overwhelming response from interested participants. Most of the faces were strangers to her, but she endeavoured to capture a communal familiarity in the experiences we were all facing at the time. She developed this portrait series to shine a light on times where we may have felt quite alone, but we were able to navigate these moments together as a community.

Kelly Isaak has been teaching art in a well-respected art program in Calgary for over a decade. During that time, Isaak has been refining her technical and observational skills through drawing. She uses coloured pencils, graphite, and charcoal as her main materials to draw detailed representations of her subjects. Through the variety of features and facial expressions, Isaak is inspired to capture her subject’s distinct personality through her drawings.

Kelly Isaak Leela 2020

Watercolour and coloured pencil on paper

Courtesy of the artist

There will be a TREX exhibition break from February 1 - 28, 2024. 

If you are a local artist or group wanting to display your work at our library during this time, please email librarian@slavelakelibrary.ab.ca or call the library at 780-849-5250 and ask for Kendra.

We always enjoy showcasing local talent!

Storytelling

March 7 - April 11, 2024

Curated by Christina Wallwork and Jamie-Lee Cormier and organized by the Art Gallery of Grande Prairie (TREX Region 1)

The exhibition Storytelling shares the voices and traditions of four Indigenous artists, Haley Bassett, Adrienne Greyeyes, Laurie McCallum, and Christina Wallwork. The artworks in this exhibition uses traditional materials and mediums such as beading, finger weaving, sewing, painting, print making, moosehide and plants harvested from the land. The relationships with the land, nature, plants, and animals influences their art. Some of the artists use their art to form connections with their past that has been severed. Some create to honour those whose lives were taken too soon. They use their art as a form of expression to reclaim their culture and share it so that the world knows that the Indigenous people are still here.

The artworks in this exhibition have a story behind them. Indigenous storytelling uses oral tradition, dance, music, and art to express the history of our people. These stories have been passed down through the generations not only as an oral history, but to share where to find certain places to harvest and hunt, along with vital information for survival. Stories often go hand in hand with survival including sharing knowledge on which waterways to take, or which plants to grow and eat. Stories were told for everybody (young and old) and were a mixture of supernatural and everyday life. Storytelling could vary between households. They were told around the fire at night or the kitchen table. Sitting together telling stories created lots of laughing and singing and shared what previous generations told.

Haley Bassett Sage/Wolf Willow, 2023

Stroud, cotton, seed beads, silver berries, sinew, yarn, thread and cotton twill (Detail)

Collection of the artist

*All TREX exhibitions and write-ups have been borrowed from the Art Gallery of Grande Prairie 2023-2024 Booking Catalogue.