SUBMITTED PHOTO
View of the exhibition Never Ending Poetry, installed at TREX Space from Sept. 2-29.
Transitioning from spring to summer, and soon summer to fall, new beginnings have hung anxiously in the air as art spaces across the country cautiously began reopening.
As layers of clothing were being packed away in the early summer and vaccines were rolling out, art galleries offered air-conditioned respites during hot days in the city. Now that our warmer clothes are coming back out, galleries offer a shelter from the fall winds and rain.
TREX (the Alberta Foundation for the Arts Travelling Exhibition Program) currently has seven exhibitions that will travel to 27 venues across southeastern Alberta over the coming year. For the first time since beginning my role as the TREX program manager just over one year ago, I have finally been able to visit some of these venues in person! Lethbridge Public Library has a beautiful brutalist-styled basement gallery, Drumheller Public Library has an impressive stand-alone gallery space, and the Veiner Center installs artworks along one of its bright corridors with views out to Lion’s Park. Being able to visit these venues and speak to people who attend and appreciate TREX exhibitions has tangibly demonstrated the value Albertan art has to offer to communities large and small.
At TREX Space this summer, we hosted some of the Esplanade’s art camp participants. Later in the summer, we hosted some of the Medicine Hat Skateboarding Association members as they worked on painting and collaging skateboards for an exhibition called Creatures of the Street, that has gone up in the Esplanade’s Tumbleweed Project Space (the glass display cases along the exterior of the building). Next Friday, we look forward to hosting a Downtown Medicine Hat Art Walk event in partnership with the Miywasin Friendship Center. Visit our social media channels for details @trex.southeast.
If you haven’t been into TREX Space yet, I welcome you to come in and introduce yourself to the team. We are currently exhibiting Never Ending Poetry, an intimate exhibition featuring the work of six Alberta-based artists working in a variety of media including textiles, metal, paint, prints, 3D printing and beadwork.
Genevieve Farrell, Program Manager/Curator, AFA Travelling Exhibition Program – TREX Southeast
