NEWS FILE PHOTO The Esplanade Arts & Heritage Centre is seen in this file photo. Three photo exhibitions are opening at the Esplanade on Saturday, Feb. 2, 2019.
Medicine Hat News
Hatters can get their passport to the Northwest Passage at the Esplanade Saturday from 1-3 p.m. with the opening program of Ingenium’s travelling exhibition, “Echoes in the Ice: Finding Franklin’s Ship.”
A free family-fun program will be offered in connection with Passport to the Northwest Passage. Visitors are encouraged to try their hand at investigative activities and piece together clues to discover the story and earn their passport.
History, science and art converge at the numerous activity stations offered at this unique program themed around and marking the opening of Ingenium’s (formerly the Canada Science and Technology Museum Corporation) travelling exhibition, Echoes in the Ice: Finding Franklin’s Ship.
“It is a real community effort to put this program together,” said Candace Loder, acting art curatorial/education assistant and program organizer. “While it is geared toward youth and their families, I think that you can enjoy a number of these stations at any age.”
Visitors will have the opportunity to take part in experiments with PRAXIS (the Southeast Alberta Science Outreach Network), play archaeology themed games with the Southeast Alberta Archaeology Society, see diving equipment up close and chat with a member of the Medicine Hat Fire Department Aquatics Rescue team, as well as practise deductive reasoning and create narrative art through collage with Esplanade staff and volunteers.
Joanne Marion, superintendent of exhibitions and collections, said the Esplanade “regularly curates engaging in-house heritage exhibitions created from local history. When we book travelling exhibitions it allows us to widen that content to include exhibitions of provincial and national relevance, as well as expertise from additional fields of study such as science and technology. This allows us to offer fresh visitor experiences.”
Ever since explorers began searching for a Northwest Passage more than 400 years ago, the Arctic has been a fascinating and important area of study, rich with drama, adventure, even tragedy.
Using artifacts, images, audiovisual presentations and art, “Echoes in the Ice: Finding Franklin’s Ship” examines Arctic exploration past and present, profiles the explorers involved in the search for the Northwest Passage, and decodes the mysteries of the Franklin Expedition of 1845, in which an entire crew vanished in the Arctic during an ill-fated search.
These stories are told using artifacts such as instruments and objects dating from the same period as the Franklin Expedition, as well as contemporary scientific objects used by present-day scientists investigating the high Arctic.
The exhibition is a co-production of Gone West Productions and the Canada Science and Technology Museum in Ottawa, with the generous support of Natural Resources Canada and Parks Canada.
For more information on the exhibition and program, visit the Esplanade website.
