Canadian soldier Karl Holmstrom stands with one of his paintings in November at his Remembrance Gallery on Second Street SE. The gallery was open for a few weeks and featured 100 paintings for sale to celebrate the 100th anniversary of Remembrance Day. The gallery, combined with online donations, raised nearly $10,000 for two charities that help Canadian veterans.--NEWS PHOTO MO CRANKER
Medicine Hat News
A remembrance art gallery that was held for a large portion of November ended up raising nearly $10,000 for two charities that support Canadian veterans.
The gallery was held by soldier Karl Holmstrom and was made up of 100 pieces of original art to commemorate the 100th anniversary of Remembrance Day.
“It was fun for me to do this and it was a really great challenge,” said Holmstrom. “I had a really good time putting it all together and hosting the gallery.”
The money raised will be equally split between Soldier On Canada and Wounded Warriors to help with their programs.
“I was able to sell everything but two pieces and that raised $4,900 — that was amazing,” he said. “From cash donations at the gallery there was another, roughly $2,000.
“We’re still figuring out the online donations but it looks like we’ll be around the $10,000 mark.”
Holmstrom says the support from the community was great to see.
“For a first-time thing, I think this did pretty well,” he said. “There was a lot of people who stepped up for this and I was especially thankful to be able to use the space downtown for the gallery.”
Holmstrom says he is unsure if he’ll do something similar in future years.
“I’m looking into a few things and have been asked to do a few things,” he said. “I’m hoping to do a mural or two at a couple local businesses and because of this I’m I’ve been asked to teach an art class once a week at the Be Youth Centre.”
