News Photos Anna Smith
Images from the 2025 Medicine Hat Exhibition & Stampede Visual Art Show on display in the Fireside and Sierra rooms within the Cypress Centre.
asmith@medicinehatnews.com
With the Medicine Hat Exhibition & Stampede in full swing, visitors can get a much-needed break from the heat and explore the vibrant arts scene with this year’s Visual Art Show.
The number of pieces submitted is up this year from last, said Laura Kennedy with the Visual Arts Show, estimating that they had roughly 300 pieces of art from adults and 100 more from children on display in the Fireside and Sierra rooms within the Cypress Centre.
“Many of them are artists from our city, but there are people that have contributed to the show from the outlying areas,” Kennedy said. “All sorts of art. There’s oil paintings and acrylics and watercolor, sculpture, pottery, pencil drawings, pastels, if you can think of it, it’s probably here.”
The show represents an opportunity to win prizes for the artists and potentially sell pieces, but perhaps even more importantly, a chance to connect with other creatives and get vital exposure to the general public.
Many artists in the region either create on an individual basis or within small clubs, Kennedy says, but large exhibitions like the Visual Art Show connect them with those they may not otherwise know and allows them to be inspired by the work of others.
With so many incredible pieces, judging can be a difficult endeavour, Kennedy says, even with a strict criteria for each medium they give to those asked, to make the final decision.
“I look at the show when it comes in, and then after it’s hung, I do some rearranging and make sure all the exhibits are cohesive, and they look good together, and everybody gets a chance to really shine,” Kennedy said. “When I’m hanging the show, I see a few favourites, but in walking around and being here for a few days, I always end up with about five more that I really love just from really getting to look at them.”
The Visual Arts show is open from noon to 8 p.m. every day of Stampede, with two rooms of displays and some art demonstrations for children in the entryway.
Kennedy expresses gratitude to all of the volunteers who assisted in hanging the show, many of which are artists themselves.
“We hope everyone will come down and see it, because while we posted some pictures online, they really don’t compare to seeing all of it in person,” Kennedy said.
