The Mountain View Museum and Archives is hosting the Imagined Texts: Exploring Community art show this month.
The travelling exhibition is a special project that features 71 small prints created by artists and non-artists during open house sessions at the Alberta Printmakers' Society (APS) studio. It was developed by APS, the Alexandra Writers' Centre Society (AWCS) and the Calgary Chapter of the Canadian Bookbinders and Book Artists Guild (CBBAG).
Imagined Texts: Exploring Community is currently circulating throughout the southwest/central parts of the province. It was developed by the Alberta Society of Artists (ASA) for the Alberta Foundation for the Arts Travelling Exhibition Program.
Through collaborative artistic expression, ASA officials said the participating organizations have encouraged citizens towards a meaningful dialogue about the communities they live in.
ASA said the goal is to heighten awareness and knowledge of printmaking, storytelling and bookbinding as art forms capable of addressing contemporary issues and concerns.
The exhibition has its roots from September 2008 when more than 300 people of diverse backgrounds passed through the APS studio in Calgary during several weekends to witness and collaborate with printmakers, bookbinders and writers in developing images and text related to community.
This initiative led to the creation of almost 150 unique pieces of art.
Throughout the process many themes came to the forefront, including ones centred around relationships with friends, families and animals, along with others looking into a sense of place or abstracts that dealt with concepts of unity, or alluding to homelessness and poverty.
The Olds exhibition at the museum runs from Oct. 3 to Oct. 31.
- Bachusky