Art club's annual spring sale just days away

The Olds Art Club’s spring show and sale, featuring the art of Theresa Potter, will be happening at the Bell eLearning Centre on April 6 and 7. Potter is collaborating with Lorene Runham of Olds in the show, dubbed cottonwoodSky.

Potter, who has been a member of the OAC for 15 years, creates art in a wide range of media, but specializes in chalk pastel and stained glass.

"(Pastel) is very vibrant and expressive, and I also find that the stained glass, when the light is shining behind it, is also a very exciting media in the same way," she said.

Rural landscapes play an integral role in her art.

"I just find it’s very inspirational because of the vast beauty of it all. The skies are just so majestic and colourful in the morning and in the sunset … and I’m continually surrounded by the trees and grasses and water and wildlife," she said.

Being a member of the Olds Art Club has allowed her to grow as an artist through the great instruction the club offers.

"The group itself has such a wide diversity right from beginner to master so you can always learn from the other artists there … it’s just a great fellowship," she said.

Runham said the partnership with Potter began when the two met as members of the Olds Art Club about 10 years ago. They soon found they had a mutual interest in the rural landscapes of Central Alberta.

"We went to a show by a couple of other artists in Red Deer one year … and we were so inspired by this show that these two artists had put on in Red Deer that we thought, 'Well, why couldn’t we do that too.’ And that started a more serious discussion," Runham said.

Runham said for her, rural landscapes are a central feature of her work, to the point that buildings rarely play a role in them.

"It’s just really back to creation itself," she said.

The show will run from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. on April 6 and from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. on April 7.

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