The Lacombe Art Guild is getting ready to display some of the best pieces of visual art Central Alberta has to offer.
Lacombe Art Guild President Betty Peers said that the Central Alberta Zone Show is a juried art show held under the Alberta Art Clubs Association (ACACA) and runs like a competition where pieces are judged by a panel of jurors and the best pieces receive awards.
This is the second time the Lacombe Art Guild will host the Central Alberta Zone Show.
The first was in 2012 and turned out to be a great success. This year, the club hopes to repeat that success.
Zones are not the only ACACA show the Lacombe Art Guild will host this year. After the zones show, the top artworks chosen will move on to the provincial show. The top artworks from that show will then be displayed at the Alberta Spirit Show in August, which will also be held in Lacombe at the LMC.
“That will be the best of the best of the Alberta art clubs,” said Marlene Pavely, club secretary.
The Lacombe Art Guild exists to promote visual art within Lacombe, Central Alberta and the province at large.
It does this in a number of ways, by hosting monthly workshops for artists, by meeting to critique each other’s work and by displaying art in the Lacombe Memorial Centre as well as participating in local art exhibitions and other events.
“We gather for the joy that we get out of it and to share what we have with others,” said club member Bob Creurer.
It is the Art Guild that is responsible for rotating displays of art in the hall outside Anna Maria’s Coffee Bar in the LMC.
They are switched out a few times each year to give local artists another place to display their work and promote original art in Lacombe.
More recently, the club has also gotten involved in promoting youth artists. Peers said that, while there are no club members who are not adults, youth participate in workshops on occasion. She also said it is important to support up and coming artists in the area.
“A lot of our members are getting older, we have to get these young people involved and it’s a good opportunity for them,” said Peers.
This year, eight schoolchildren from the area will be part of the Central Alberta Zone Show, she added.
“It might be a way of involving more of them if we can start getting them involved in these shows.”
Lacombe’s Art Guild is one of many such associations throughout the province. It was formed in 2007 but other clubs with a similar mandate had existed previously. June Lundie, vice president of the club, said that the group is also looking for new members to form an executive committee, as well as new members in general.
Lundie said the several clubs executive are retiring from their duties over the summer and new members will be needed to volunteer for those positions to keep the club running once they reconvene in the fall.
The Central Alberta Zone Show and Sale will take place May 31 to June 1 at the LMC. For more information, visit the Lacombe Art Guild Blog at www.lacombeartguild.blogspot.ca.