Cultural Centre filling the void with art

Laurie Stalker, Morinville’s Cultural Services coordinator, looks at some of the pieces in the centre’s new art exhibit: Emplir le Vide (Filling the Void). It is one of several art exhibits coming to Morinville over the next year. – Stephen Dafoe Photo

by Stephen Dafoe

Emplir le Vide (Filling the Void) is the name of a new art exhibit at the Morinville Community Cultural Centre that opened July 2 and will be open until July 17. The exhibition is billed as an eclectic group of paintings, photographic and mixed media works created by French Canadian artists working and living in Alberta.

Cultural Services Coordinator Laurie Stalker said the exhibit was made possible through a partnership with the Art Gallery of Alberta and the Alberta Foundation for the Arts. “They have a number of travelling exhibits that tour Alberta and go to various institutions,” Stalker said, noting the partnership allows facilities like the cultural centre to acquire two exhibits per year at a low cost. “It’s a lovely exhibit and we’re really pleased to have it,” she said.

Although the Emplir le Vide exhibit will soon leave Morinville, Stalker already has more exhibits lined up to follow over the coming year.

Helena Hadala’s Something, I don’t know what will arrive at the centre in October. The exhibit invites the viewer to collaborate with the artist. It consists of a mixed media collage in the centre of a chalkboard framework that the visitor adds their artistic elements to.

April of 2016 will see Storytellers come to the centre, an exhibit that puts an artistic spin on the who, what, where and when of a good story.

Other 2016 exhibits include Pathmakers, which honours the memories of three Albertan First Nation artists that contributed to the fabric of National History, and Alberta Farm and Ranch Women, which artistically preserves and chronicles determined women while examining the uncertainty of agriculture’s future.

Stalker said the various exhibits were important to the overall goals of arts and culture in the community. “It offers Morinville residents an opportunity to see some art that they might not otherwise see,” she said. “For exhibits like this, you’d normally have to go outside of Morinville. We have the gallery here and we can bring the exhibits in fairly inexpensively for people to peruse as they wish.”