Vibrant showcase of art at FCSS

Times Contributor   

 

The walls at the Family and Community Support Services (FCSS) in Strathmore have come alive with vibrant pieces of art.

FCSS is bringing art awareness and local artisans to the forefront in the beginnings of a new art gallery.

This past summer at Canada Day, Hope Bridges created four art pieces with the help of young and old alike. They used paint as a medium on large pieces of canvas and had children and adults paint their feet and walk across the canvas to create the beautiful, vibrant pieces. FCSS, along with Wanda Reinholdt (new curator of the art gallery), hung them in the boardroom at the Lambert Centre.

Dahrlyne Knause, FCSS programmer, says, “It is incredible that we (FCSS) can celebrate the arts in our community and are very proud to be a part of this new initiative.

“There are a great amount of artists that often don’t get recognized and this will give them a perfect opportunity to show off their pieces.”

There is a large amount of traffic that goes through the offices at the Lambert Centre on a daily basis from 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. that will be exposed to the art on the walls of the boardroom.  They also hope to fill the lobby space as well as the reception area as word gets out and artists come forward. Reinholdt says that they will strive to get to a point where the art can be rotated and new artists can be given as much exposure as possible.

Catherine Walsh, FCSS Coordinator, says that their future plans include having Gallery Nights with music, wine and cheese evenings after the offices close for the work day. There will be a contest in the near future to name the new art gallery and have an official opening.

Reinholdt comments that this venue and initiative both “excites and honours local residents.” 

Anyone who would like to showcase their work in any artistic medium to contact Reinholdt at 403-901-5081 or at Hope Bridges 403-983-3640.