A Day at the Gallery in Alliance showcases local artists

An impressive array of artists and mediums were on display Saturday, Nov. 9 in Alliance at ‘A Day at the Gallery.’

Alliance Community Development Committee (ACDC) held their biennial event at the Alliance Community Hall on Saturday, Nov 9.

Local artists were chosen and asked to showcase their craft by invitation only.

This year’s event featured an author, several painters, a quilter, wood carvers and craftsmen, a wooden toymaker, knitters of regular and alpaca wools, a woman who sews blankets and rugs from jeans, another who sews decorative stuffed toys, a photographer, and coffee and tea made from dandelions.

Alliance author Phyllis Alcorn had a display of her books including,’ Lest We Forget,’ ‘Deer in the Headlights,’ and ‘In the Bend of the Battle – a history of Alliance and District,’ just to name a few.

Alcorn said, “I began writing a column for Grainews, out of Winnipeg, called ‘Down on the Farm,’ then after a series of short stories, I began working on some historical assignments as I am a bit of a historian.”

Jayne Odegard is a painter living in Sedgewick who works mainly with acrylics. She lived and taught six years in Fox Lake, an isolated community well north of Fort McMurray, and says that influenced some of what she paints.

Sandy Roenspies, a photographer from Killam, showed some of her work including a special piece she called ‘Green Wisdom,’ a digital photo of a forest with her grandmother’s face overlaid on the forest scene captured on a metal canvas.

Vern Spady of Alliance was on hand to show off a laser-carving of a tree made from a piece of the Alliance Willow tree, created by using a digital photo taken of a drawing of the village tree.

Spady said, “Imagination is the only limit, and often the work is done old-school but I am able to work with little to mass technology on a variety of mediums such as granite, lucite, glass, etc.”

Ernie and Denise Gamroth raise alpacas and use the wool to make socks, toques, and batting for quilts, among other things. One of her quilts recently auctioned for $900 at the Killam Hospital Foundation Supper.

Muriel Fankhanel, spokesperson for ACDC said, “The committee’s aim has always been to showcase artists’ own creative works. That is our specialty.

“We have high standards, and expect the artists to have the same. We choose who we want to invite and ask them to be a part of the event. We maintain the same standard for the food we provide as well. It has to be homemade, fresh, and above all, taste good.”

Jamie Geddes,
Staff Reporter