The lobbies of the Elementary School, Jr./Sr. High School, the Activity Centre and the Municipal Library in Jasper all currently have a range of artwork from the Visions and Stories exhibit as part of the Alberta Foundation for the Arts traveling exhibition program.

Marianne Garrah, local arts advocate and organizer of the exhibition, said the traveling exhibit program is a good opportunity for Jasperites to see some of the artwork that is usually only found in cities.

The theme of this exhibit is First Nations storytelling and involves imagery that is specific to First Nations. “They are visual stories done by a collection of artists not all First Nations, but the theme of the show is First Nations storytelling and it’s got imagery that would be specific to First Nations – legends, the wolf, raven, the loon, those kinds of things,” Garrah said.

Linking the exhibit with storytelling month, Garrah said sharing tales is an important way of keeping generations linked. “Storytelling is just a way of carrying on culture, without being verbal, without being literary and I actually think it’s a superior way to other literary [techniques],” she said.

While Garrah would have preferred to have one central place to display the artwork, she was happy with multiple locations though it did mean deciding where to put what.

“Little kids are fascinated with animals, stories and legends,” she said. “So I put a couple pieces in the public school that were very graphic.”

The pieces found in the high school are a little more adult, she said, adding she hoped it would inspire students to try something a little bit different within their own art classes. “They were something that the kids may try in their class like block printing or lino printing,” said Garrah.

The piece in the library is an Allen Sapp painting, who is one of the lesser-known Indian Group of Seven, seven First Nations painters, said Garrah.

Garrah said the exhibition was “meant to inspire” Jasperites by bringing the work to town. The next exhibit she will coordinate will be at the beginning of April and will tie in with poetry month.