The Hinton Art Club kicked off a busy winter of creativity at Art Days on Sept. 18, where course sign-ups were held and information was given out to potential new members. 

Secretary of the club and accomplished artist, Monika Dery, said the summer is actually a slower time for art in the community. The club holds its first meeting of the year in August and finishes up in the spring. 

“The summer is not really the art time here,” Dery said. 

This year, the Hinton Art Club is launching a number of new and exciting courses for all types of artists. The club recently purchased a series of DVD lectures that feature famous impressionists. They feature a biography and sample of the artist’s work, followed by lessons in each artist’s technique. The classes will be facilitated by a local artist and last for 24 sessions with discussions after the film. Classes will be drop-in and can all be attended between Oct. 4 to Dec. 15. Featured artists will be Van Gogh, Pissarro, Monet, Manet, Renoir, Cézanne and Degas. 

Dery said teaching classes with a DVD and a discussion to follow is totally new for the club. 

“Most of the workshops in the past have been with an instructor,” she said. 

Another new event this year will be an encaustics workshop that will take place from Oct. 8 to 9. Encaustics is painting with melted wax, which Dery herself does. The workshop will feature artist Janice Cope, of Edmonton. 

“Encaustics artwork is thousands of years old, it dates back to ancient Egypt,” Dery said, adding that pieces of art from that era are still intact as if they had just been created. 

The club will continue with its Open Studio nights every Tuesday from 1 p.m. to 3:30 p.m. at The Guild in Hinton, but will add FAR to the schedule, or Finish, Alter, Repair nights. FAR will allow artists to bring in pieces they are working on, or stuck at a point with, to have a fresh pair of eyes take a look. The night is meant to help generate ideas to work into pieces already in progress, but new pieces can be started as well. FAR will be a bi-monthly event on Saturdays and Sundays. Anyone is welcome to attend Open Studio, Dery said. 

“You don’t have to be a member of the art club to come.”

Watermedia workshops will be held this year again, but the classes will be open to acrylic, watercolour and gouache. The class will teach the basics of water-based paint. 

“This is going to be a watermedia workshop, (but) they will use whatever media they want,” Dery said. 

At Art Days, Dery held a demo using rice paper to help gather interest in the medium. A previous class she offered did not have enough students, but Dery hopes the demo will garner enough interest to potentially have a spring class. 

With all those classes, it’s a wonder the art club’s members have time to do anything else. 

“We are a very, very active club,” Dery said. 

In addition to the classes, the Hinton Art Club does art therapy and constantly offers classes and workshops to children. Art is displayed at The Guild and at satellite galleries throughout Hinton. The club also offers scholarships for students from Hinton’s two high schools planning to continue their art education. 

Free paint-outs are held occasionally for people to go out and paint in an area surrounding Hinton, and club members often donate art to charitable events. 

Another initiative is painting murals throughout Hinton. Some of the club’s work can be seen at the Remax building on Carmichael Lane. They completed a 12 by 20 foot “Hinton Through The Ages” piece featuring David Thompson as well. 

“We are very big at assisting the town at promoting arts and culture,” Dery said. 

The club boasts a printing press which members can use, and other equipment. 

“We have quite a bit of equipment that is available to art club members,” Dery said. “I don’t know of any other art club that has a functioning printing press.”

Even though Arts Days was a great time to sign-up for the art club’s many events, anyone interested can contact club president Alicea Bielson at 780-865-4853, or by email at meanod@shaw.ca

The Hinton Art Club will be accepting submissions for the Alberta Society of Artists show, that will launch in Hinton on Jan. 3 and run until Jan. 31. The pieces will then travel Alberta for two years. Artists wishing to submit art for judging can do so until Oct. 7, when professional adjudicators will decide which artists will have their pieces featured at the January show.

Dery’s art can be seen at a variety of locations, including a solo show set to begin at the Hinton library on Oct. 1, called “Fellow Creatures”. The show is a celebration of seven of Dery’s works that have been travelling the province for over two years as part of the Alberta Foundation for the Arts and Art Galleries of Alberta. Dery will be adding to the display at the library. Since the art began touring, Dery said 1,300 people have seen it at galleries all over Alberta. 

“I was surprised when I heard that number,” she said. 

Dery’s work can also be viewed online at www.onceinabluemoon.com or at the Brushfire Gallery in Jasper. Some of her art is displayed in international web galleries. More information can be seen at her website.