Artists have found their place in the Jasper in January lineup with Arts on Ice, an interactive art show celebrating the winter season.
This is the event’s second year transforming the Walter’s Dining Room, in the Sawridge Inn and Conference Centre, into a dynamic gallery, showcasing paintings, photography and paper lanterns created by local and regional artists, and providing a space for artists to work on their latest projects.
Melissa Woodcock, who has organized the event for the past two years, said this event, which pairs gourmet appetizers and martinis with art, is a huge success for Jasper’s arts community.
“It’s a really great combination of events, the culinary combined with the art, and to have the connection with Jasper in January—and to kick off the festival with the arts—is huge.”
As well as having static exhibits curated by Jasper artists Claude Boocock and Jessy Dion, the event will also include live painting by four local artists: Alan Butler, Jessy Dion, Satoko Naito (Rico) and Woodcock, herself.
“That’s a lot of fun for us,” she said, noting that although some people find it nerve-racking to have someone watching over their shoulder as they work, her years as an art teacher have cured her of that.
“Eighth graders are a lot more critical than my friends,” she joked. Plus, as she paints, spectators are often taken with her work and find themselves taking it home—a bonus for any artist.
Woodcock, who is now living in Canmore, is showing work inspired by Talbot Lake’s perfect skating conditions early in the winter.
Although she wasn’t here to enjoy gliding along the resin-like ice, she saw photos and videos taken by her friends and she was immediately inspired to capture the magic of that moment in paintings depicting skates on the clear blue ice.
Hanging alongside Woodcock’s paintings are black and white photographs, paper lanterns, landscape paintings, encaustic paintings and prints created by more than a dozen regional artists, spanning from Jasper to the Bow Valley and Edmonton.
Woodcock said that’s the biggest difference with this year’s event: there’s artists from outside the Jasper Artists Guild.
“This year we cast a broader net,” she said.
The show is paired with a martini bar and appetizers created by the culinary team from the Sawridge Inn and is meant for mingling and interacting with the artists.
Nicole Veerman
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