Vegreville Visual Artists and Town of Vegreville Art Walk 2020

Vegreville Visual Artists and Town of Vegreville Art Walk 2020

Rosanne Fortier News Correspondent

Vegreville Visual Artists (VVA) collaborated with the Town of Vegreville to present Art Walk 2020. This project involves 16 new art posts created by 16 Vegreville Visual Artists and eight other pieces of public art that are all located outside buildings, organizations, and areas within the community. Some examples of areas that people can find a post would be outside of St. Joseph’s Hospital, outside of Vegreville Centennial Library, outside of the Wally Fedun Arena, and outside other places and parks.

There was a lot of planning involved for this project. Anya Langkow, Coordinator for Recreation, Tourism and Culture in Vegreville said she has been working with VVA over the last year and a half by looking at ways the town can share the VVA’s talents and art work. “Last year, we had the art walk that had VVA’s art work placed in 27 locations throughout the community; inside businesses and organizations.

This year was a bit different when COVID-19 hit, we had to think outside the box. We had already been working with the artists on a project they had pitched to us back in fall about these art posts they wanted to create. So, the Vegreville Tourism Advisory Board had to give them a sponsorship to help cover the cost of supplies, and then the artists worked all winter on the project. The next step we provided for them was the installation. We then saw the 16 posts installed throughout the community and we also produced a brochure that people can pick up at the Visitor Information Centre. They can also go on the town’s website and find information and there is an interactive map on the website too. The art walk featured the 16 art posts, as well as, eight other pieces of public art within our community. We just want to showcase the art in our community that people can enjoy in a safe fashion that encourages them to explore different corners of the community; check out different venues. They can stay outside. This art walk is meant to showcase the importance of public art that includes all facets of culture and breathes life and character into the community and is a real feature that visitors love to check out. It makes art accessible for everyone,” Langkow explained.

Langkow went on to say that similar to last year’s art walk, there are five bikes that people can rent for free. These bikes are accessible at the Visitor Information Centre. “These bikes are sanitized in between use. There is a quick form they fill out online. We provide the helmets.”

Marg Varga, Spokes Person for VVA continued on to say that this art walk is a full showcase of all the public art in town. The VVA artists did an art piece on each of the 16 art posts and then they passed it on to the next VVA artist to do their artwork on the post. “Once everyone started working on their art walk for the post, the COVID-19 pandemic hit and we then felt there was no way we could do the art walk like we did it last year. So, the purpose of the art walk became a little bit different but we still wanted community spirit building, public art showcased, and people to have the ability to access it safely,” Varga said. “I think every artist found this was fun to do. Ten of the posts had a theme to them. What is great is that it is such a variety of art. There are 16 posts and every post has an average of 36 pictures on it. I feel it took me an average of two hours to create one picture on a post. Most of the pictures on the posts, I am sure would have taken more than two hours to create. So, you think of the hours spent on that; over a thousand hours total for all of these posts, that is what is really stunning is that each little picture could be a painting in itself. Most of all, we are really proud of the art posts,” Varga said.