Gardening is a passion for many people, a way to create a sanctuary, grow food, or simply to make their living space a little greener. It is also a hobby that has gained popularity over the events of the past few years. This series by Stephanie Elderfield is a celebration of the pastime, with each miniature tool crafted in precious metals and fine woods to replicate their larger counterparts. Every piece in the collection is made using similar techniques to those used during construction of the full-size versions. The miniaturization of these tools allow them to become portable tokens of an enjoyed activity, and a fun conversation starter. 

Our SPOTLIGHT exhibit highlights work by new Alberta Craft Council members and members producing experimental work.

Has the pandemic left you with the need for some comic relief? We invited Fine Craft artists working in all traditional and contemporary craft media to join in the fun and to create their interpretations of kitsch craft.

Kitsch: Craft So Bad That It’s Good is a group exhibition of works from Alberta Craft Council members. Creators responded from across the province to kitsch it up with humorous works that and will make you laugh and cringe all at once - crossing lines and breaking rules.

Craft artists working in all traditional and contemporary craft media were invited to create their interpretations of kitsch craft; Craft that shares a knowing wink with the viewer, craft that wears kitsch on its velour sleeve as a rhinestone badge of honor, craft that’s appeal is found in its bad taste and ironic value.

Stuck indoors during the covid winter, artists turned to their resourceful natures to design and create objects responding to our strange covid times and using materials that were readily at hand in their covid hideouts! Many of the participating artist created new one of kind objects unlike anything you have seen in the Alberta Craft Council before.

Kitsch: Craft So Bad That It’s Good subverts the rules around good taste, and crosses the line, making you laugh and cringe all at once! The resulting exhibition is exciting, curious, challenging, eccentric and hilarious!

Participating artists: Abby Light, Ananda Holdsworth, Breanna Barrington, Hellen Beamish, Annette Ten Cate, Carly Hines, Ciara Jayne, Corinne Cowell, Dale Learner, Donna Brunner, Ellie Shuster, Emily Nash, Erik Lee, Erika Dueck, Jennea Frischke, Jennifer Hartley-Illanes, JoAnna Lange, Kaleb Romano, Karla Mather-Cocks, Susan Kristoferson, Laura O'Connor, Lauren Chipeur, Margaret Hall, Matt Gould, Matthew O'Reilly, Meghan Wagg, Mireille Perron, Pour Celine Frit, Puck Janes, Rochelle Hammond, Ruth-Anne French, Sandra Lamouche, Sara Norquay, Sara Young, Sarabeth Carnat, Shona Rae, Siri McCormick, P. Susannah Windrum, William Miles.

View the online exhibition.

Watch Craft and Kitsch – So Good That It’s BAD**, a virtual talk about Kitsch organized by the Alberta Craft Council featuring Historian Dr. Jennifer Salahub.

Read the review of Kitsch: Craft So Bad That It’s Good published by Galleries West.

Listen to On Art: ‘Kitsch: Craft So Bad That It’s Good’, an interview with ACC Executive Director Jenna Stanton published by CKUA on September 10, 2021.

Celebrating the creativity, innovation and skill of emerging, Canadian craft artists. Coming Up Next is an exhibition of works selected from a diverse variety of approaches, mediums, and regions. With recent graduates from post-secondary programs, and artists that have practiced and studied their craft through mentorship, Coming Up Next is an exciting collection of works in Wood, Ceramics, Glass, Fibre, and Metal, made by artists form Nova Scotia, Ontario, Saskatchewan, Alberta and British Columbia.

Participating artists: Adriane Vant Erve, Chen Si, Dalayce Smith, Daniel Labutes, Esther Imm, Gillian Tolliver, Graham Boyd, Jared Last, Leia Guo, Luke Winterhalt, Marcy Friesen, Meng Qiu, Sophia Lengle, Lael Chmelyk.

The Alberta Craft Awards are awarded biannually and designed to acknowledge individuals and groups who make significant contributions to Alberta’s Fine Craft culture. This exhibition celebrates the six recipients of the 2021 Alberta Craft Awards:

Early Achievement Award: Pamma FitzGerald

Excellence Award: Sharon Rose Kootenay Cherweniuk

Linda Stanier & Family Memorial Award for Excellence in Ceramics: Kaleb Romano

Tom McFall Honour Award: Natali Rodrigues and Kari Woo

Fibre Arts Award - Hand Weavers, Spinners and Dyers of Alberta Endowment: Fern Facette

Jewellery is one of humankinds earliest known expressions of creative endeavour beyond mere survival. How does the ready availability of DIY jewellery kits, and other such products that create widespread accessibility to jewellery making, affect the artists who participate in and advocate for the handmade economy as skilled and trained makers?   

 What happens to the independent maker; to craft and the status of the handmade when a niche skill set such as jewellery making is subject to the generalization and globalisation of the marketplace? Alternately what happens to notions of jewellery when they can be influenced by a surplus of generic materials and processes beyond the traditional ones?  

 This exhibition is a compelling cross-section of interdisciplinary art jewellery practices in the region. These artists each navigate and activate different intersections between artist, educator, entrepreneur, studio jeweller, academic and parent amongst other roles and influences.   

Curated by Kari Woo 

Participating artists:  Sarah Alford, Devon Clark, Jamie Kroeger, Louise Perrone, Lyndsay Rice, and Kari Woo.