Beany Dootjes is a lifelong gardener whose aim is growing an annual supply of fruits and vegetables, while favouring non-genetically modified strains. She focuses on an organic, 100-mile diet that optimizes water consumption, mulching, soil amendments, and plant...
Public Art Collection
A Departure, Ilan Sandler, 2009
I Spy
Aaron Hagan is a Lethbridge-based artist who received his BFA from the University of Lethbridge (2006), majoring in painting. He has maintained an active studio practice with a focus on colourful abstraction. Hagan’s approach to abstract painting is to explore the...
A Similar Nature
A Similar Nature was created in response to the mentorship I was awarded with ceramic artist Susan Day from London, ON in 2022. Part of the mentorship involved working with Day in her studio and installing her public art mosaic The New Nature at Legacy Park. Both Day...
Sikóóhkotok
The Niitsitapi have a long-standing relationship with the area, which is known as Sikóóhkotok or Black Rock. This name refers to the coal found in abundance in southern Alberta which makes surviving harsh winters possible. Sikóóhkotok is also an annual wintering camp...
The New Nature
Made with thousands of handmade tile components, The New Nature, is Lethbridge’s first mosaic installation. Featuring birds, silhouettes of people, and elements that move from industrial to natural depending on the viewer’s position, the artist intended for the...
Hinode
Utilising Canadian lumber and the Japanese woodworking methods Kumiko (interlocking lattice) and magewappa (woodbending), Hinode brings together the two heritages honoured at the Bunka Centre at Nikka Yuko Garden. The artist designed simplified organic forms which...
Spread Your Wings
When humans first conceived of flight, they raised their arms to mimic the birds that flew overhead. Five common birds in southern Alberta are depicted to-scale alongside references to the digital technology that oversee our modern flight systems. The radar screen...
Unreality
This image is based on a few personal favourite viewpoints in Lethbridge and Southern Alberta, combined to create a new, imaginary landscape. The vibrant colour palette provides an unreal quality to the work. I hoped to create a pictorial space that both references...
Iiyikítapiiyit! be brave, fearless!
Heavy Shield has given us this insight into the mural process – “Blackfoot tipi designs come to their makers in dreams. As an artist, I am a dreamer, and like my other artworks, Iiyikitapiiyit! visited me, wanting to be shared. The tipi is still considered “home” to...
Belonging
This mural represents the future, not the past. The piece depicts a mother and daughter, two women of colour, floating through a Lethbridge landscape that looks familiar but otherworldly. The figures would be framed by an ornate art nouveau-style border. There would...
Backyard Wilderness
Part of a larger project of the same name and reflects my ongoing interest in urban wildlife. I want to represent species common to the city and have people pause and (re)consider their relationship to these animals. For example, skunks may cause fear and alarm but...
Untitled
“There is a lot of looking in and out of windows, and I thought that this would make a very unique design, of an electrical box wrapped in windows, staring out onto the Southern Alberta Prairies, or into old farmhouses.” Or in this case, into the park!