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Saturday, July 11, 2015

Whyte Avenue Art Walk

Yesterday a friend and I checked out the Whyte Avenue Art Walk, a three-day exhibit of the work of 450 artists, displayed along a 4-km walking stretch in the Old Strathcona neighbourhood. Since its inauguration in 1995, this non-juried art show has drawn more artists and visitors every year.
whyte avenue art walk
Here and there we passed stalls selling jewellery, clothing, airbrush/henna tattoos, and snacks, but for the most part the Art Walk is a massive outdoor painting gallery.
whyte avenue art walk
edmonton art walk
edmonton art walk
I'm not going to pretend to know anything about art, but I thought that a lot of the pieces were fantastic. There was such diversity that walking down the sidewalk took us from oil paintings of the Rockies, to perplexing avant-garde works, to paintings of candy, each just a few steps from the next.
whyte avenue art walk
whyte avenue art walk
by Leanne Schnierer
carmen gonzalez edmonton
by Carmen Gonzalez
I particularly liked the local scenes -- paintings of the High Level Bridge, Garneau Theatre, Edmonton skyline, and prairies. I also thought that the silhouette paintings, done on canvases of sheet music or book pages, were whimsically beautiful. I can't say what kind of art I like best, but there were a dozen or so pieces that really stuck in my mind.
saeed hojatti edmonton
E Town Magnificence by Saeed Hojjati
I came away inspired by some of the simpler paintings -- like blotches of colour and gold foil on a big canvas -- that turned out so beautifully, but were patterns that I'd never think to paint if the canvas and paints were sitting in front of me. Man, these artists are creative! I guess that's why I'm not one.
shovel painting edmonton
shovel paintings -- talk about unique
The artists were fantastic, continuing to paint whilst chatting with the public -- after six hours of sitting out in the 30-degree heat. I was sweating within just a few minutes of strolling around with my iced coffee...which quickly became just a coffee. At least the weather's been dry -- and hopefully stays that way for the next couple of days.
whyte avenue art walk
whyte avenue art walk
The Art Walk runs from July 10 to 12 this year, 10 am to 5 pm. If you get the chance I'd recommend heading over to check it out!
edmonton sandcastle
bonus: you can also check out the Sand on Whyte sand carving competition while you're in the area (until July 12, 10 am - 10 pm)

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