Town of Didsbury set to showcase local artists on streetlight banners

t's a competition of sorts where the town of Didsbury will select 10 to 14 submissions by local artists to have their work displayed on banners in the downtown core and along the main road leading into Didsbury.

Mayor Rhonda Hunter came up with the Art Banner program.

"Well, I actually saw it in another community in Alberta and there was one artists featured in that community," she said. "And I thought here, we have so many artists and it just makes sense that we have a banner program to feature our local artists, it just made sense when I saw that."

Hunter says current banners in the town of 5,070 that's an hour's drive north of Calgary, are historic photos of Didsbury that have been up for as long as a she can remember.

Every spring when the town's grade 12 class graduates, photo banners of the students are put up to celebrate their achievement. And in the weeks surrounding Remembrance Day, banners of local veterans are featured on streetlight posts.

"We've been looking for that special banner program to complement our current banner program with those aging out," said Hunter.

"Artists made sense (and visitors) driving into town, seeing all those banners pop out at you," she added. "People wonder and they ask around and find out that these are a local artisan and another way to get the name of the artist out and their work."

SPECIFIC CRITERIA

Nicole Aasen is the town's director of community services who is overseeing the Art Banner program. She says there are specific criteria that artists who apply have to follow.

"It's not only two feet wide by five feet long, but it also sits up on a streetlight banner several feet in the air," she said. "We really do need things that are big and bold and brightly-colored and don't have a lot of fine detail to them because otherwise people walking or people driving aren't going to be able to really capture the beauty of that art piece."

Aasen says the theme for the project is 'Spotlight on Didsbury' through landscapes, landmarks, community and culture all focusing on the town and surrounding area.

The program is open to artists aged 12 years and up.

"We're open to things like of course drawings and paintings and digital art," she said. "But also, we're willing to take photographs of pieces of sculpture, or we even have someone who submitted (pictures) of handcrafted jewelry, stained glass -- we have a really amazing stained glass program within our community so we're open to all of those types of arts and we really want to see a broad spectrum of what Didsbury has to offer."

HUGE OPPORTUNITY

Mary Hatcher is a local artist who creates wearable art out of beef and bison bones. She's also the president of the Mountain View Arts Society and says this is a huge opportunity for her community.

"To come together and to be celebrated together and to be celebrated by the town is something that would be new for us and I think it's exciting," she said. "It's very validating that the town of Didsbury is recognizing the role that art has to play in the community."

The mayor says it's an honour to promote local artists and display their talent and creativity.

"You can't do the programs without special residents you have," she said. "Didsbury is a unique and special community and the most unique and special part are our residents and those residents are also our artists."

Local artists have until May 15th to submit their pieces that will be judged by town councillors. The chosen pieces will then be turned into banners by the end of June and up for display soon after the student graduation banners are taken down.

Learn more about the art banner program here.