Local musicians and visual artists are being invited to get on board the Belonging train.
Original postcards and other mail art created on the theme of belonging will be exhibited starting today at the Harris-Warke Gallery.
People from around the world created paintings, drawings, photographs, prints and stamped works on the theme of Longing/ Belonging, and mailed the art to the show’s Arts la Carte organizer in Red Deer.
One contributor even sent a three-dimensional collage — “It had buttons on it,” said Glynis Wilson-Boulbee, who helped co-ordinate The Belonging Project.
Works from as far away as Brazil, Norway, Poland, Denmark, New Mexico, Victoria, Toronto and Washington, D.C., will be displayed at the Harris-Warke Gallery at the rear of Sunworks on Ross Street until Jan. 8.
Wilson-Boultbee said much of the art depicts family and friends. “One artist sketched the faces of other people in her coffee shop.”
She was particularly intrigued by a piece that’s larger than the specified post-card size and featured stamps from all over the globe. “It’s a lovely example of belonging to the whole world.”
The exhibit, which was advertised on an Internet mail art submissions site, sprang from a partnership between the City of Red Deer, The Matchbox and Arts a la Carte — a local initiative that explores the connection between arts and wellness.
The belonging theme was chosen because inclusion and a sense of connection to the community is tied to good physical and mental health.
An opening reception will be held on Friday from 3 to 6 p.m. in the gallery, as part of First Fridays, which involved gallery openings around the city.
For more information, call Janet Cole at 403-342-4861.