The Alberta Society of Artists

The ASA is a registered society under the regulations of the Province of Alberta. Its members include professional artists in all media as well as visual arts supporters.

Bridging a New Century

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Bridging a New Century was a juried, travelling exhibition of ASA members' work, which celebrates the new millennium, and in 2001 our 70th anniversary. Since planning started in 1996 many ideas and concepts have been considered, but in the end, the general theme of past, present and future tied it all together.

This walk through "time", either in concept or actuality is what we hope will give the public some insight to where we have been, where we are now and where we are going through our art. With the exciting launch of the ASA history book, a retrospective component of early members' work shown at the first venue in Red Deer, along with the "best" juried works of current members, we can truly be proud of the long standing accomplishments of the ASA as an organization and it's members.

I want to thank my exhibition committee who were always a pleasure to work with; Diana Anderson and Danielle LaBrie as well and the many others who assisted and contributed, including Jean Pilch and her crew for making the history book launch possible. This has been a wonderful challenge and I have enjoyed the privilege of this experience.

Cindy Barratt

ASA Exhibition Coordinator

The Alberta Society of Artists celebrates its 70th anniversary in 2001 with a new, exciting exhibition called Bridging a New Century. Unlike other theme based exhibits, this one is dedicated to showing the best each artist produces. However, in our jurying, we discovered that a lot of the artists really thought about the theme and came up with some remarkable work. Other artists sent in their best work to be juried. Jeremy Mayne, Robert Sinclair and I spent 5 hours in a darkened room going over each submission and trying to decide what to choose. The two men worked well together and it was a joy to hear them discuss the works in such depth. Decisions were made, rejected, and remade. It was not an easy process because the standard of all the work was very consistent. What you see before you in this exhibition is our idea of the best of the best that the ASA had to offer in their submissions.

Another important aspect of this exhibit is the exciting launch of the ASA history book at the official opening on September 10th at our museum. I couldn't be more delighted to find out that my grandfather, Herbert Earle, will have pieces represented, and a quotation from a letter he wrote to the ASA executive back in the mid 1960s. These special features will help to explore the merits of the ASA and their place in the history of our province.

The travelling portion of this exhibit will help to spread the word about the ASA to a wider audience. The history book will travel with the exhibit and will add a new dimension to each venue.

My thanks go to Cindy Barratt, Danielle La Brie and the members of the ASA who asked our museum to host this important show. They were really fun and easy to work with and a lot of the credit for pulling this exhibit together should go to them! Also, speaking from a personal point of view, I am delighted to see so many artists that I have worked with in the past being represented in this show and look forward to meeting many new artists as we "bridge a new century" together!


Diana Anderson
Exhibits Coordinator at the

Red Deer and District Museum

Bridging a New Century - Exhibition Itinerary

Red Deer & District Museum, Red Deer, AB
September 10 - October 22, 2000
Opening: Sunday, September 10, 2000 - 2-4pm

Generation Gallery, Stony Plain, AB
January 5 - February 12, 2001
Opening: Sunday, January 7, 2001 - 1-4pm

Bowman Arts Centre Galleries, Lethbridge, AB
March 15 - May 19, 2001
Opening: Thursday, March 15, 2001 - 7:30-9:30pm

McMullen Gallery, Edmonton, AB
June 9 - August 19, 2001
Opening: Thursday, June 28, 2001 - 7-9pm:

Crowsnest Allied Arts Council Gallery, Blairmore, AB
September 10 - October 21, 2001
Opening: Saturday, September 15, 2001 - 1-3pm

Prairie Art Gallery, Grande Prairie, AB
December 8, 2001 - January 5, 2002
Opening: Saturday, December 15, 2001 - 1-4pm

Art Gallery of Calgary, Calgary, AB
July 18 - September 4, 2002
Opening: Thursday, July 18, 2001