Alberta Culture Days will once again be celebrated from September 1 – 30, to align with and complement the Month of the Artist. Alberta Culture Days is an opportunity to discover, experience and celebrate arts and culture through local events and activities, in person and online, across the province. The library is thrilled to partner with the Sheep Creek Arts Council to provide two events on Saturday, September 21. Stop by the Library between 10:00 am and 1:00 pm to take part in Printmaking for Children and their Caregivers. This fun, engaging activity will give children and their caregivers the opportunity to experiment with monoprints using gelli plates, brayers, acrylic paint, stencils, and/ or found objects. From 10:00am-4:00pm on the same day, in the main library space, artists from the Sheep Creek Arts Council will share an exciting assortment of art, representing the classes and clubs at the Sheep Creek Arts Council. Artists will be on hand to answer questions and talk about their art processes.
To round out the celebration of art in September, the Arts Council is offering Printmaking for Adults. This will take place at the Sheep Creek Arts Council premises on Sunset Blvd at 9:30 am on Saturday, September 28. This free, three-hour class will give participants the opportunity to explore a variety of techniques and create relief prints, ghost prints, textures, and layers.
October is Canadian Library month and since 2012, our library has recognized this with our Out Loud series. This year our theme is Thrills in the Hills. We kick off the series on Saturday October 12 at 7:00 pm, with The Relics – four veteran musicians, true relics from the music business, jazzed to be playing music together. Their repertoire is based on James Taylor’s timeless and memorable songbook, as well as tunes from Canadian folk artists. This great night of music is followed by Julie Van Rosendaal on Wednesday October 16 at 7:00 pm. Julie is a Calgary-based food writer, columnist and chef. Her 2021 social media post about increasingly hard butter triggered the Buttergate scandal in Canada. She is the author of eight cookbooks including Dirty Food and Starting Out.
On Saturday, October 19, Jim Mitchell will be speaking about his experiences as an Alberta Fish and Wildlife officer, with many of those years in the Sheep River area. Jim has written about his 38 years of experience in a collection of 34 short stories entitled Alberta Game Warden: Behind the badge of 172. The stories range from notable enforcement cases, to wildlife encounters to humour in uniform. Jim’s talk starts at 7:00 pm. Finishing off our wonderful series is Paul Rumbolt on Friday, October 25 at 7:00 pm. This Newfoundland singer/songwriter is steeped in the east coast Canadian tradition of storytelling through music. He marries this heritage with rich vocals to weave tales of the places he’s been and the people he’s met in a lifetime as a performer. Many know Paul as the former minister of Lewis Memorial United Church in Diamond Valley. We are looking forward to his return to Diamond Valley and the Out Loud Series. Paul presented his show, Every Song Tells a Story way back in 2013.
All Out Loud events are free, but you must have a ticket to reserve your seat. Free tickets are available starting September 15.
As part of the series, we also bring in presenters for elementary aged children in the area. This year we are pleased to welcome: Jennifer Stables, the Medicine River Wildlife Sanctuary, Ashley Gaboury, Art Felt Studio, and Dee Hahn to the library in October.
For more information about Out Loud or Art and Culture Days call 403-933-3278, visit www.sheepriverlibrary.ca, or drop into the library and pick up a brochure.
