Venue: Esplanade Arts & Heritage Centre
Event-date: March 7 - April 4, 2026
Folk Memoirs is a collection of visual narratives experienced while growing up on the Alberta prairies. Sourcing these rare historical moments from the Alberta Foundation for the Arts permanent collection, you will see paintings by Hazel Litzgus, Irene McCaugherty, William Panko and Doris Zaharichuk. The works are described as folk art, which is a unique style of art that reflects the cultural life of a community. Inspired by scenes from everyday life including: helping with housework, farm labor, playing outside, going to rodeos and more. A memoir is a narrative composed from personal experience. The paintings in this show speak for themselves, taking you back in time to recall or learn the history of what life was like in the mid nineteen hundreds. Folk art takes on a very whimsical and colourful style of expression. This genre of artists are typically not concerned with making their subject look realistic. As you can see in William Panko’s paintings, he doesn’t worry about painting the scenes with the exact perspective or proportions – rather, he gives the paintings a more two dimensional or ‘flat’ appearance. More importantly, he depicted the story and what he remembered. This group exhibition showcases simple everyday work-life balance. Hazel Litzgus’s work is a perfect example of this, from painting scenes of harvesting and cattle round up to dancing in the kitchen and rodeos. Enjoy finding hidden details of Irene McCaugherty and Doris Zaharichuk’s paintings as they draw the viewer in to enjoy how natural and simplistic life was. The works in this exhibition are a memoir of the artist’s life, savoring and reflecting on stories of the past. Curated by Jamie-Lee Cormier, Art Gallery of Grande Prairie, TREX Northwest Image credit: Hazel Litzgus, Canning Peaches, 1970. Watercolour on paper. Collection of the Alberta Foundation for the Arts.
