Ten artists to display work for AIRdirondack art project and gala

Ten artists will be busy adding a creative flair to deck chairs for the fourth annual Ravenswood AIRdirondack Art Project and Gala.

“This was a huge honour to be chosen,” said Becky Kundert, one of nine local artists selected from 20 applicants. “I’m really excited.”

Artists will each display their work on wooden Adirondack chairs, constructed by Bert Church High School workshop students, and in September, the chairs will be put up for auction during the annual gala at McArthur Fine Furniture. The money will go to Creative Airdrie, the umbrella organization that advocates and supports arts and culture in Airdrie.

This will be the first time Kindert will be involved in the project. She said her design will visualize strength, stability and family.

“I think it represents Airdrie, families and their values,” she said.

This year’s local artists, whose style vary from nature scenes to aerosol abstract design, include Anita Singh, Char Vanderhorst, Cheryl Todd Shergold, Kathryn Zondag, Michelle Wiebe, Paul Nye, Robyn Cooper and Zach Abbott.

Amy Dryer, a Calgary artist whose work is exhibited nationally and who has been featured on the cover of Avenue magazine as one of Calgary’s best artists, was chosen to design a 10th chair this year.

“Because our focus is on the talent of our local artists, we decided not to include her as one of our nine selections but didn’t want to pass up on this opportunity to receive her support for our growing arts community,” said Veronica Funk in a prepared statement.

Also new this year is the chance for the winning bidder to work with artist Shawnee Hoffman to create a personalized chair.

Sheri Reed, project coordinator, spent the week of Feb. 17 delivering the chairs and paint supplies to each artist.

“The concepts submitted were absolutely fantastic,” she said. “To narrow the field to 10 concepts was very challenging, it may have been easier to build more chairs.”

Last year’s gala and auction raised $17,000. This year’s gala is slated for Sept. 21. More information is available at creativeairdrie.ca and on Facebook under Creative Airdrie and AIRdirondack Art project.