Photo Courtesy Art Gallery of Grande Prairie's Facebook Page

By Tanner Smith

Culture

AGGP and TREX Northwest raising awareness for Black History Month

Feb 26, 2023 | 2:01 PM

The Art Gallery of Grande Prairie and TREX Northwest have partnered to recognize Black History Month, by showcasing an Exhibit from a group of Edmonton-zoned artists, titled “bring a folding chair” and touring the exhibit around the peace region, doing Artist talks and workshops at schools.

One of the contributing artists to the exhibit, Elsa Robinson a Black Edmonton-based mixed-media artist, even joined them on the tour to host the talks and workshops.

Robinson says she is so thankful for the opportunity she was given from TREX, being selected to come to this region and share her art and culture with the kids.

“You know one of the things I was thinking about being here, is that the kids get to meet somebody who is black and interact with me as an artist, it’s a great experience for the children who haven’t had that experience before, and there is a few children of African ancestry in the school, and it’s nice to connect with them as well.”

She adds it almost means more getting to share her passions in this region than back in Edmonton, having fewer children of varying cultures, and less interest or involvement in art programming.

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So she takes pride in supplying education about topics that could be relatively new to some children.

Photo of Robinson teaching an Art Workshop

Robinson contributed five pieces to the exhibit, with her favorite being “All My Relations”, with all of them being done as beadwork pieces depicting culture and our ancestral ties.

For the exhibit, ” Bring A Folding Chair” is more than a name, it’s a theme… ” Because the title is ‘Bring A Folding Chair’ and it really is just inviting artists of African, Caribbean, and Black communities to come in and join the conversation, really that was the intent of the show.”

Robinson hopes her visits in the peace resonates with youth and leads to more opportunities for art in this region, even giving out some advice to peace region kids thinking about pursuing art.

“The first thing, keep on doing your art, keep on setting your goals, creating a life around art, go to school, build it, keep building it, and secondly connect with other artists, if you hear my name on the radio, find me on Facebook, connect with other artists who they know have more experience and can help them.”

Robinson and the collaborative exhibit “Bring a Folding Chair” will remain touring the peace until the end of the month, having their next stop at Spirit River Elementary on Monday.

Photo of Robinson hosting an Artist Talk