The Works Art & Design Festival has transformed Churchill Square and surrounding areas into a vast outdoor gallery, music venue, and marketplace, running through Canada Day on July 1. While this year's edition is more modest without a large-scale centrepiece, dozens of artworks and daily concerts have injected the festival's annual vitality, continuing a tradition that began in 1986.
Standout Artworks at Churchill Square
Clinton Minault's âmô, a megabee constructed from repurposed aluminum pop cans and other recycled materials, celebrates the kinship between animals and humans. The piece complements Minault's earlier buffalo-inspired works in The Works' collection. Nearby, Jill Stanton's giant Supergarden flowers provide a whimsical backdrop for the bee.
Jared Epp's Anonymous Edmontonians brings his 2021 packing tape and plastic full-scale human figures down from the trees into an interactive set of figures on which visitors can write. The installation has spawned messages ranging from religious affirmations to humorous tags. Epp invites the public to become graffiti co-creators, and one memorable scene featured a man in the beer gardens seemingly arguing with two of the figures.
Jared Quinney's Past to Present: Here to Stay offers folk-art-style nature scenes that trace back to the dinosaur age, delivering a poignant message about impermanence. The Saddle Lake artist has been part of the Nina Haggerty community for eight years, and his paintings are described as pure delight by festival-goers.
Artworks at Other Venues
Diana Ohiozebau's Not Alone as Such at the Stanley Milner Library features bright, high-contrast acrylic-painted tapestries with dynamic shapes and multiple eyes, celebrating her African heritage. Ohiozebau explains, "I work with Aso-oke fabrics, a traditional handwoven textile of the Yoruba people of southwestern Nigeria, known for its rich texture, bold patterns and durability."
Robert Dmytruk's The Aesthetics of Collision at the Don Wheaton YMCA presents complex and exuberant works reminiscent of Tron light cycles on acid. Dmytruk, a former junior high art teacher who taught the reviewer cross-hatching, creates pieces that exude energy and noise. The installation is situated amidst construction chaos outside the YMCA, which accidentally responds to the artwork's vibrancy.
Festival Highlights and Context
Last year's pigeon motel on the square set a high bar, but this year's offerings maintain the festival's reputation for creativity. The Works continues to inject life into downtown Edmonton, with daily concerts and a marketplace adding to the experience. The festival remains a key cultural event, drawing visitors to explore art in public spaces.
For those unable to attend in person, the festival's online presence offers glimpses of the artworks. However, the immersive experience of walking through Churchill Square and discovering pieces like Minault's megabee or Quinney's paintings is irreplaceable.
