The Reach is pulling out all the stops to celebrate its 10th Anniversary this year! A handful of makers’ workshops have already piqued community interest in this year’s exciting new initiative entitled Ramble: Art Outdoors. Ramble is a series of socially engaged, pop-up art events taking place around Abbotsford throughout the summer, with thanks to funding partners TD Bank Group, Tourism Abbotsford, and Highstreet.
The Reach is working with skilled, professional artists to develop art projects that create entertaining spectacle while also engaging with our community in diverse and creative ways. Each of the three projects in the Ramble program creates a temporary, interactive art destination and will culminate in a finished work of art that will be exhibited at The Reach, and later, at sites around the community.
“Keep an eye out this summer for The Reach crew at local outdoor events for your opportunity to take part in Ramble activities. For example, stop by The Reach table at the weekly Jam in Jubilee concert series to make a personalised, reusable lantern,” says Laura Schneider, Executive Director of The Reach. “Once you’ve created your illuminated masterpiece, bring it to the Family Night in Mill Lake Park on Thursday, August 9th at 7 pm where Alberta-based artist Randi Edmundson will entertain with her Lantern Puppet Performance, in an audience-interactive nighttime event. You will have such fun as you actively join this all-ages spectacle at Mill Lake Park that also includes an orchestra concert presented by Calvin Dyck, and a screening of the Disney film “Planes”.
Ramble artist Jay White has deep roots in Abbotsford and is a former Robert Bateman Secondary student. White’s Stoney Creek Project features a hand-drawn 20 ft. map of Stoney Creek, which runs past Robert Bateman school to the Fraser River. Over the course of the summer, White is conducting exploratory walks of the creek with students from the high school, local residents, and others. They’re gathering stories, memories and other data about the creek to annotate the large-scale map. The finished product will be an anecdotal, collaborative record of interactions between humans, wildlife, and the natural environment in our community. Young and young at heart are invited to share knowledge, stories, and memories about the stream and the surrounding area at a public Stream Walk on Sunday, August 19, 2018 at 1:00 pm. The walk will leave from the parking lot at Bateman Park, at 34638 Bateman Road.
The final Ramble: Art Outdoors project will be led by local artists Shannon Thiesen and Chelaine Froese, who are also educators at Abbotsford School of Integrated Arts – North Poplar Campus. For their Human Loomin’ project, the artists invite the public to take part in “colouring” large-scale wire sculptures by weaving through them with coloured materials. On August 24 – 26, 2018 from 9 am to 5 pm, join artists Thiesen and Froese to weave technicolour sculptures into life at Highstreet Shopping Centre.
The Reach encourages locals and visitors to participate and create at its Ramble: Art Outdoors projects throughout the summer. For more details and schedules visit www.thereach.ca/ramble-art-outdoors/
The completed Ramble: Art Outdoors artworks will be on display at the Reach’s 10th anniversary ticketed fundraiser Bacchanal on September 15, 2018 at The Reach, 32388 Veterans Way, Abbotsford.