Exhibition Info
GALT GARDENS
This suite of nine drawings examines the social and cultural history of Lethbridge’s first urban park Galt Gardens. For the past 15 years I have lived and worked in Northwest Alberta, exploring in my art practice the interrelationship between the local and the global: in particular how history, society, and culture determine our experience of place. The “Galt Gardens: Contest Ground” continues this investigations.
Galt Gardens Park is the centerpiece of downtown Lethbridge. It is a two block square section of land, 9.16 acres in size, bounded by 1st Avenue and 3rd Avenue on the north and south sides respectively, and 5th Street and 7th Street on the west and east sides. Simply known as The Square in its early days, this section of land was set aside from the very start of urban development in Lethbridge. The Galt family, the founders of the City of Lethbridge, reserved it, as parkland by Elliot Galt in the original town plan surveyed in 1885 owned the land. Today the park is the current site of the Southern Alberta Art Gallery.
I have a personal connection with the Park as my grandparents and parents used to visit it when they came to the city for shopping. When I was employed by the City of Lethbridge as a parks worker I remember the smell of fresh cut grass on Friday mornings.
In November 2007, I gave a talk at the “Monuments and Memories” Conference held at Grande Prairie Regional College on the history of Galt Gardens. Drawing upon the extensive research done by Dr. Alex Johnston and his 1988 paper: Lethbridge: Galt Gardens Park, and employing theoretical models found in cultural studies I examined the relationship between the use of public space and the preservation of collective and private memories. Inspired by my research I created a suite of black and white India ink drawings based upon historical photographs and on site observations to depict the park landscape.
Statement by artist Edward Bader.
This exhibition was curated by Todd Schaber, Manager/Curator, Art Gallery of Grande Prairie, Region 1 of the AFA Travelling Exhibition Program (TREX).
