Jennifer Karch from Verona Italy left a message that at first I thought was a hoax-
" Hi, I'm a curator working for Benetton in Italy and I would like you and the Hidden Talent artists to be part of a world wide art project! Please call me back!"
Needless to say, she had to leave another message before I took her seriously...
And I am so glad that I responded!
Jennifer was traveling across western Canada in order to visit with artists, see their studios and collect art works. 240 artists would be selected to exhibit in Venice during the Bienniale and there would be a high quality book produced to feature their contribution to the Western Canadian art scene as it is today. The grand vision on Luciano Benetton was to collect small works ( 6x8) from the artists of every country to provide a 'snap shoot' of the art of the world.
I did my research and...yes, it certainly looked legit! so I committed the works of 10 from our school. The small canvasses came in the mail and we followed directions and produced works that represented us individually.
Jennifer and her husband Guiseppe were collecting art and meeting artists everywhere- including the High Arctic. I offered my place as a base for their Edmonton/ St. Albert stop and they took me up on it.
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| Hidden Talent Imagomundi |
Jennifer interviewed us at Hidden Talent School to record our views of art. That was perhaps the most stressful time!
Her husband Guiseppie was there to take photographs, and some will be included in the final book.
Pearl Der, Cathy Friesen, Sandy Dewar, Sylvie Fergusson, Betty Dupuis, Bernie Neumann , Wendy Pfeifer, Linda Aleksa, Michele Sawatzky and Cindy Sorley and myself participated. Cindy has broken her leg and her wonderful hubby came to St. Albert with her in order to get her artwork to Jennifer.Now, we couldn't just let them leave without experiencing the renown hospitality of western Canadians could we?????
Next blog post is all about our cultural cuisine exchange!!
