Visions of Alberta
As part of Alberta Arts Days 2012, Please join us for Visions of Alberta, presented by the Edmonton Poetry Festival and the Government House Foundation. Enjoy 4 poetry presentations that tell the story of each participant’s “Vision of Alberta”.
Performances take place on Saturday September 29th at 1:00 and 3:00pm and Sunday September 30th at 1:00 and 3:00 upstairs in the Alberta Room of Government House, 12845-102 Avenue, Edmonton (on the grounds of the Royal Alberta Museum). The Alberta Room is very rarely open to the public. Following the Poetic Presentations, tours will be offered to anyone interested in learning more about this beautiful building – once home to the first six Lieutenant Governors of Alberta.
Alberta Arts Days “Vision of Alberta” Schedule:
Saturday September 29th, 1pm
Traveling the Inner and Outer Roads of Alberta: A Poetic Journey
We all have a yearning for the land; to touch it; to be in it. It helps to shape us and forms our identity as a people. It can be awe-inspiring and terrifying as well as comfortable and joyful.
Join poets Adriana Davies and Pierrette Requier, and musician Alison Grant-Preville for an imaginative interweaving of words and music that throws light on their relationship with the landscapes and people of Alberta, from past to present.
Their meandering journeys are imaginative, physical and psychological whether seen through a car window or the inner eye of reflection. From geological time to the present, they capture in images and sounds, memories and voices of Alberta that touch the heart, mind and spirit.
Saturday September 29th, 3pm
Earth, River, Sky: Voices Of Our Land
Alberta’s strength is diversity, of culture, of opinion and most certainly, geography. From the western mountains to the eastern prairie, the northern forests to the southern plains, the grace of abundant sun and extensive waterways bless our land.
Celebrate our geographical diversity with six artists whose voices are as distinctive as Alberta itself. Poets Naomi McIlwraith, Clint McElwaine, Anna Marie Sewell, John Leppard perform with musicians Donna Mae Mohrman and Nigel Jackman.
Sunday September 30th, 1pm
Bus Poetry Launch
Please join us for the media launch and poetry readings for “Urban Beats”, our September flight of poems for the Edmonton Poetry Festivals, Poetry Route. The Poetry Route is a project that puts short poems onto Edmonton transit vehicles 3 times a year.
This season’s flight – “Urban Beats” – features work by 4 inner city voices. Writers from outside of the mainstream who don’t always have the opportunity to showcase their creativity; Voices that highlight the hardships and triumphs of Edmonton’s inner city residents. This seasons winners are Michael Serhan, Kevan Lyons, Nicolas Crier, and Vanessa Isador
This presentation will take place directly in front of Government House.
Sunday September 30th, 3pm
Alberta Barometer
Please join poets Nancy Mackenzie, Anna Mioduchowska, Rusti L. Lehay, Julie C. Robinson and Myrna Garanis as they explore Alberta’s city, plains, and mountain scapes. The Magpie Poets offer poetry ranging in mood from the mystical to the humorous, the visionary to the practical, with tidings and omens, a montage of past, present and future.
This performance intersperses poetry with quotes from well-known Albertans, or about well-known Albertans, adding the harp music of Bev Ross to some of the poems and as a bookend to the performance. Alberta Barometer offers the audience a many-lensed mirror on Alberta.