Great googa-mooga. This city just keeps producing awesome stuff to get you out and active. There’s so much to do. Culture Days runs this weekend nationally and being that Calgary 2012 is in full swing, the celebrations are epic. Calls for submissions are ever expanding, volunteers are always needed and events are always up coming (including a chance to have your say with the Calgary Arts Development Authority). Here’s your Arts Round Up this week Calgary.

A COMMUNITY THAT CARES: Last weekend the community of Ramsay exploded at the seams with great art and I got to take some of it in on a beautiful Saturday afternoon. Known as the Artists’ Avenue, 23rd Ave SE in Ramsay threw open its doors, lawns and garages for an epic art stroll last weekend. Everyone was so friendly and more than happy to share their passions for art and gardening with everyone who came by.
1. Vienna, 6-years-old, shows off her artwork. 2. Everyone gathers to chat and share. 3. Brenda Taylor’s Taylor Made Glass. 4. Laurie & Jack the 23rd Ave Resident Scientists’ display their work. 5. San Gimigniano by Sam Hester. 6. Paintings by Matthew Page-Hanify. 7. Sam Hester Comics. 8. Sierra Love ROBOTS! 9. Artwork at the Leaf Ninjas’ table. 10. Painting by Mariah David. 11. Ceramics by Andrew Tarrant. 12. A couple checks out the Leaf Ninjas’ table. 13. Filmmaker Andrea Mann plays her work. 14. Knitting & Yarn-Dying by Franki Morgan-Fenemore. 15. Heather Stump’s Printmaking. A whole rundown on the artists and artisans that took part can be found here.
Photos by Amy Jo Espetveidt, Quadrophonic Image

Missed the Studio Crawl? Burns Visual Arts Society Opens for Culture Days
Last weekend the Burns Visual Arts Society (828 24 Avenue SE) threw open its’ doors for their annual Studio Crawl. But if you missed it, you can still check out all the artist studios and so much more as a host celebration site for the Alberta Culture Days this weekend.
The opening reception takes place Friday, September 28 from 6pm to 7pm followed by open studios, artists talks, musicians, lino-cut printmaking and so much more.
They’re even creating a community canvas that will be preserved and hung on the face of the Burns Building to mark the Alberta Culture Days 2012 celebration. Everyone is invited to add to it.
Each day there’s tonnes to do, so check out their schedule of events here and head on down for some art and some culture.

ART EXPLOSION: I started my day last Saturday at the 9th Annual Eastside Studio Crawl and popped in to see sculptor Jeff de Boer (bottom three rows) and painter Peter Ivens at The Brickbox Studio (top two rows). Jeff and I chatted about some of his latest creations, like the large scale pieces at Temple B’nai Tikvah (named one of the most beautiful temples in the world), and showed me a scale model of one of the pieces (middle right).
Photos by Amy Jo Espetveidt, Quadrophonic Image

Everybody sing now: Sweeeeeet Sweet City Woman
You know the song. It’s addictive. Now it’s stuck in your head and you won’t be able to get it out for a week. So you might as well sign up for the Calgary 2012 Sweet City Lip Dub.
The Stampeders’ Sweet City Woman was chosen as the Calgary 2012 Cultural Capital theme song and now is at the centre of an epic project to celebrate the spirit of Calgary.
Large numbers of Calgarians and special celebrity guests are needed and everyone will be gathering to shoot the music video this Saturday, September 29 at Olympic Plaza. Everything starts at 10am with rehearsals and the live production runs from 2pm to 3:30pm. Macloed Trail will be closed 7am to midnight to facilitate the throngs of people so best to take the bus or cycle down and as it is part of Culture Days, a whole bunch of stuff is happening in the area, so you won’t have an excuse to be bored if you nail your choreography in less than an hour.
For more information head over to the Calgary 2012 website and sign up.

Celebrate Fall at Abundance
The good fellas at Light and Soul have joined together with the Leaf Ninjas, Fisher Farms, The Jazz Collective and The Area to celebrate Abundance this Saturday.
Abundance – A Festival For Celebrating, Discovering and Honouring runs September 29, 1pm to 3am, at The Area. They’ve organized free family friendly workshops (from 1pm to 4:30pm), an organic and locally sourced dinner and dessert (with dinner ticket), a speaker series, dance performance, live music, live art (featuring Shane Haltman and Lisa Cuffley) and a collaborative art exhibition including works but The Kid Belo, Daniel J. Kirk and Jermaine Bucknor.
“We’re trying to bring all the things that make our lives [whole] together to celebrate them,” said artist and co-organizer Kai Cabunoc-Boettcher. Kai’s work will be on display as part of the Visually Expressed Abundance Acronym exhibition.
For all the details, check out the line up here and get your tickets here.

Fringe 2013 call for Indoor Theatre Artists
Hey. Look at that. The Calgary Fringe Festival has opened the call for next year’s big venues.
Have an awesome show? Got a larger than life idea? Want to get into the lottery draw for a spot? Well head over to their website, fill out the application before 8pm December 7 and cross your fingers. We might just see you next August in Inglewood.

Want to help out? Esker is looking for Volunteers.
They just opened a beautiful new space in Inglewood that has been praised by all that have visited. It is the largest, privately funded, non-commercial gallery of its kind in the city and their mandate is to promote art for the “education and aesthetic appreciation of the public.”
It’s a great space, but they need your help Calgary.
The Esker Foundation is looking for volunteers so if you have some spare time why not fire them a message (they asked for those interested to fire them off a direct message via Twitter) and find out more.

Register Now for Calgary’s Arts Plan Public Roundtable
Want to have a say in the Calgary Arts Development Authority Arts Plan?
Here’s your chance.
On October 13, #yycArtsPlan is hosting a public roundtable at Calgary’s Water Centre (25th Avenue SE and Spiller Road SE). From 1pm to 3pm you’ll get a chance to meet the panelists, learn more about the plan and discuss priorities.
Just head over to their website to register and while you’re there have your say in their survey. Make your voice heard.

Have You Got Your WordFest Tix?
It’s coming. It’s coming. WordFest 2012 is only a matter of weeks away and tickets are going fast. Have you picked which events you want to take in yet? No? Well you better head over to their event listings and have a browse. It’s coming awfully quick.
Look, there’s even one this week.
Pulitzer-Prize winning author Richard Ford will be reading from from his new novel Canada at 7pm on September 24 at the John Dutton Theatre. Tickets are only $15 and can be purchased though the WordFest website. WordFest runs October 9 to 14 and all the event listings can be found here.

Culture Days at EPCOR
Another Calgary cultural cornerstone is celebrating Alberta Culture Days by throwing open its doors this weekend.
EPCOR CENTRE is inviting everyone down for behind-the-scenes tours (in partnership with Doors Open Calgary), a costume sale (featuring everything from hats to shoes to vintage to retro pieces), buskers (including Mike Tod) in Centre Court and so much more.
Artist Dick Averns will be in the LEDGE Gallery with his work The 90kmh Economy Drive from 11am to 8pm and works by Calgary based artists Diana Un-Jin Cho, Nicole LeBoutillier, Aleks Rodic, Robertus van der Wege and artists from the Calgary chapter of The Canadian Bookbinder’s and Book Artist’s Guild will be featured in the Window Galleries.
For a full rundown of events, check out their website here.

Full Moon Movie Night at the Ramsay Rink
Sometimes when you go to one event, you find another that you would have missed otherwise. This was the case with the Full Moon Movie Night at the Ramsay Rink.
Head down to Ramsay’s awesome covered rink (at the corner of Ramsay Street and Margaret Ave SE) from 7:30pm to 9:30pm this Saturday, September 29, for Food In Shorts. The whole affair will be curated by Wendy Tilby and Amanda Forbis (they were nominated for an Oscar for their short Wild Life) and all the films will be about food. Yum.

Go on a Photo Safari with Dan Milnor and Blurb
To all aspiring photogs out there: do you want to hone your photography skills with one of the best documentary photogs around? Here’s your chance.
Blurb and their Photographer-at-Large Dan Milnor are coming to town this week to host two free workshops – a photo safari through Inglewood on September 27 and a pro photo book workshop on September 28 (presented by The Camera Store).
Dan will be giving tips on lighting, composition, and how to capture great shots during the safari. The photo book workshop will be geared more towards the pros with discussions creating and sharing your photography work in photography books.
Both events are free and I’ll be heading down to check out both of them so sign up and we’ll see you at the safari.

Do you have something cool and great coming up and want to be part of the Calgary Arts Round Up? Drop me a line at amy@calgaryisawesome.com!