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 a new initiative titled 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 the 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.
Executive director Laura Schneider said the Reach crew will be on hand at local outdoor events, including the Jam in Jubilee concert series, which concludes this Thursday, Aug. 2.
“Once you’ve created your illuminated masterpiece, bring it to the Family Night in Mill Lake Park on Thursday, Aug. 9 at 7 p.m. where Alberta-based artist Randi Edmundson will entertain with her Lantern Puppet Performance, in an audience-interactive nighttime event,” Schneider said.
“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-foot 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.
A public Stream Walk takes place Sunday, Aug. 19 at 1 p.m., leaving from the parking lot at Bateman Park, 34638 Bateman Rd.
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.
They will be on hand Aug. 24 to 26 from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. at Highstreet shopping centre.
Visit thereach.ca/ramble-art-outdoors for more details and schedules.
The completed Ramble: Art Outdoors artworks will be on display at the Reach’s 10th anniversary ticketed fundraiser Bacchanal on Sept. 15 at The Reach, 32388 Veterans Way.