Come visit the Southern Alberta Art Gallery to see multidisciplinary Artist Jared Tailfeathers (Sikomh Kokomii - Calling Crane) from Kainai Nation read and share a few selections from his new book “The Art Of Making: Rediscovering the Blackfoot Legacy”, show some of his art, music, research photos, share copies of the book and talk about Blackfoot art history in the territory.

"A journey of growth and rediscovery. A chance as a colonized Blackfoot person to get to know who I am culturally, historically, and literally within the boundaries of my traditional territory. I want to help connect old names and practices to old places. Exploration of the evidence of art and methods of making that are still on the land as part of my cultural connection, and contextualizing those methods into my contemporary practice.

I focused this desire into a multi-year project that included contemporary art and research that became the book "The Art of Making: Rediscovering the Blackfoot Legacy Vol 1", the research is framed as a narrative of personal discovery and community connection. The book also documents the creation of contemporary multidisciplinary art (music, luthiery, sculpture, painting, toolmaking and instrument making), and resources found at important sites based on traditional land use. Timelines that flesh out the story of Canada from pre-contact to the present day. Relationships with the animals, resources, and with neighboring Indigenous Nations and settler communities. How all of these events and relationships influenced the methods of making pre-contact to the present day."

This event is free for Gallery members, with regular admission, and for attendees that self-identify as Indigenous. Please check in at the Gallery’s front desk when you arrive.

Jared will be hosting a book launch event at Analog Books on Friday November 8, 6:30 - 8:30 PM. To register or to purchase a copy of “The Art of Making” for yourself visit https://www.analogbooks.net/events/1235120241108.

Seniors (65+) are welcome at the Southern Alberta Art Gallery Maansiksikaitsitapiitsinikssin from 10 to 11:30 a.m. for a free guided tour, art activity, and refreshments.

For more information, contact Bariyaa Ipaa, Outreach Coordinator, at bipaa@saag.ca.

Get in the spooky spirit at our special Halloween Crafternoon! Trade your carving knives for brushes as we paint pumpkins together. This program is free for members. For non-members regular admission applies. Costumes are welcome! All supplies are provided but we will be purchasing a limited number of pumpkins. To reserve your pumpkin please call the Gallery or email Program & Event Coordinator Heather Kehoe hkehoe@saag.ca before Oct. 23, 2024.

Seniors (65+) are welcome at the Southern Alberta Art Gallery Maansiksikaitsitapiitsinikssin from 10 to 11:30 a.m. for a free guided tour, art activity, and refreshments.

For more information, contact Bariyaa Ipaa, Outreach Coordinator, at bipaa@saag.ca.

If you’re a high-school-aged youth  (14-18) looking to explore your artistic side in a warm and welcoming environment, join us at the Gallery for our drop-in Youth Art Club program this summer .

Bring your own art to work on or make something here while also taking in a tour of the current exhibitions.  Supplies are provided and snacks and refreshments will be available.

For more information, contact Bariyaa Ipaa, Outreach Coordinator, at bipaa@saag.ca.

Eligibility: High School age students (14-18)

Join us at the Southern Alberta Art Gallery on Saturday, October 12 from 7 to 9 p.m. to celebrate the opening of our newest exhibitions featuring Tania Willard, Dana Buzzee, and Migueltzinta Solís, along with new Shop at SAAG feature artist Anton Golosov. Enjoy the artworks and refreshments, mingle with the community and meet the artists. The opening reception is free for Gallery Members or with regular admission.

Join us for a special Articulations featuring social worker and instructor Heidi HeavyShield, who will speak to themes explored in our Lower Gallery exhibition Civic Floor by Sung Tieu. Heidi will draw on her expertise as the Indigenous Programs Coordinator in the Alberta provincial correctional system to discuss power, space, and privilege in public and institutional spaces. This program is free to attend. 

Heidi HeavyShield is a Niitsitapiaki of the Kainai Nation (Blood Tribe), Blackfoot Confederacy in Treaty 7. She is a clinical social worker who works within the provincial correctional system serving incarcerated populations as an Indigenous Programs Coordinator for over 17 years. Working from a social justice and Indigenous human rights framework, she integrates Indigenous cultural and healing methodologies and ceremonies with clinical practices. She is particularly active in the areas of incarceration of Indigenous people, restorative justice principles and practices, missing and murdered Indigenous womxn and girls, as well as areas regarding intergenerational trauma and colonial policies. Heidi is an instructor with University of Calgary, Faculty of Social Work focusing her teaching philosophies on challenging oppression and confronting privilege. She seeks to honour her family, ancestors and home community of Kainaiwa in her work by recognizing those who have come before her.

The Articulations series offers presentations from contemporary practicing artists and arts professionals. Local and international artists, curators, critics, art historians, theorists, and filmmakers share their practice and engage with the audience in open, critical discussion.

Seniors (65+) are welcome at the Southern Alberta Art Gallery Maansiksikaitsitapiitsinikssin on select Tuesdays this summer from 10 to 11:30 a.m. for a free guided tour, art activity, and refreshments.

For more information, contact Bariyaa Ipaa, Outreach Coordinator, at bipaa@saag.ca.

Have you ever wanted to make your own book? Join us for this hands-on workshop to have the chance to make your own book. Participants will learn how to use the equipment in our Tiny Press Studio, and will make their own handmade book. 

Participants will have the chance to make a blank notebook or bind their own printed materials. If you want to bind your own writing or art, please bring two printed copies to the workshop. 

This workshop is free to attend thanks to the support of the Alberta Culture Days Celebration Site grant. This workshop is open to ages 16+. Limited space is available. Please email hkehoe@saag.ca to register. 

The majority of the bookbinding process requires standing. Accommodations can be made. If you have any questions about the printing process, how to print your materials, or more please contact Heather Kehoe, Program & Event Coordinator.

Seniors (65+) are welcome at the Southern Alberta Art Gallery Maansiksikaitsitapiitsinikssin on select Tuesdays this summer from 10 to 11:30 a.m. for a free guided tour, art activity, and refreshments.

For more information, contact Bariyaa Ipaa, Outreach Coordinator, at bipaa@saag.ca.

Join us to celebrate the launch of Culture Days with this special social event. Check out our exhibitions, connect with other artists and arts professionals, enjoy refreshments, or make some art! This event is free to attend. 

This event is made possible by the Alberta Culture Days Celebration Site grant. We thank the Government of Alberta for supporting this program.

Join us for Bletcher Hour, the Gallery’s monthly critical reading group. Readings explore key themes of the exhibitions and current events, with the intent to deepen our understanding of the artworks and their context within our community. 

This program is free to attend. Please contact Heather Kehoe, Program & Event Coordinator, to register. Readings are sent as PDFs in advance of the event. If you cannot make it in person, online attendance options are available.

Seniors (65+) are welcome at the Southern Alberta Art Gallery Maansiksikaitsitapiitsinikssin on select Tuesdays this summer from 10 to 11:30 a.m. for a free guided tour, art activity, and refreshments.

For more information, contact Bariyaa Ipaa, Outreach Coordinator, at bipaa@saag.ca.

Looking for a fun and family-friendly activity on a Saturday afternoon? Visit the Gallery for Crafternoon, a self-directed art activity in our Creativity Centre. This month we will be making paintings and drawings inspired by Amanda Chwelos’s exhibition Soft enough to slip through, on display in the Gallery’s Art Library. This program is free with admission. All supplies are provided.

Join us for guided tours of our Summer exhibitions. Learn more about the art and inspiration for the exhibitions through walking tours of the Galleries. Tours will run every Saturday from 1-2 P.M. from July until August. These tours are included with admission or free for members. No advance booking is required.

Have some fun in the sun while indulging your creative side with Patio pARTy, a weekly drop-in art activity right in front of the Gallery every Wednesday in August from 11 A.M. to 1 P.M. This craft session, get creative with bead-art. Paint designs on your beads or make your own beaded jewellry! Activities are free and light refreshments will be provided! 

Join us for guided tours of our Summer exhibitions. Learn more about the art and inspiration for the exhibitions through walking tours of the Galleries. Tours will run every Saturday from 1-2 P.M. from July until August. These tours are included with admission or free for members. No advance booking is required.

Join Associate Curator Adam Whitford for a tour of the Gallery’s current exhibitions, Civic Floor by Sung Tieu, Waste Land by Alex Turgeon, and ​​Soft enough to slip through by Amanda Chwelos. This tour is free for members. For non-members regular admission applies.

Have some fun in the sun while indulging your creative side with Patio pARTy, a weekly drop-in art activity right in front of the Gallery every Wednesday in August from 11 A.M. to 1 P.M. This craft session, design your own tote bag in your own unique style. Activities are free and light refreshments will be provided! 

Seniors (65+) are welcome at the Southern Alberta Art Gallery Maansiksikaitsitapiitsinikssin on select Tuesdays this summer from 10 to 11:30 a.m. for a free guided tour, art activity, and refreshments.

For more information, contact Bariyaa Ipaa, Outreach Coordinator, at bipaa@saag.ca.

Join us for guided tours of our Summer exhibitions. Learn more about the art and inspiration for the exhibitions through walking tours of the Galleries. Tours will run every Saturday from 1-2 P.M. from July until August. These tours are included with admission or free for members. No advance booking is required.

Join us to celebrate the emerging arts writers, critics, poets, creatives and students who submitted works to  the 2024 SAAG Arts Writing Prize competition. We’re excited to welcome this year’s contributors, and to host a Q&A with this year’s winners, PARI and Prabhnoor Kaur.

This event is free to attend and will take place online over Zoom. Registration is required to receive the link to the event. Please contact Heather Kehoe, Programs & Event Coordinator (hkehoe@saag.ca) to register for this event. 

You can read all the submissions, including those of the winners and runners-up, here in the 2024 Arts Writing Prize Reader. A print edition, published in the Gallery’s Tiny Press Studio will be available to all entrants and for the public through the Shop at SAAG.

Community attendees can receive a physical copy of the 2024 SAAG Arts Writing Prize Reader, made in the Gallery’s Tiny Press bookbinding studio. This publication is an impressive collection of today’s emerging voices, sharing an array of perspectives and insightful critiques. A limited number of copies will be available for pick-up in the Gallery. You can reserve a copy when you register for the reception. 

This year’s winners, as chosen by a jury made up of poet, critic, and author Henry Heavy Shield, Galleries West Magazine Editor Shelley Boetcher, and art historian and critic Aruna D’Souza. Winners of each category received a $1000 prize. Runners up for awards received $250.

Have some fun in the sun while indulging your creative side with Patio pARTy, a weekly drop-in art activity right in front of the Gallery every Wednesday in August from 11 A.M. to 1 P.M. This craft session, keep cool by making your very own handheld fan. Activities are free and light refreshments will be provided! 

Join us for guided tours of our Summer exhibitions. Learn more about the art and inspiration for the exhibitions through walking tours of the Galleries. Tours will run every Saturday from 1-2 PM from July until August. These tours are included with admission or free for members. No advance booking is required. 

The Gallery invites you to join us for the last of our multi-session speaker series Navigating Two Systems with John Chief Calf. In this final workshop, we will be meeting in the River Valley where John will talk about his pipe and share his understanding of the stories and ecological relationships that go with it. 

Program location:

Indian Battle Park

200 Indian Battle Road South Lethbridge, AB, T1J 5B3 Canada 

This will be an outdoor workshop, attendees are encouraged to bring/wear:

• weather-appropriate clothing

• a hat

• sunscreen

• bug spray

• a water bottle

John Chief Calf was born and raised on the Blood Reserve and was a Child and Youth Care worker from 1985-1997. He received his BA/BEd from the University of Lethbridge in 2005. Chief Calf has taught for the Calgary Board of Education, Siksika Board of Education, Red Crow Community College as well as the Lethbridge Catholic Division, and is currently with the Lethbridge School Division as a humanities teacher. He is a self-taught artist and has sold artworks locally, corporately, and internationally.

If you’re a high-school-aged youth  (14-18) looking to explore your artistic side in a warm and welcoming environment, join us at the Gallery for our drop-in Youth Art Club program this summer .

Bring your own art to work on or make something here while also taking in a tour of the current exhibitions.  Supplies are provided and snacks and refreshments will be available.

For more information, contact Bariyaa Ipaa, Outreach Coordinator, at bipaa@saag.ca.

Eligibility: High School age students (14-18)