Join the Gallery at the Lethbridge Public Library’s Word on the Street Festival. We are excited to feature artist Kellen Spencer, who will be leading a papermaking demo and sharing examples of handmade paper from local artists. Join us to meet the artist, learn more about this interactive process, and celebrate the literary arts! 

Kellen Spencer is a Lethbridge-based visual artist, and printmaker whose practice examines the connection between residential redevelopment, memory, and the notion of home. By documenting changes in the neighborhood where he lives, Kellen sees the home as a place to unearth past memories, and to question future cycles of housing demolition, construction, and gentrification.

His interest in papermaking is complementary to his work in printmaking as it invites a material exploration that is critical to making a successful print; like understanding flour is to making delicious bread or choosing suitable lumber is to homebuilding. The tactile processes involved in creating handmade paper also offer a unique way to understand a material that has uses which we encounter almost every day.

In 2018, Kellen completed a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Print Media at the Alberta College of Art + Design (ACAD), and was the recipient of the Board of Governor’s Graduating Student Award. His printed works have recently been included in exhibitions at the Southern Alberta Art Gallery (SAAG), Casa Lethbridge and the John B. Aird Gallery in Toronto, Ontario.

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