Hat Art Club president at The Hat Art Club: A 75 Year Retrospective at the Esplanade. (Photo Courtesy Derek Brade)

By Chris Brown

'People want to come together'

Hat Art Club returning to studio classes

Jan 27, 2022 | 2:55 PM

MEDICINE HAT, AB – Like many community groups, the past two years have not been kind to the Hat Art Club.

Public health restrictions limited access to the studio space at the Medicine Hat Cultural Centre. Even when it was open some people stayed away for personal reasons.

In-studio classes were moved online, and not being in the studio as often hampered efforts to keep awareness of the club up.

Things are looking up lately. Club members were part of the Made in Isolation exhibition late last year and there is a 75th anniversary exhibition on now at the Esplanade.

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The club wants 2022 to be a fresh start.

“People want to come together and they want to work together they want to have that feedback from each other, that support from each other as artists,” says president Bev Duke.

Online classes begin next week for Mixed Media Madness Birds & Bees and two in-studio classes will begin in March. More classes will take place later in the spring.

Club members have 24/7 access to studio space and some equipment at the cultural centre and discounts on classes and workshops.

No artistic talent is needed to join the club.

“You need to want to have a willingness to learn and to explore and to be creative, and take risks and take chances,” Duke says. “Doing art is no different than learning to play the piano or learning to skate or learning the rules of a complex board game. It’s really about learning, it’s about being able to learn to see and to be able to put what you see within your eyes onto a two-dimensional piece of paper.”

Duke says the club is vital to the community as a recorder of history and a provider of affordable art education.

“Many are afraid or don’t feel like they’re good enough and we try to provide, as they did 75 years ago the friendly environment where people can just come and try their hand at art and grow their artist skills,” she says.

Find more information on the club at hatartclub.com.