LAC LA BICHE - The Festival of Trees weekend in Lac La Biche isn’t only about Christmas trees, holiday shopping, music, children’s games, and visits by Santa ... the popular annual celebration also provides artists in the Lac La Biche region with an avenue in which to display and sell their works.
The thousands of attendees at the weekend event, which took place at the Lac La Biche Bold Center from Nov. 22-24 this year, were given the opportunity to peruse local artwork during the fourth annual Fabulous North Art Exhibition and Sale.
The art show was held in conjunction with the festival and the Christmas Shopping Extravaganza and also took place at the Bold Center Friday to Sunday.
Andrew Swainson, who serves as president of the Lac La Biche Art Club, is also an art teacher at J.A Williams High School in Lac La Biche. H says the show features various pieces of art from both members of the local art club as well as student artworks from the various schools in the area.
“We have 10 senior level artists, and we have five school groups,” Swainson told Lakeland This Week.
In putting on the event each year, Swainson continued, art students at JAWS help set up all the panels in the art room and everyone brings their artwork.
Local sales
While the Fabulous North Art Show has been taking place for the past few years, according to Swainson, the 2023 Festival of Trees was the first time the event was held as a sale. The sales, he explained, have been very successful, and the art club plans to continue hosting it going forward into the future.
“We sold a record number of pieces last year,” he said, adding that the artists who had works on display made between 30 to 40 sales during the weekend.
Swainson says he Fabulous North Art Show and Sale is part of the art club’s mandate to provide a space for local artists in which to exhibit their works. Many artists, he said, only have one or two pieces of art in and therefore, can’t necessarily merit the cost of having a full booth or table at another sale.
“So, we take that on as a platform for our local artists to exhibit their own works, as well as providing a place for school groups to get their students art up in front of people’s eyes,” he explained.
The Lac La Biche Art Club, Swainson said, has been having a good year. He told the Lac La Biche Post newsroom on Thursday, Nov. 21, that members of the club are working on getting the workshop schedule up for January to June.
He added that people can look online to find out more about the art club’s schedule of events for 2025.
“We should hopefully have one a month,” he said.
