Summer is long and the kids are on vacation… What will they do all day? Explore, play & create with us at The Hive this summer! Our exciting summer art  camps are fun-filled with drawing, painting, printmaking, photography & more.  Classes held among real working artist studios benefit from the atmosphere and energy of a vibrant art studio.

Summer Art Camps begin July 9 through summer until August 24! Half days and full days, from 4 years to 15!

Go to www.hivehub.ca, call 403-504-5371or visit us for details & our full schedule.  Also ask about our Summer Sketchbook workshop for Adults (16+).  Small class sizes mean lots of individualized attention and instruction.  This means spaces are limited so please register early! THE JUMP – Read the rest of this entry »

Newly known to me this week is the Medicine Hat Fan Roundup event taking place this weekend on Saturday, June 23rd from 10am-10pm at the Medicine Hat College (F Wing). The entrance fee is $5, but kids under 11 get in free! So what exactly is the Medicine Hat Fan Roundup? Well, it’s a bunch of different things focusing on everything from anime, to board games, to retro gaming and more. It’s a pretty interesting/surprising mix of geek culture taking place in Medicine Hat. Best of all? Sushi Hat is catering for the event! From the Facebook page:

Medicine Hat’s own Fan Convention. A one day Expo in Medicine Hat for Fans of Fantasy, Sci-fi, Comics, Video Games, RPG, Card Games, Steampunk, Anime and Manga !

Activities include:

• Video games from PONG to modern consoles.
• Board games from Risk to obscure German titles.
• Anime from the newest releases this year.
• Indie films from studios and the Net.
• Special events like contests and panels with professionals in art and writing.

Guests:
John Johnstone V, the writer/director of the indie Canadian film DungeonCrawl, will be around to talk about making movies and the experience of DungeonCrawl!

Nicole Gauss, the concept artist for My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic, will be joining us and discussing her experiences with the show. Bronies welcome!

Medicine Hat Fan Roundup Website

Cover image: RandomHouse.ca

The One Book One Community Committee is pleased to announce that the 2012 book selection is The Cellist of Sarajevo by Steven Galloway. The 8th annual OBOC event will take place the evening of Friday October 12, 2012 at the Esplanade and continue on Saturday October 13 at Medicine Hat College with a day of activities and book discussions. Copies of the book are available for loan at the Medicine Hat College Libraries and Medicine Hat Public Library. The book can be purchased at Coles the Book People in Medicine Hat Mall and is included with some Medalta in the Historic Clay District memberships.

Nominated for the Scotiabank Giller Prize in 2008, The Cellist of Sarajevo is set during the siege of Sarajevo in the 90’s. The book is inspired by the true story of Vedran Smailović, a cellist who plays daily amid the ruins to honour 22 people killed while waiting in a bread line. This gripping and unforgettable novel tells the story of three people trying to survive in a city rife with the extreme fear of desperate times, and of the sorrowing cellist who plays undaunted in their midst.

One Book One Community is organized by representatives from Medicine Hat College, Medicine Hat Public Library, L.E.A.R.N., Community Employment Services, a division of REDI Enterprises Society, the Esplanade, FUT in the Hat, and interested members of the public. Past sponsorship for this event has been provided by the City of Medicine Hat and Alberta Foundation for the Arts.

For more information about One Book One Community, or to be involved in this year’s event, please contact Leigh Cunningham at 403-504-3654 or at LCunningham@mhc.ab.ca or visit the website at www.obocmh.ca.

The Esplanade Art Gallery is pleased to present two new exhibitions, Campbell Tinning: The Newfoundland Paintings and Landwash: Contemporary Newfoundland Art, on display until August 11. The opening reception on Friday, June 15, 2012 from 7 PM to 10 PM is part of the first Downtown Art Walk Roving Art Reception of the year.

Also, on Friday at 7 PM, the City’s Public Art Committee invites all to the ribbon cutting ceremony for the public art commission Reka (River) by Jess Riva Cooper and Rob MacInnis at Batus Park, on Second Street SE.

Campbell Tinning: The Newfoundland Paintings

Campbell Tinning was born in Saskatoon, in 1910. After studying art in Regina and New York, in 1941 he joined the Canadian Army Reserves and became a War Artist in the Historical Section of the Canadian Army. Just prior to being sent overseas, his first Army assignment was to record the east coast defenses, and in late 1943, he was sent to St. John’s, Newfoundland. He was so impressed by this brief visit that he wrote in his diary that he wanted to return and paint there in peacetime – and indeed he did, in 1949, following his service in Italy in 1944-45 as War Artist. Thirteen large watercolours in this exhibition were produced by Tinning during that summer of 1949, painted at Port aux Basques in July, and at Port de Grave in August and September. Tinning settled in Montreal after the war, and exhibited widely in North America in both solo and group exhibitions, including the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts, the Art Gallery of Ontario and the Mendel Art Gallery. Posthumously, his work was included in the national touring exhibition Canvas of War: Masterpieces from the Canadian War Museum. Esplanade Art Curator Joanne Marion comments, “These are strikingly bold paintings that impress visitors – 63 years after being painted – with the rugged beauty of Newfoundland.” This exhibition was curated by Heather Smith, and its tour organized by the Moose Jaw Museum & Art Gallery. THE JUMP – Read the rest of this entry »

Thursday, June 28th
Schooners Pub (in the Medicine Hat Legion). Doors open at 8:00pm.

Tickets $15 in advance (available at Madhatter Roastery downtown) $20 at the door. Come rock out. Local talent to open.

Marking a 3rd street effort milestone, Elliott BROOD is the reason we began booking and promoting independent Canadian artists in Medicine Hat.

The Alt Rock/Country trio, often described as “Death Country” is touring following the release of their latest album, “Days Into Years,” and we’re overjoyed to have them.

Outdoor concert with HOODED FANG PARLOVR and GOOSE HUT.

Sunday, June 24th 4:00 – 7:00pm
Riverside Park – next to city hall

Tickets $10 in advance (available at Madhatter Roastery downtown) or $12 at the gate. Get 50% off Medicine Hat Jazz Fest performance with purchase of Pop Off! ticket.

Enjoy a sunny Sunday afternoon with three great bands featured in the acclaimed music festival, POP Montreal.

In collaboration with Medicine Hat Jazz Fest this all ages outdoor show is not to be missed! Jazz Fest pass holders get in free!

Hooded Fang brings a melodic tide of scrappy, surf influenced guitar, and 60’s drum breaks, a perfect soundtrack to kick off the summer.

Buzzed for their seizure-inducing live shows, Parlovr has an impressive touring record, playing with Artic Monkeys, Franz Ferdinand, Handsome Furs, Born Ruffians and Tokyo Police Club. A blend of retro surf and soul, nestled within hyper modern pop, Parlovr promises to deliver the heat.

If a Tree Falls, a film about the Earth Liberation Front, is the featured film for the spring seasoning ending of Cinema Politica. It will be shown at Medicine Hat Public Library on Monday, May 28 at 7.00 pm.

If a Tree Falls is the remarkable story of the rise and fall of the Earth Liberation Front, an organization which the FBI has called America’s “number one domestic terrorism threat”. The film focuses on Daniel McGowan, his transformation and radicalization and is equally a coming of age tale and a cops and robbers thriller. The film asks hard questions about environmentalism, activism and the way we define terrorism.

This film won the Documentary Editing Award at the Sundance Film Festival in 2011 and was a nominee for Best Documentary Feature at the 2012 Academy Awards.

Cinema Politica and Monday Night at the Movies/Friends of Medicine Hat Public Library are cosponsors of this free program.

For more information about the film, go to www.ifatreefallsfilm.com

For information about Cinema Politica, go to www.cinemapolitica.org

For local information, contact Dave Bahnmiller at 403-529-2209 or daveb@shortgrass.ca

Just in time for the gardening season! Lethbridge horticulturalist, June Flanagan, will present a free program on vegetable gardening on Monday, May 14 at 7.00 pm. This event takes place in the Library Theatre, Medicine Hat Public Library.

From planting to picking, June Flanagan presents an illustrated program with plenty of tips to help gardeners grow fresh homegrown food just a few steps away from the kitchen. Her images of prairie-hardy fruits, heirloom salad greens, crisp root vegetables, fresh herbs and edible flowers will inspire gardeners to create gorgeous growing spaces that yield bountiful harvests.

June Flanagan is a botanist, horticultural consultant, author and photographer with a M Sc. in Plant Science and a B. Sc. in Environmental Horticulture. Her professional career of over thirty years includes work as a botanical garden specialist and as a research associate on studies of native plants as well as temperate and tropical food crops. She has cultivated plants in the challenging Chinook zone of southern Alberta for fifteen years. Her fourth and most recentt book, Edible Plants for Prairie Gardens: the best fruits and vegetables, is a comprehensive guide to growing over 100 fruits, vegetables and herbs using organic and sustainable gardening practices in a short-season climate. THE JUMP – Read the rest of this entry »

The City of Medicine Hat and Cypress County’s Southern Alberta Summer Games Office is NOW OPEN! We are looking for athletes to compete on Team Medicine Hat and Team Cypress County in Raymond/County of Warner at this year’s games.

The registration deadline for athletes is Monday June 4th, 2012 at 4:00pm.

This year the games will take place from July 4-7th in Raymond/County of Warner with 22 different events to choose from!

The events that athletes can participate in include:

Athletes from Medicine Hat who are interested in participating in the games can contact Jesse Zimmer by phone at (403) 502-8570 or email jeszim@medicinehat.ca.  Athletes from Cypress County and Redcliff can contact Derek Hood by phone at (403) 525-2315 or email derhoo@cypress.ab.ca. We also welcome participants to drop by the Summer Games Office which is located in the Medicine Hat Arena or Cypress County Building.

Check out our website for updates at www.medicinehat.ca

Or http://www.cypress.ab.ca/Special_Events/sasg/games.htm

There are events for ALL ages.  Let’s put together a larger team than last year and celebrate the 43^rd anniversary of the Southern Alberta Summer Games!

Persian Dreams and Canine Themes Rescue Society is hosting a huge indoor garage and craft sale on Saturday, June 16th, 2012.

Kinplex Social Room 2055-21 Ave SE,
10AM to 4PM.

Concessions are available.