2026 IN THE GALLERY
Hidden Terrains by April Matisz January 10th- February 21st 2026
Biography
April Matisz is a contemporary artist based in Lethbridge, Alberta, whose multidisciplinary practice spans painting, drawing, collage, and ceramics. Through her work she examines how evolutionary history, psychology, and Western thought inform our perceptions of ourselves and the living world. She weaves in personal and cultural experiences of motherhood, grounding her inquiries in both scientific and embodied knowledge.
Matisz holds an MFA from Emily Carr University of Art + Design (2023), a BFA (Art) from the University of Lethbridge (2009), and a BSc in Biology from the University of Victoria (2005). Her process is rooted in intuitive, reciprocal engagement with materials, allowing ideas to emerge through close attention and a receptive attitude. She is the recipient of numerous awards and grants, including the Mackenzie Award in Painting from Emily Carr University of Art + Design and two Alberta Foundation for the Arts grants. Her work is held in public and private collections, including the Alberta Foundation for the Arts, and has been exhibited across Alberta and in Puerto Rico, with exhibitions at the Southern Alberta Art Gallery (Lethbridge), the Esplanade (Medicine Hat), and Obra Galería Alegría (San Juan).
Who Took the Cookies From the Cookie Jar? Elaine Zimmer March- April, 2026
My art practice is based on the activity of playing
Playing is full of exploration and energy
Lining things up
Taking the things you know and rebuilding
Intuiting
Lots of looking and redirecting and learning
making
running down new pathways…but, not with scissors
(and not making a fringe on Aunt Eileen’s tablecloth)
Smelling the wildflowers
Filling your pockets with rocks
Reading, daydreaming
Listening
napping
Playing is an intense activity that takes a lot of work.
Colouring
Drawing
Painting
Also eating cookies
And making cookie jars.
And, of course, sharing
Women of Creation by Esther Neufeld May- June 2026
Working with fibre has been a lifelong motif for me, an early and enduring love for wool and angora fibre in all its many aspects. I have been a spinner and a weaver and a dyer of wool, taking from its resilient and lustrous characteristic a yearning to see it come to life, and it is this intrinsic vitality that continues to endear me to wool as a medium, and particularly its ability to be felted and cajoled into images and textures. For what is art if not a taking up of the physical things of this world and re-ordering them into shapes and forms and textures which themselves evoke the very elements from which they have sprung?
I have spent all my years living either a village or country life, and so have never felt myself removed from the natural world. The creatures and the sky and the stars and the land which have always surrounded me infuse my inner vision with a deep thrum of the aliveness and evanescence of this world, along with a desire to honour that awareness in some physical form – to make art, to do the dance. The birds and the mountains and the fields and the sky that I seek to make come to life from my palette are the reality, and my artwork the hoped-for true reflection. It is my wish that my feltwork pieces might act as mirrors, and in that bright reflection the viewer might likewise be transported to that place where words are not needed to form the thought – merely the image itself which calls out to its subject as if to say – “Greetings – I have journeyed long and am so very pleased to make your acquaintance.”
Mouthless Spring by Melanie Barnett July -August 2026
Melanie Barnett is a ceramicist whose work draws upon themes of mycology, agronomy, and climate science to create sci-fi worldbuilding experiences that speculate upon the future. She holds an MFA from NSCAD University and a BFA Honours in Ceramics from IshKaabatens Waasa Gaa Inaabateg Department of Visual Art, Brandon University. Melanie’s work has been included in national and international publications, and has been exhibited across Canada.
Her work has been generously supported by the Canada Council for the Arts (2024), The Elizabeth Greenshield’s Foundation Grant (2022), the Nova Scotia Graduate Scholarship (2023), and the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council (NSERC) Canada Graduate Scholarship-Masters (2023).
Running on Empty by Debbie.lee Miszaniec September- October 2026
2026 Juried Members Exhibition November - December 2026
The Allied Arts Council of Pincher Creek is happy to share our annual members exhibition featuring the works of Allied Arts Council members in the gallery during the months of November and December.