Art Gallery of Alberta, Ledcor Theatre Community Gallery
Ortona Artists’ Reach Society (OARS)
Ortona Diaspora Group Exhibit at Ledcor Theatre Community Gallery
Site #4
Art Gallery of Alberta, Ledcor Theatre Community Gallery
(2 Sir Winston Churchill Sq. Edmonton)
June 7 - August 30, 2025
Wednesday to Sunday: 11:00am-5:00pm
Thursdays: 11:00am-7:00pm
Kitchen Reflections, Painting by Beth Pederson
Presenting Ortona Diaspora Group Exhibit featuring artists from the Ortona Armoury Arts Community. Sculptures, paintings, drawings, sound, video and featuring a panel discussion on artist studio spaces in Edmonton during the reception on Saturday June 28th.
Aritsts: Beth Pederson, Caitlin Siân Richards, Finn Phillips, Gerri Harden, Jeff Collins, Jordan Rule, Krista Acheson, Marlena Wyman, Markus Eymann, Maya Jarvis, Patrick Arès-Pilon, Patrick Byers, Patrick Higgins, Shawn Pinchbeck, Stephen Sereda, Taro Hashimoto, Tim Rechner, Wilfred Kozub, and Will Truchon.
RECEPTION & PANEL DISCUSSION
Saturday, June 28
1:00-4:00pm
Reception with panel discussion in Ledcor Theatre from 2:30-4pm, with "Artist’s Studio" theme. Guests include Marlena Wyman, Jeff Collins, Chelsea Boos.
ABOUT THE ORTONA DIASPORA
Ortona Diaspora is a group exhibition celebrating a dispersed arts community that faced an uncertain future in 2019. Ortona Artists’ Reach Society (OARS) is proud to feature artists of the Ortona Armoury Arts Community from past and present through an array of mediums including sculpture, painting, film, drawing, steel drum, vidéo, party dancing, live talk show, photography, home movies, installation and performance art. OARS is multidisciplinary, multicultural, multilingual and multi-generational, and are inspired to assembling with their cherished and supportive community partners. This Edmonton-based grassroots community is alive, expanding, and growing in encouraging and unforeseen ways. Ortona Diaspora is a dynamic reflection of this unique arts community in flux.
The Ortona was home to many artists, including misfit anarchists with a punk rock ethos. Prior to the recent gutting of its historic 1940s interior naval design, the Ortona Armoury Arts Building had been open to the public and was home to a steel drum band, a film co-op, filmmakers, conservators, writers, cinematographers, editors, photographers, painters, musicians, poets, performers, composers, dancers, actors and agitators, as well as eleven in-studio artists along with their collaborators, enthusiasts, volunteers, families and friends. The artists of the Ortona always invited and included the wider public community at every opportunity. This exhibit captures a glimpse of the Ortona powerhouse of Art.
OARS is motivated to highlight the significant work of these artists who were dispersed due to their 2019 renoviction from their home, the historical Ortona Armoury Arts Building in the Rossdale neighbourhood.
Funding generously provided by the Edmonton Arts Council and the City of Edmonton
Curated by the Ortona Artists’ Reach Society (OARS)