In the current global climate, debilitating forms of conflict and violence—stoked by cultural differences, economic disparities, regional tensions, and scarcity of resources—continue to impact communities around the world. Amidst these entrenched divisions, it can be challenging to maintain a sense of hope for the future. Bushra Yousaf’s intimate series of portrait paintings evoke optimism and encourage self-reflection by reminding us of our common humanity.

Engagement, reflection, and connection: these are some processes that drive Veronika Marks’ artistic practice. In her interactive performance Sigils of Sovereignty, Marks encourages possibilities for storytelling and community, through which she explores how art can facilitate opportunities for people to connect and heal.

The built environment in downtown Edmonton is replete with glassy office towers and concrete buildings and spaces such as Churchill Square, the site of this year’s The Works Art & Design Festival. Amidst the sterile and depersonalizing connotations associated with these human-made structures, Jonathan Monfries’ installation CANOPY injects evocations of the natural environment into these surroundings by providing a functional, yet aesthetically eye-catching, group of wooden structures for everyone to experience and enjoy.

The past two years of the pandemic have impacted people’s lives significantly and contributed to people’s sense of isolation and disconnection from each other. In this year’s The Works Art & Design Festival, two interactive installations on Churchill Square were a welcome addition in reigniting these bonds of communication and social interaction.

As part of their artistic practice, multimedia artist Breanna Barrington aims to work sustainably and often incorporates second-hand materials into her works, through which they explore ecological concerns and hopes to encourage people to take meaningful action.

When viewing Agatha Chacinski’s installation work A Grasp for Love (2022) for the first time, people may initially have been struck most by the bright blue wall of painted purple flowers and the colourful plant life residing in the five pot-like structures that were arranged on the grass. However, upon closer examination, visitors noticed that her work did not contain any live plants and that they were, in fact, artificial creations. Each pot also contained a painted purple heart that was attached to the blue wall via a long piece of sturdy rope.

In early 2021, The Works was tasked with adapting our volunteer art interpretation training program TART to a remote context. With fewer volunteer opportunities this year, the program was expanded from its traditional scope of volunteer training to a program for those interested in art interpretation, or early in their careers in fields requiring art interpretation and writing.

Sharon Rose Kootenay, Jason Symington, and Brittany Cherweniuk, the artists and curator behind "Transformation: Promise and Wisdom" and "Wildflowers: Metis Women of Fort Edmonton, 1785-1910" discuss process, collaboration, and reconciliation.

Monique Martin’s expansive public art exhibit Context is Everything closes on November 10. Since October 1, paper dandelions and their images set root in familiar spaces in Downtown Edmonton, bringing with them light, colour and a message of hope. Monique Martin’s print series Critical Pieces will remain on display in the Alley of Light Art Boxes into the new year.

The fascinating thing about digitization of the body is that you will not notice it on your physical self. The discovery of the digital body is a bit like discovering yourself as the host of your own doppelgänger. And after seeing the Dyscorpia exhibit at the Enterprise Square Gallery, you might have the feeling this “Body 2.0” is, at last, trying to shed it’s skin with disregard for it’s biological home.

Before coming to work with The Works as a production intern, I can’t say I ever thought about the logistics of making a festival tent into a professional art gallery, but accomplishing this task is one of the most important parts of festival set up and take down. Luckily for my fellow interns and I, there were years of interns before us who figured out the logistics. We just had to learn them. So, here is what you need and how it works:

Working for The Works is a lot of work. Especially in the week and half leading up to festival. You learn a lot about things you weren’t expecting to learn a lot about. Like wood, screws, prerequisites for Instagram swipe links and Verified status, and office acronyms. Problem solving becomes second nature to you, or you at least learn how to hum and haw in ways that inspire others in their problem solving. Production interns are instrumental in preparing for, setting up, and running a free art festival.

A figure in a red, polka-dotted dress emerges from the wings of The Works Art & Design Festival’s Capital Plaza. She carries a mop bucket and tucks a duster against the small of her back. Her heeled loafers tap delicately against the tiled ground. A pause. The figure falls to her knees. She removes a sponge from her bucket and scrubs the well-traversed tile before her. Without fanfare, Deliver has begun.

Early this year, I started my journey on a sustainability and less waste lifestyle. This started in hopes that my future children will get to enjoy a sustainable and less toxic planet. Sounds like a hopeless dream, isn’t it?

Fundamentally, music is made up of all the same things as speech. Sound waves tumbling through our ears to make noise that some time ago we all agreed, “this means something.” Music is just more waves.