Imagine: It’s the summer of 2025 and you’ve just been set up on a blind date. You, and the person you have yet to decipher, find yourselves aimlessly wandering the streets of downtown Edmonton. No direction, no expectation. That is until you make a turn into Churchill Square. Every corner of the square is filled with activity. A sign reads: The Works Art & Design Festival.
Drawn in, you both make your way towards a display of sand sculptures, the likes of which you have never seen before, stretching across the concrete. For a moment, you stop and take it all in.
For Brooke Lovegrove, this is more than a passing memory. It is a moment that seemed fated. Just months after, she was presented with an opportunity to join The Works International Visual Arts Society — the non-profit charitable organization behind the festival — as its marketing and communications assistant.
“That was my first time attending the festival,” Lovegrove says. “Also the first time meeting my now boyfriend.” That experience was filled with lots of firsts for her. It’s a feeling she wants The Works to convey to others.
This 12-day event, running from June 20 to July 1, was first held in 1986 with the intention of attracting people to the art scene and introducing them to a world of firsts, be it through an artist-led workshop, a music performance or a display of abstract art.
“Arts has often been seen as an elitist field, we are trying to build a personal connection and make it accessible through this festival,” says Lovegrove. “I would describe this event as an opportunity to see creation without restriction.” It teaches people to break away from the preconceived notion that art is supposed to be a certain way.
This year’s theme is: “Are You Here,” which Lovegrove describes as “the artists’ perception of location, environment, proximity, space and place.” Churchill Square will feature artwork that encapsulates this idea.
The exhibit “Home: The Spaces That Makes Us” by Maria Shironoshita explores the concept of home as a physical and emotional space, through miniature sculptures and collages. The artist chooses to present surreal visuals that can be nostalgic but also discomforting. Here, home is not necessarily positive, it is only the space that created us. She wants her art to be experienced as if it was your own — give it your own interpretation, find your own meaning.
“Anonymous Edmontonians” by Jared Epp is a series of body casts placed around the space. Epp’s work explores the human body in relation to self and community building. He encourages people to approach them, question them and start a conversation around them.
Darren Kooyma’s paintings, titled “Resonate Scale,” represent measures of time. What draws him in is the immediacy and the permanence of the paint, acrylic takes longer to set but once it dries it is there for good. In addition to showing his past work, Kooyma will do a live painting during the festival.
Johnathan Monfries’s “Canopy” offers people a peaceful sanctuary to enjoy. The artist plays with design in a functional and aesthetic way, while also leaving room for interpretation. His work is a series of beautiful wooden installations that are intended for anyone to interact with. He invites viewers to use them as shelters and places to rest while they admire them.
“We want to break the misconception that art is only meant to be looked at, not touched,” says Lovegrove. This event is meant to engage all the senses and encourage people to go outside.
And, aside from food trucks, live performances and interactive activities, this year will be the first to feature a family-friendly beer garden. So even if you did not initially come for art, you can enjoy it with a cold one basking under the sun.
The festival is free to attend and open to all ages.
The Works Art & Design Festival
Downtown | Sir Winston Churchill Square NW, Edmonton | theworks.ab.ca
