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Member’s Statement – Cheongju International Craft Biennale

Ms Blakeman: Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. As a long-time supporter of Alberta artists, I am proud to say that Alberta artists will be heading overseas to participate in this South Korea fine craft cultural tour for two weeks in the early fall.

Now, this tour’s highlight is the Cheongju International Craft Biennale, which is fast becoming the largest Asian craft event and for which Canada is the guest country for 2009. We were selected as the guest country, by the way, thanks to Alberta Craft Council’s All About Alberta international exhibition, which started at the Smithsonian Institute and then travelled to the 2007 biennale. The impression our artists left in 2007 prompted this year’s honour.

Aside from Canada and South Korea, 50 other nations will present the work of their finest artists, making this a wonderful showcase for our own homegrown talent. Around 50 artists from Edmonton, Red Deer, Calgary, Medicine Hat, Black Diamond, High River, Sundre, Hobbema, Canmore, and Longview will participate, a wonderful range of creative artists from all across the province. Organizers expect that 750,000 people from dozens of nations will visit the biennale at Cheongju, truly a fantastic exposure for our artists.

The biennale will feature a 10,000 square foot exhibition of work by 200 of Canada’s leading craft artists, 29 of those artists are from Alberta. We are talking a massive display of works in ceramic, wood, metal, fibre, glass, and so on – sculptures, furniture, jewellery, everything.

The Alberta Craft Council is supported by the Alberta Foundation for the Arts, and many thanks for that. The Calgary Arts Development and the Edmonton Arts Council all worked very hard to ensure that Alberta artists would have their chance to shine on the international stage.

Our arts and cultural sector is one of Alberta’s most important industries and a renewable, sustainable industry at that. On behalf of the Official Opposition and I’m sure all of my colleagues in the Alberta Legislature, I thank all of the artists and the organizations that supported them for taking Alberta’s cultural exports from across the Pacific to Cheongju.

Thank you so much.