Alberta’s Culture Days at King Edward’s cSpace
By Astrid Cunanan, Arts Editor
In the heart of Calgary’s Marda Loop community, the historic King Edward’s cSpace building can be seen in the midst of all the houses. It was no surprise seeing families gather at cSpace to check out the farmer’s market in the front yard, and most importantly, to celebrate local artists as part of Alberta’s Culture Days.
This is a day to come together to celebrate all the people who have touched this land. Lana Skauge, one of the resident artists, explained Alberta’s Culture Days as “a connection to the visitors, to the settlers, to new Canadians. It’s recognizing our diverse community and loving us to a point of understanding.” Alberta Culture days are a great day to learn and try new things. “We get to taste each other’s food and hear each other’s music and if we’re lucky, we get to talk to each other and realize our common ground, which is our humanity,” Skauge said.
Deeter Schuri, the president and CEO of cSpace said the space is a “social enterprise set up to develop creative spaces for artists, cultural organizations and creative entrepreneurs in Calgary.” Essentially, cSpace in Marda Loop is a 1,470 sq. ft. creative safe haven for artists.
The spaces are carefully thought out inside this building. The staircases include floor-to-ceiling murals featuring 3D sculptures popping out of the wall, all topped off by long, gorgeous light fixtures.
From custom-made swords to styrofoam-carved pieces, the resident artist showcase their work on the 4th level that overlooks the entire community – also known as the Treehouse. Calgary-based artist, Jennifer Lee, showcased her Neo-Korean-inspired queer embroidery. The art she displays consisted of three white linens with embroidered Korean wedding symbols; that incorporates colours that represent different sexualities such as the lesbian flag and the pride flag.
Over recent years the Korean arts culture has been appreciated and acknowledged a lot more by Western media because many Koreans are reinterpreting their traditional aesthetics to create new art.
“My generation, particularly millennials, are going back into their own [Korean] traditional aesthetic; they’re no longer trying to hide behind Japanese or Chinese [cultures], because for a long time those two cultures were the only Asian cultures people knew,” Lee said.
