Cranbrook Arts is one stop of many on the region’s largest arts and culture road trip this summer.

The gallery is participating in the Columbia Basin Arts Tour on Aug.10 and 11, offering creative art demonstrations and workshops for the public to partake in and an art market. 

Locals are invited to the gallery to watch professional artist Laura Leeder in action as she instructs and gives a demonstration of mixed media collage painting, and artist Karen Diebert as she creates ceramic flowers, on Saturday morning starting at 10 a.m.

In the afternoon, Sioux Browning will be showing the public how to make upcycled bamboo lanterns and guests can try their hand at making pinch pots in the pottery studio with Colleen Routley. 

“I’m really excited for people to be in our space and see what we have to offer and create some art, especially now that we have really interesting shows in our gallery,” said community engagement coordinator Monique Cudbertson.

“We’re just breaking the box on what Cranbrook thought art was. Very traditional landscape art has kind of been what’s prevalent here, and anything that’s slightly edgy or out-of-the-box has been resisted. Now, we’re able to bring in all these artists,” she added. 

On Sunday, the gallery will be hosting an artist market from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. with 18 regional artists selling pottery, jewellery, textiles, paintings, photography, beading, leatherwork and metalwork.

Cudbertson will be leading a drop-in art session in Eric Mackinnon Park after the market ends.

The gallery will be open to the public from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. both days. The latest exhibit features work from Erica Konrad, whose collection of murals and sculpture examines the intricacy of plant and animal cells and the profound affect they have on sentient life, inspired by her battle with cancer.

The outside of the gallery was refurbished recently with $250,000 of upgrades. The old vinyl siding has been replaced with wood and lights have been added above the door. The parking lot has been levelled and repaved, and the entryway was altered to make it more accessible to people with limited mobility.

Cudbertson said she’s excited to welcome visitors to the new and improved space and to help grow the arts community. She was raised in Cranbrook, and has seen the community slowly evolve from a sports town to a place where arts and creative minds can really thrive.

“What I’ve noticed, is the demographic of people has changed. It’s becoming a lot more diverse. We have a lot more people of colour. A lot more people from other communities coming to move here, people who maybe like abstract art,” she said.

“I think that our community’s starting to value what art is.”