Calgary saw its first skiff of snow last week and it's here again today. I noticed one group of "people" looking especially cold this morning. Earlier this year artist Suzen Green dressed several pieces from the City of Calgary's Public Art collection in bright, colourful knits as part of the ArtCity festival. The long legs of Mario Armengol’s Family of Man sculptures – located on Macleod Trail and 5th Street SE outside of the Calgary Board of Education - were fitted with beautiful, extremely colourful knee-high knitted socks. The project was originally conceived as "guerilla-style graffiti using knitting," but instead Green was able to make a connection with civic officials to get the go-ahead to alter several public sculptures for 10 days during the festival. The "appropriated with permission” aspect of Green's work continues to be one of the things I appreciate most.Green's work has forever altered my view of that space in our city and really awakened a desire for more playfulness in our urban landscape. And now that it's getting cold, it really makes me feel sorry for those poor chilly sculptures!

Speaking of knitting, the Alberta Biennial of Contemporary Art opened this weekend at the Banff Centre's Walter Phillips Gallery. Artist Jennifer Bowes has a piece in the show titled Suspended. From a distance, Bowes' work resembled a rich, finely-woven knit, almost like cashmere. But close up, you can see how knitted book pages, thread and steel pipe come together to form an incredibly intricate and unique piece.

The notion of connections is a central thread (pardon the pun) running through our work, stretching from our organization's visual identity to the ways we work with artists, organizations and government to enhance profile and support for the arts in Calgary. I'll blog more about connection and art in this space over the weeks to come.