After reviewing 83 letters of intent, 20 artists have chosen to participate in the Alphabet Project, a collaboration between the Prince George Community Arts Council and The Prince George Citizen.
The public art project will celebrate The Prince George Citizen's 100th anniversary with 26 full front page artist's renditions depicting each letter of the alphabet.
Each artist - the 20 who were chosen through application and six chosen because they are either former or current employees of The Citizen or are members of the art council's artists in residence program has been assigned a letter of the alphabet by random draw.
Each artist will offer up their own version of the letter assigned.
"We had a very successful intake of letters of intent," said Lisa Redpath, project manager for the Prince George Community Arts Council. "We had 83 applications for 20 spots so you can imagine how difficult this was. The committee tried to achieve a diverse selection of artists involving different mediums."
There's a wide variety including photography, glass, urban art and aboriginal components.
"We also have three members of the Milltown Artists, including Ann Bogle, Doris Dittaro and June Swanky Parker, so we're really happy to feature them as a big part of the history of Prince George."
Other artists include a Grade 10 student from PGSS and a construction company owner who no one knew was an artist, added Redpath.
"I've talked to several artists about how they are going to proceed with this project and the imagination is just all over the board."
A lot of the artists have taken a look at the original project that inspired this one, which was based on a partnership between the Fitchburg Sentinel and Enterprise newspaper in Massachusetts and artists in their area. And everyone was inspired to raise the bar, said Redpath.
"But of course, we won't know until we see all the pieces in February and that's the golden moment - it really is," said Redpath. "It's kind of like Christmas because you never know what you're going to get and it really is magic. We'll have 26 artists coming at it with different perspectives in different styles."
The first six artists on the list are the former employees of the Citizen and the members of the artists in residence program at the community arts council, the remaining 20 are those chosen from the 83 letters of intent:
1. A - Cliff Mann
2. W - Joe Ferrante
3. G - George Lesniewicz
4. J - Corey Hardeman
5. L - Phil Morrison
6. E - Crystal Lynn Tarr
7. X - Kat Tecson Valcourt
8. I - Trevor Stanley
9. P - Roger Klein
10. D - Marie Eve Lavoie
11. V - Myrna Lemky
12. T - Ray Fortin (Leslie Allen)
13. O - Melanie Desjardines
14. H - Audrey McKinnon
15. U - Cecilia Taylor
16. N - June Swanky Parker
17. Q - Jennifer Pighin
18. Z - Lynn Box
19. S - Andrea Fredeen
20. M - Carla Joseph
21. C - Christina Watts
22. B - Ann Bogle
23. F - Doris Dittaro
24. K - Pat Suter
25. R - Laura Chandler
26. Y - Heidi Veldeman
Each artist will receive an honorarium of $100.
The 26 full front pages featuring the artists' work will be displayed starting in February.
Along with the artwork on the front page, a 100-word artist's statement, photo and a bit about the project will go on page 2.
