The Arts Centre
The Kiyooka One Arts Centre is a year-round, sustainable, art-in-nature destination dedicated to the research, exhibition, education and documentation of contemporary visual arts.
“..Retreat, Research and Residence”
As a cultural attraction, the Centre provides a personal interaction with contemporary art for the surrounding community, Calgarians, and tourists.
Kiyooka Ohe Arts Centre and Sculpture Park is a publicly accessible non-profit arts centre that focuses on lectures, symposia, workshops, programs, and exhibitions of local and international contemporary art.
As KOAC co-founder and lifelong artist Katie Ohe likes to put it, the focus of the Centre will be on “the three R’s” – Retreat, Research and Residence. KOAC comprises of studio space for artists, a research library and a vast collection of artwork amassed over more than six decades, all surrounded by a botanic sculpture park in a rehabilitated wetlands and a woodlands sanctuary.
Some of the different buildings at the Art Centre include the founders’ home residence, a modern structure that is planned to be transformed into an interpretive gallery, workshop area and library research centre. The existing studios, where Katie and Harry practiced for decades, will be shared with artists who wish to expand their art careers. The Centre has plans for a future expanded gallery and interpretive centre which will house the KOAC collection, programming and art exhibitions.
The Allure of Art & Environment
The sculpture park celebrates the relationship between sculpture and nature. Visitors experience large, medium and small-scale outdoor sculptures and site-specific commissions under the open sky.
Presenting sculptures in a park and gardens environment is a ritual that dates back to ancient times. The interaction of artistic formulations and natural forms stimulates perception and thinking and the understanding of artistic visions.
The focus of the sculpture park’s distinguished permanent collection of Canadian and European modern sculpture is on large abstract welded steel works from the 1960s to the present. The goal is to preserve and showcase important carefully selected quality works of art.
Among the monumental pieces already in place are those by Ray Arnatt, Roy Leadbeater, Michael Sandle (British), Charles Robert Boyce, Alex Caldwell, Katie Ohe, just to name a few.
An advisory selection committee oversees approving new permanent or temporary additions. Complementing its outdoor collection, KOAC features an exclusive selection of indoor works by renowned artists, including those of founder Katie Ohe.
Our sincerest gratitude goes to the TD Friends of the Environment Foundation, for their support in helping KOAC become all it can be.
Nature is our Gallery
As part of its legacy, a priority for KOAC is the protection of 10 acres of Aspen, Birch, and first growth forests as a green corridor and woods sanctuary amid fast development in the surrounding Springbank area. During the summer months, KOAC visitors traverse fields of gentle meadows or stroll designed walkways that meander through a wooded grove with carefully selected contemporary sculptures. KOAC is restoring several walking paths that will allow visitors to wander on trails and discover sculptures.
