Acadian history, culture on display in Abram-Village art exhibition

Paintedartwork is lined up on either side of the street in Abram-Village, P.E.I. to showcase Acadian culture.

It's part of a provincial beautification project to enhance the experience for the 2019 CongrsMondialAcadien or World Acadian Congress, which begins on Aug. 10.

Artists painted 35 large, multicolour displays posted in front of homes along route 124 between EvangelineSchool and the Evangeline Recreation Centre.

Visitors are invited to pick up a program for the Street Exhibitionfrom La Palette Gallery located atVillage Musical Acadien.

The project's co-ordinator said he hopes people will park their vehicles and walk along to enjoy the exhibition.

"Look at the paintings and understand what we meantby each one of these paintings, so they could spend more time in our community. Because we find out that people that come to Abram-Village, they come back," said Thodore Thriault.

Thriault was inspired to createthe project based on a similar artexhibition in Saint-Aubin-sur-Mer, France.

Showcasing local talent

Island artists were quick to get on board with the paintings, donating their time to showcase the Acadian joie de vivre,which translates as the joy of living.

"The culture, the culinary, the music, the history if we could," said Jeannette Blaquire, president of the Palette ArtistsCo-operative.

"But we also knew we wanted something a little bit more modern, kind of mixed both together."

"I think that I was more inspired by my grandmother so that is why I painted their homestead with the quilts on the line and her spinning wheel," said Rita Arsenault, one of the contributing artists.

She estimates she put in every spare moment over a few weeks to finish five different pieces for the exhibition.

"It's a big event, you know, thousands of people are going to come down," Arsenault said. "You want to make a good impression and you wanted them to see how life was for the Acadians, the pride we have in it."

The program lists the street address where the paintings are located, along with the artists involved and a brief description.

Thriault estimates the walking tour could take people about an hour to explore the different paintings.

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