Art isn’t just about appreciating something on the wall. Sometimes you’ve got to get your hands dirty.

It’s something François Piché’s 11-year-old daughter Olivia learned on a visit to Red Deer College, Saturday.

Olivia was hunched over a potter’s wheel, her hands slick with clay, and her jeans mud-spattered, as she made a bowl and a vase.

“It was fun,” she said.

Piché said it’s important to him that his daughter plunges into the culture around her and experiences it. “You’re got to nourish this, every opportunity there is to nourish the culture we have here,” he said.

Besides the ceramics demonstration, Red Deer College also had music, an open rehearsal of ROAD in Studio A and students’ work displayed in Gallery 1500, as part of Alberta Arts Day.

The first of its kind, the day was announced by Culture and Community Spirit Minister Lindsay Blackett in late July, as a way for communities to showcase local talent.

“I think that any time arts and culture are recognized as being significant that is great for those of us in the business,” said Jason Frizzell, chairperson of the visual art program at Red Deer College.

“Ultimately, what I would like to see — and all of us would like to see — is that arts and culture become accepted as being essential to the fabric of the community and the culture at large.”

But he said in North American it’s often overlooked how much art, culture and design are part of our day-to-day lives. He said during every movie and even at sporting events artists are at work in the design of brochures and even lighting.

He said communities need science and technology, sports, health and wellness, but also arts and culture to make them vibrant.

As part of Alberta Arts Day there was also an opening of the show Size Matters, featuring Paul Boultbee and Carole Epp, at bilton contemporary art.

The abstract acrylic paintings of Boultbee’s were commissioned for the Matchbox Theatre, with two paintings coinciding with each play and being displayed in the theatre.

Boultbee started festivities at the gallery with a talk about his artwork and the rest of the afternoon there were poetry and short story readings, as well as music performances planned.

Boultbee said the city seems to recognize the importance of the arts to the community and there are more and more opportunities to see public art.

Since he moved to Red Deer in the early 1980s, Boultbee said he has seen growth not only in the visual arts, but also in theatre and music.

Contact Stacy O’Brien at sobrien@reddeeradvocate.com