Eight standouts at the 2026 Works Art & Design Festival
From recycled-aluminum megabees to wildfire-scorched birch forests, this year's curated highlights capture the breadth of Churchill Square's annual celebration.
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The Works Art & Design Festival has transformed Churchill Square and beyond into a sprawling outdoor gallery this year, with dozens of artworks and daily concerts marking the annual celebration that began in 1986. While more modest this year without a splashy centrepiece, the festival offers multiple standout new pieces worth seeking out.
Clinton Minault's âmô, made of repurposed aluminum pop cans and other recycled materials on Churchill Square, is a megabee celebrating kinship between animals and humans. It accompanies Minault's previous buffalo-inspired works in the festival's collection, which pair well with Jill Stanton's giant Supergarden flowers.
At Stanley Milner Library, Diana Ohiozebau's "Not Alone as Such" features bright, high-contrast acrylic-painted tapestries with dynamic shapes and multiple eyes, celebrating the artist's African heritage. Ohiozebau works with Aso-oke fabrics, a traditional handwoven textile of the Yoruba people of southwestern Nigeria, known for its rich texture, bold patterns, and durability.
Jared Epp's "Anonymous Edmontonians" on Churchill Square brings his 2021 packing-tape and plastic human figures down from the trees into an interactive set where visitors can write directly on the sculptures, spawning messages ranging from declarations of faith to graffiti tags.
Robert Dmytruk's "The Aesthetics of Collision" at the Don Wheaton YMCA presents a series of complex, exuberant Tron-like light cylinders that radiate inexplicable joy — intricate cross-hatched works that feel well-suited to the construction chaos surrounding the Y.
Jared Quinney's "Past to Present: Here to Stay" on Churchill Square ranks among the year's most striking pieces — folk-art-y nature scenes stretching back to the dinosaur age with a direct warning: "Everything ends." The Saddle Lake artist has been part of the Nina Haggerty community for the past eight years.
Arcana Shanks's "Crown of Fire" on Churchill Square represents 731,634 hectares of human-caused fires during the 2011 Alberta wildfire season. This hanging, scorched birch forest is one of the festival's larger and most thoughtful immersive pieces — ghostly dancers in the wind, a reminder to be grateful for June's relentless rain.
Metis bead worker Sharon Rose Kootenay's "Niwapahkwanin//I See Flowers When I Close My Eyes" on Churchill Square showcases nature-riffing quilts and accompanying poetry. The works lean into the design aspect of the festival with striking visual impact.
