Local artists’ work chosen for new library cards

By Al Beeber - Lethbridge Herald on November 30, 2023.

Herald photo by Al Beeber Brooklyn Chelle, Ava Lupton and Lincoln Feyter pose with their winning designs for new library cards at the downtown branch of the Lethbridge Public Library recently. Missing from the photo is winner Kelaine Devine.

LETHBRIDGE HERALDabeeber@lethbridgeherald.com

Four local artists will have their work showcased on the design of new library cards.

The designs will debut at Lethbridge Public Library locations early in the new year.

In the fall, the Lethbridge Public Library and Chinook Arch Library System invited artists to submit their designs for the new cards.

Artwork was selected from a wide range of age groups and the winners were determined after a review of more than 200 submissions.

The four winning designs show a variety of images reflecting Lethbridge and southern Alberta.

Winners were Lincoln Feyter, Ava Lupton, Brooklyn Chelle and Kelaine Devine.

The winners were announced Friday at the downtown branch of the library.

Michelle Dyke, senior manager of Public Services at the library, said the last time library cards were updated was back in 2018. So a competition was staged for artists to create new designs. The competition was open from kindergarten to adult, with a focus on school-aged artists, Dyke said.

“They made our work hard to come up with a new design,” noted Dyke.

Winners were chosen based on designs that celebrated the beauty of southern Alberta. And the library also wanted to see what was important to the participants as artists.

They also had to consider whether designs would work as a card-sized image.

“That’s one of the things we had to take into consideration, too. We had some beautiful artwork but realizing once it collapses, it’s not going to be terribly visible so it had to be collapsible and beautiful at the same time,’ said Dyke.

The new cards could be in circulation for years, said Dyke.

“It depends on when we decide to do the next integration of our cards.” But Dyke said the timeframe will likely be shorter than five years.

“COVID had an impact on how long things got spread out in the last little bit. We’re looking forward to maybe trying it in a couple of years time. We may do it a little differently but we want to engage the community and have them involved in their library.”

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