During Canada Day weekend, Charlottetown will welcome an innovative and inspiring artistic Canada 150 Signature Project called ART EXPRESS'D/ART EXPRIMÉ from the Winnipeg Art Gallery.

Evin Collis, the traveling artist, envisions participants will collectively transform a shipping container and bring to life a raucous, whimsical rail car by creating and animating the art studio-installation of the travelling "Voyageur Express." A medley of characters will be built from papier mâché that can embody anyone or anything during a cross-Canada railroad journey. Participants will create drawings, paintings, and contribute to the papier mâché characters traveling inside the mobile art studio. Evin will compile animations and images from the journey comprising of the participants’ drawings, paintings, photographs and words that are synchronized with audio recordings of participants sharing their personal ideas, stories, poems, songs and anecdotes.

The public is invited to participate in this free initiative at The Guild, 111 Queen Street, from June 29 - July 1, 11 a.m. to 5 p.m.

This unique project is part of a national initiative highlighting the country's natural geography and its linguistic and cultural diversity, while speaking to Canada's deeply-rooted history of travel, transport, exploration, and communication. ART EXPRESS'D/ART EXPRIMÉ will unite Canadians from coast to coast to coast using three, 20-foot metal shipping containers transformed into travelling art studios/galleries, creating an art "voyage" across the entire country throughout the summer of 2017. The three routes will traverse every province and territory via train, truck, and cargo ship, stopping for four to five days at a time in 16 communities, ultimately converging in the geographical centre of the country, Winnipeg.

Evin Collis, the project artist and facilitator, is a multi-disciplinary artist and art educator from Winnipeg, Manitoba. He creates paintings, drawings, sculptures, and stop-motion animations that investigate the complexities of history, identity, survival, and the degraded landscape. Much of his fascination with these subjects stems from his past experiences as a porter on the Canadian trans-continental railroad, and while working as an interpreter at a historical Hudson’s Bay Company trading fort. He holds a Master of Fine Arts from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago (2016), and a Bachelor of Fine Arts from the OCAD University (2010).

For more information on the project, visit: http://canada150.wag.ca/For more information on the City of Charlottetown’s Canada 150 celebrations, visit: www.charlottetown.ca