It was a family reunion at the private party celebrating the opening of the exhibition, No Roads Here: Corb Lund’s Alberta, at the Glenbow Museum in Calgary.
As Glenbow’s Artist in Residence, songwriter Corb Lund has curated a unique exhibition that is inspired by his music, framed by his interest in Alberta’s history and drawn from Glenbow’s, and his family’s, collections of art, artefacts and historical imagery.
One can only imagine the experience of seeing family memorabilia displayed beside museum treasures. At first Patty Lund, (Corb’s mom) was a bit overwhelmed but she cowgirl’d right up. “It’s kind of a compliment,” she commented, “and the Glenbow has done such a great job. They even framed some pictures I gave them.”
Nine of Corb’s songs were the starting point for the exhibit. “At first I wasn’t sure about making it too personal,” says Corb. “But the museum said, ‘No, we want it to be personal.”
The generous mix of museum and family pieces, coupled with excerpts of Corb’s lyrics, makes this a must-see exhibit.
“It was neat for me because the Lund family and the Ivins family have a parallel history from way back,” he explains. “Even my grandpa’s knew each other through rodeo before mom and dad met, so I have pretty consistent roots on both sides. I also didn’t realize how much stuff mom had lying around the house that was technically artefacts,” he laughs.
The exhibition, No Roads Here; Corb Lund’s Alberta runs Jan 26?–?Apr 28.