Three Canadian Artists to Travel to Europe — One Returns to Her Mother’s Hometown for the First Time

(Hohenstein-Ernstthal, Germany – September 2025) — More than twenty Canadian artists from British Columbia’s Okanagan and Shuswap regions will showcase their work this fall in Germany and the Czech Republic as part of Try Walking in May Shoes, an international cultural initiative within the European Capital of Culture Chemnitz 2025 program.

Their visual art, theatre, poetry, and film reinterpret the Ore Mountains (Erzgebirge/Krušné hory) through Canadian perspectives — exploring imagination, migration, cultural memory, and our connection to the environment.

The opening exhibition, You May Dream in HOT, launches September 20 in Hohenstein-Ernstthal, the birthplace of celebrated German author Karl May. Installations and artworks will line Dresdner Straße in shop windows and cultural spaces, remaining on view through mid-December.

Three Artists to Attend — One Returns to Family Roots

Aj jaeger, Destanne Norris, and Krystyna Laycraft will represent the Canadian contingent in person, participating in creative workshops, a theatre parade, and the exhibition opening.

Destanne Norris and aj jaeger

For Vernon-based aj jaeger, the journey holds deep personal significance: her mother was born in Hohenstein-Ernstthal, marking AJ’s first visit to her ancestral hometown. “We’re not just bringing Canadian perspectives to Europe,” jaeger says. “We’re bringing personal stories full circle — woven through memory, stories, and creative transformation.”

Destanne Norris, also from Vernon, known for her evocative landscape paintings, created a piece inspired by a free-roaming goat from the German-Czech Ore Mountains, now commemorated by a local statue. “This mountain goat — wild, independent, and remembered — became a symbol of freedom, survival, and return for me,” Norris shares.

Krystyna Laycraft, a physicist-turned-artist from Armstrong, BC, contributes a philosophical, nature-based perspective, exploring inner transformation through layered mixed media.

 Public Events in Hohenstein-Ernstthal:

• Sept 16–20: Theatre workshop May Be Hero in HOT, led by Tereza Zemanová & Lucie Tallerová
• Sept 18–20, 2–6 PM: Open studio sessions at Treffpunkt Magnet (public welcome)
• Sept 20, 16:00: Theatre parade You May Parade through town
• Sept 20, 17:00: Exhibition opening You May Dream in HOT, Dresdner Straße 26
• Sept 21, 16:00: Public roundtable with Canadian guests, co-hosted by the Embassy of Canada in Berlin

Another exhibition of BC art will follow on October 21 in Chomutov.

Try Walking in May Shoes is a Czech-German-Canadian collaboration inviting artists and audiences to reimagine place from the outside in — echoing Karl May’s spirit of imagined travels. The project continues this fall in Chomutov, Czech Republic, with new installations and performances.

Participating artists:
Bree Apperley (Kelowna), Raj Jan (Kelowna), Ziyba Ibragimova (Salmon Arm), AJ Jaeger (Vernon), Reg Kienast (Armstrong), Krystyna Laycraft (Armstrong), John Lawrence (Armstrong), Patrick Lundeen (Kelowna), Stephen Lytton (Vancouver), Julie Oakes (Vernon), Delores Purdaby (Salmon Arm), Patricia Purdaby (Salmon Arm), Jacquie Sharpe (Larch Hills), Patricia L. Smith (Salmon Arm), Cathy Stubbington (Enderby), Kenten Thomas (Enderby), Calvin White (Salmon Arm), Sarah Wiens (Salmon Arm), Deborah Wilson (Vernon), Rosalind Williams (Enderby), Isabelle Gervais (Salmon Arm), Angela Hansen (Lake Country), Destanne Norris (Vernon), Bradley Norrish (Sorrento)

Project organizers and partners:
Redpond.cz, Ženský spolek, z. s. (Women’s Association), Silberbüchse e. V., Chomutov Regional Museum, Municipality of Hohndorf, Atelierhaus Kühnhaide, Karl May Haus Hohenstein-Ernstthal, Lucatisk printing house. Workshops will be led, among others, by the Klement Slavický Art School from Kadaň.

 Project financial supporters:
European Capital of Culture Chemnitz 2025, Ústecký Region, Czech-German Future Fund, Via Foundation, Redpond.cz, Embassy of Canada in Berlin