The newest exhibit at the Leighton Art Centre will celebrate artistic interpretations of the human form.

Calgary artist Aaron Sidorenko, who specializes in figurative and portrait work, is curating the exhibit, called Bodies of Work.

He says the idea for this event grew from a successful similar exhibition held in Calgary last year. While many commerical galleries and museums specialize in showings of conceptual, landscape or abstract art, he says it was time to showcase the talents of figurative and portrait artists from our area, and the initiatives have been well-received.

"There's so much great talent in so many areas, like comic books, or film or photography, that we're all using the figure as subject," Sidorenko says. "Let's congeal and make this our thing and it's snowballed incredibily."

Bodies of Work features 35 works of two- and three-dimensional art, from paintings to sculpture to textiles, from 25 artists. He says the exhibit offers visitors a chance to be confronted by art in a unique way.

"People should come out to see that there's more to art and be challenged more by being confronted with a stare back," Sidorenko says. "A lot of these images are people looking back at them, and it's its own language, which is hard to put into writing or vocally, the sense of ease or unease or what is given in that exchange."

The opening reception for Bodies of Work is postponed due to the heavy snowfall forecast for this weekend and is now set for Saturday, March 10. Leighton Art Centre is located west of Okotoks on 266 Avenue West.