to Aug 15th. In the world of weaving sculptural forms with willow, two powerful – and at times disparate – influences come together.
Basketry is an ancient craft that has been practiced in virtually all human societies. Weavers then and now learn exacting techniques and styles to make their works useful and durable.
The pieces in this exhibit were inspired by Dawn’s daily walks in the forest and along the ocean shore, and the great diversity in Nature. Today the word “diversity” is used often in our ever-changing society. But before the word ever left a human’s lips, Nature had the concept perfected. Species, all species, are fully interdependent on their neighbours. Thus, Nature does not merely tolerate diversity, it thrives in it. It celebrates it. It stakes everything on it. Let us do the same.
Join us for an Artist Talk with Jeannette Sirois on Saturday, June 20th, 2pm – 3pm. Free to attend, no registration required. All are welcome!
Jeannette Sirois is a queer visual artist based on Salt Spring Island whose work focuses on representation, identity, and visibility. Sirois has exhibited her work in solo and group exhibitions across Vancouver Island and on the Lower Mainland. She holds a diploma in Design, a Bachelors of Fine Arts, and a Masters of Education in Visual Arts. Beyond her own individual artistic practice, Sirois also mentors visual arts students and collaborates with emerging artists and curators on exhibitions intended to foster dialogue and connection. At the Table | The Architecture of Control is a portrait-based exhibition highlighting the lived experiences, identities, and truths of 2SLGBTQIA+ individuals, and examining the structures and systems that have regulated and defined trans and queer lives.
In our final week of Traversing the Tip of the Iceberg, join exhibiting artists Carolina Franzen and Helena Wadsley in a closing artist talk. Meet the artists and gain more insight into the exhibiting works, which include mixed media, drawings, video, and sculptures on the themes of walking and water.
Of Course This Hurts is a photography project that intimately documents the toxic drug supply crisis through the lives of people who are being impacted by this public health emergency. The images explore love, grief, bodily autonomy, trauma, and healing, as experienced by drug policy activists, frontline workers, people who use drugs, and their family members in British Columbia, where overdose is the leading cause of death for people aged 10-59.
Naguala is an immersive video and sound installation that explores the rich Mexican tradition of nagualismo—a spiritual and cultural worldview rooted in communication, transformation, and interconnection. The installation reimagines the boundaries between the human and non-human, inviting viewers into the realm of the Naguala, where animals, plants, earth, cosmos, and ancestral spirits intertwine.
Helena Wadsley and Carolina Franzen, both Sunshine Coast residents, have adopted a diverse tradition of Walking Art into their practices. Engaged with the challenges posed by land use, and in order to find alternative relations to the land, their inspiration for drawings, sculptures, and video comes through periods of intense physical contact to the environment; be it that objects found in the landscape may be contextually sculpted so that their meaning and history remains connected with the land, be it that a slow pace allows them to witness and to create through acts of acknowledgment and connectivity. Both artists’ drawings tread the lines of the land between natural and human-made, and yet, their sculptures, found objects, and video works have a second threshold in common: to record the walking experience while enabling the visitor to traverse with them.
Order of Canada recipient Michael Robinson will present his entertaining memoir about his community consultation work with Indigenous people to safeguard traditional resources. Texada Seniors Centre. For more information contact Mark at mmerlino@prpl.ca
April 17 and 24, 6pm – 9pm. How do you print IN the box? How do you play OUT of the box? A two session print workshop with Saskia Jetten. Practice a series of small print exercises that you can also build on in your own time to play, get unstuck, generate ideas, and get your creative process flowing. Sessions are on Fridays April 17 & April 24, from 6pm – 9pm each day. Tickets are $165 for both sessions with a discount for GPAG Members. There is a max. of 10 people, so register online via EventBrite soon!
Saskia Jetten is a contemporary fine artist and printmaker who gratefully resides in the swiya of the shíshálh Nation where she operates a printshop and artist studio. Continually exploring boundaries of printmaking with drawing at the base of it, Saskia has exhibited internationally and received numerous prizes and grants. She immigrated in 2012, mid-career, from the Netherlands to the Canadian West Coast to build upon her experience and skills, shake up, broaden and challenge her views and art practice. Saskia nourishes the roots from both worlds in her being. Her art work touches on themes related to theatre, identity, and interpersonal relationships. The print-based work balances between fine and applied arts and takes shape in traditional prints on paper, hand printed shawls and scarves to print-based installations and animation. A broad experience of over 30 years (international) teaching printmaking and fine art completes her practice.
Celebrate Printmaking on The Coast! The exhibition launched our new print media studio at the Arts Centre, and celebrates the rich community of practice that thrives locally. Come celebrate with us this new offering as we close out this exhibition!
The exhibition shares the breadth of approaches to printmaking, with a focus on storytelling the materials and processes involved. We have invited artists to share work that expresses the diversity of print forms, and included here are woodblocks, lithography, etchings, gel printing, textile printing and so many others.
Come celebrate with us!
Sixteen-year-old blues prodigy and his band will be back in Gibsons to rock the roof off at the Heritage Playhouse. Inspired by rock and blues heroes Stevie Ray Vaughan, Jimi Hendrix and Pink Floyd, classic blues and rock faves with a Gen Z edge and many of their own signature songs. The Nanaimo band has already earned international acclaim at the Memphis Blues Festival and are on track to go places in 2026.
A fundraiser to benefit the Heritage Playhouse.
Join us for the Opening Receptions of our three newest exhibitions on Sat. January 17th, 2pm – 4pm. All are welcome!
All are welcome to join us at the Opening Receptions of Portals to Elsewhere by Amy Dyck in the Main Gallery, Three Ways Home by Matthew Boismier, Cambria Logan, and Eva Taylor in the Eve Smart Gallery, and The Four Seasons of Chapman Creek Estuary (ts’úkw’um) by Tessa Carter in Joe’s Lounge, on Saturday, January 17th, 2pm – 4pm.
to Nov 8th. The exhibition “Poetics of the Discarded” is a series of paintings and multi-media installations that explore the relationship between material consumption and natural existence, breathing new life into abandoned objects and daily waste by intertwining them with natural elements like forests, rivers, mountains, and oceans.
