to Sept 22nd. An impressive collection of painted and drawn portraits by Maurice Spira spanning more than 40 years, many of which will be exhibited to the public for the first time. Spira conducts his portrait sessions live with no camera mediation used, and his hope with this particular exhibition is that it will inspire young artists to draw directly from life. His considerable archive of portraits often depicts local people in our community, some now deceased, but most very much alive. Spira goes one step further than replication of what the eye sees and undertakes an expressive examination of each subject. His portraits represent a balance between this expressive examination, reality, and truth.
Join us for the opening reception Saturday, Aug. 31st, 2pm – 4pm. All are welcome!
Join us on Saturday, August 31st, 2pm – 4pm to meet the artist Maurice Spira at the opening reception of his exhibition M. Spira Portraits. All are welcome to join us to learn more about this exhibition!
This exhibition features an impressive collection of painted and drawn portraits by Maurice Spira spanning more than 40 years, many featuring local members of the community exhibited to the public for the first time. Born in Kent, England, Spira came to Montreal in 1966, where he describes the psychoactive enriched counter-cultural milieu as having transformed him utterly. After painting in Mexico in the mid-seventies he moved to Vancouver and then to the Sunshine Coast in the early 1980’s. More than thirty years later he continues to paint and print in his Roberts Creek Studio.
Illustrating narratives around the history and life cycles of the North coast of BC, Jeff Wilson’s exhibition is inspired by his time spent immersed in the landscapes of BC’s coast during his 2023 Cassiar Cannery Long Art Residence. The North coast economy has long revolved around natural resource exploitation and trade, leaving the area susceptible to changes largely out of the control of its residents, and creating a particular and unique history of boom and bust economics. Wilson’s large scale acrylic paintings illustrate how this boom and bust pattern expresses itself in a natural and built legacy unique to BC’s coasts.
Join us for the Opening Reception on Saturday August 3rd, 2pm – 4pm. All are welcome!
Watershed explores the primal landscapes of high mountain passes and headwaters, illustrating the awe inspiring yet fragile nature of these water towers and emphasizing the need to protect and preserve them. As life giving water falls as rain or snow it slowly accumulates in mountaintops as glaciers, gathering on the passes to flow as rivers, or collecting in alpine basins to feed small tarns and rills. Through acrylic paintings and 3D models Marczak finds a beauty and poetry in these small beginnings where life giving water falls and life starts, and calls for action to protect these vital resources in the face of climate change.
Join us for the Opening Reception on Saturday, August 3rd, 2pm – 4pm. All are welcome!
Join us for the opening reception of North By Northwest by Jeff Wilson on Saturday, August 3rd, 2pm – 4pm. All are welcome to attend!
Illustrating narratives around the history and life cycles of the North coast of BC, Jeff Wilson’s exhibition is inspired by his time spent immersed in the landscapes of BC’s coast observing the particular and unique history and effects of boom and bust economics. Originally from Edinburgh, Scotland, Jeff Wilson trained as a structural geologist and worked in mineral exploration before settling in Vancouver. Working as a full-time artist since 2013, Wilson has exhibited his work in solo exhibitions throughout BC, Alberta, and Washington State, and in group exhibitions in BC, Washington State, and Italy.
Join us for the Opening Reception of Watershed by Suzan Marczak on Saturday, August 3rd, 2pm – 4pm. All are welcome to attend!
Marczak’s exhibition Watershed explores the primal landscapes of high mountain passes and headwaters, illustrating the awe inspiring yet fragile nature of these water towers and emphasizing the need to protect and preserve them. Suzan Marczak has exhibited her work in solo and group exhibitions throughout the Lower Mainland and in Quebec. Marczak holds a Bachelors of Fine Arts from Emily Carr University and a Diploma in Studio Art from Capilano College. She is an avid hiker based in Vancouver who is creatively guided by the changing seasons, the light, the amazing forms and shapes, and the cycles of life in the backcountry.
Join us for the opening reception of Present Tense on Saturday, June 29th, 2pm – 4pm. All are welcome to attend to help us celebrate the participating artists and the creativity in our community!
Present Tense is a popular annual exhibition running June 27th – July 28th. All GPAG members have been invited to submit one piece of art in any medium or theme, including paintings, photographs, drawings, prints, mixed media, sculpture, fibre arts, wood work, and more! In addition to Present Tense in the Main Gallery and Eve Smart Gallery, artists have also been invited to submit up to six pieces of artwork to our Members’ Tiny Exhibition in Joe’s Lounge. Come check out both Present Tense and the Members’ Tiny Exhibition during the opening reception on the 29th!
Co-Curators Candace Campo xets’emits’a, a shíshálh artist and founder of Talasay Tours, Sandy Buck, a Métis artist and co-founder of Deer Crossing The Art Farm, plus collaborating artists and friends present Preparing for the Potlach, an exhibition at GPAG from May 30th – June 23rd. Preparing for the Potlatch is about coming together to explore art as community. The growth, expression and sharing of art is communal and a collective representation that also honours the person practicing art. If we support and celebrate the creation, the work of the artist, it is a gift we all receive, and the art as visual story is our story.
Opening reception and community barbecue: Thursday, May 30th 5pm – 7pm
Meet the artists Tam Harrington (Fashion, A Complex Relationship) and Linda Suffidy (Strata) Saturday February 17th from 2 pm – 4 pm. We hope you will join us for conversation and light refreshments. All are welcome!
Tam Harrington is an artist and educator living on the Sunshine Coast. She is a transdisciplinary artist whose practice includes installation art, research, collaboration, assemblage sculpture and painting, drawing, photography, ephemeral art, fiber arts, and performance.
Linda Suffidy is a Vancouver based artist who has exhibited throughout the lower mainland, in Edmonton, Kelowna, Bulgaria, and Dubai. The enormity of time past and contemplating the countless generations of life that have come into being are themes explored in Suffidy’s artistic practice.
The debut of Artifact’s new Autumn Skye Showroom, and explore the main gallery, featuring many other local artists and artisans (painters, jewellers, weavers, carvers, and apothecaries)
Show will remain on display for the month and ongoing, with new work by all artist exhibited regularly.
Artifact Gallery open Wed-Sat 11-5pm (stay tuned for special Extended Holiday Hours)
Plus Virtual Artist Talk Aug 13, 2-3pm on FB.
3 textile artists from 3 different corners of the world explore what “this place” means to them. They explore the unique characteristics of where they live and work and their connection to these distinctive settings. @hedges.madeleine from Australia @edwinamackinnon from the UK, and Catherine Nicolls @ravensthread from Gibsons, Canada, each look at what connects them to their individual places, how they perceive and experience their environment and the emotional attachments of belonging to “this place”.
