Recent Exhibitions
Gallery events and art shows
Locality: Space and Time
July/Aug/Sept
The summer show at Artful : The Gallery saw a curated collection of 8 eclectic local artists, gathered together under one theme: location, location, location!
Art can have a particular way of speaking to the question of “Where am I?” Here, there, nowhere, somewhere…each piece represents a unique space and time, a melding of past, present and future. As the worlds of artist and viewer collide with curiosity and connection, the air at the intersection is palpable, and inhaling fills you with the recognition of "ahhhh….this moment, this place.”
Marvelous Memoirs
Adele Irving and Sheila Norgate
Two Island authors have productively used Covid to bring their memoirs to press. Adele Irving and Sheila Norgate have both taken years (and years!) to bring their efforts to completion, and luckily for us, neither of them gave up. Two different stories, two different worldviews, two talented women courageously and vulnerably sharing their life stories for our entertainment, for our edification, and to inspire our own self-examination.
I have a few copies of both books at Artful : The Gallery
as well if you’re looking for a good read.
Poet and interviewer, Paul E. Nelson, was the feature poet at Artful’s Open Mic. Nelson is one of the co-founders, and current director, of the Cascadia Poetics LAB and the Cascadia Poetry Festival, and a professional journalist that has created over 600 hours of interview programming with legendary poets (yes, Allen Ginsberg is on the list!) and whole systems activists. Nelson is engaged in a 20-year bioregional cultural investigation of Cascadia, and lives in Rainier Beach, in the Cascadia bioregion’s Cedar River watershed. He writes an American Sentence everyday.
Paul E. Nelson
Cascadia Poetics LAB
Balloons, Cartoons
and Lampoons
May/June 2022
Daniel Needham's exquisite craftsmanship elevates his disdain for the sacred…well...to the level of sacred.
Describing his work as post-catholic, Needham now derives great pleasure in re-interpreting and re-illustrating biblical tales to deliver a more humanist (and humorous) version. Needham is not apathetic to his religious upbringing and sees that his mission is to re-illustrate the stories of Catholicism, making post-Catholic work for the next millennia.
Heading 6
Transitions:
More Than Paint
April/May 2022
Transitions: More Than Paint is the visual record of the lifetimeof Victoria artist Virginia Whitehead. Documenting half a century of artistic production this retrospective summation culminates with her prolific pandemic production of the Angles of Healing Series.
Created within the time capsule of Covid, Angles of Healing illustrates Whitehead’s exploration of trauma and healing, both personal and collective, through the timeless and universal symbol of the hand.
May 6th, 2022
Richard Olafson, Founder and Publisher of Ekstasis Editions and the Pacific Rim Review of Books, finished off his 40th Anniversary Island Tour: The Death and Rebirth of Critical Thinking, here at Artful : The Gallery.
The event marked the launch of Sean Arthur Joyce's 'Words From The Dead' and the gallery piano got some love from jazz singer Carol Sokoloff during the event.
Words From The Dead
Book Launch
Man Alive!
January/February/March 2022
Artful : The Gallery opened the 2022 exhibition series with a curated collection of four exceptional Vancouver Island artists; Leonard Butt, Gary Dillon, Bill Friesen and Jeff Hartbower. Each presented their own vision of man, through sculpture and painting. Utilizing the rich context of history, archetypes, memories and lifespan, each piece speaks volumes on how men, at least these men, are reflecting on what it means to be a man.
Cover Up : Artist Talk
Damian John spoke to a (Covid constricted) full house at Artful on the evening of November 18th, having just managed to get to the coast before BC highways descended into flooding chaos.
The full talk was recorded and can be watched if you are interested in seeing more of the show and hearing Damian speak to his work.
Cover Up
October/November/December 2021
Cover Up, by Tl’azt'en artist Damian John, is an exploration of the cultural genocide perpetuated by church and state; british empire, canadian government, protestant and catholic churches.
It moves us toward the underbelly of things, places we prefer to hide away from.
“As humans, the best thing we do is create beauty.” Damian believes that through the act of creation we get better, and that we can work on this relational space between us, creating art as an invocation to relationship.
Maiden Mother & Crone
July/August/September 2021
Maiden Mother & Crone spoke to two themes. First, the ongoing disparities in the art world, well documented by the Guerrilla Girls. In our public art institutions, just over 10% of the artists, according to their “weenie counts”… that’s about a 7% increase in just under 40 years. Unless of course one is naked…then women represent 85% of the nudes on display.
I'm a woman, and an artist, and I just made the whole damn show about women. It wasn’t even difficult.
Secondly, this exhibition sought to examine the tropes of womanhood, and gazing around the space one is struck by the humanity of this show. The gallery full of women, all kinds of women: strong, vulnerable, celebratory, sorrowful, introspective, and challenging.
The summer was spent in good company!
Eros
Jan/Feb/Mar 2021
Eros : Out of the Darkness and Into the Light
A curated collection of paintings and drawings featuring the work of Gary Dillon and an excellent cast of supporting artists.
Eros represents the generative, creative life instinct; desire, love, sex, vitality and profound creativity. 2021 was ushered in with a life-affirming, sensual celebration of the erotic.
A toast to 2021…and to life!
Bikes & Barbies
April/May/June 2021
Mark Henderson’s graphic works represent the formatting, display, and packaging of information that pervade our culture. His fascination with information, its' manipulation, and subsequent interpretation that shapes our opinions and behaviours resonates throughout his art.
Whether Mark is designing large painting panels or building custom bike frames, Marks’ satirical sensibility results in jarring absurdity as we look into the mirror of our world. Information overload influences his work in the form of misconstrued meanings, encoded messages, and brain overload, all the while we seek to be entertained.
Dancing Through Despair
Dec 2020
Two Vancouver Island artists have joined forces for an intriguing juxtaposition of their art, bringing together their diverse styles for an entertaining and lively exhibition.
Each has come to art via the circuitous route of their full lives. A lifetimes worth of travel, creativity and varied interests has led them to now and they are emphatically ‘Still up for it!’ Bringing the work of these two artists together has created a dynamic and fascinating narrative, every bit as engaging as the two friends in conversation.
Naked...Act II
November 2020
Kristina Campbell's 'Sappho Series', large scale, oil on wood panel, figure paintings inspired by the Greek Poet Sappho.
Wesley Clark's 'Derivative Women' Series utilizing the distinctive styles of some great historical artists to inspire these nude portraits of women.
Naked...as in Vulnerability
Sept/Oct 2020
Featuring Victoria artist Lisa Hebden's 'Swimmer' series and including works by Wesley Clark and Kristina Campbell.
Three talented BC artists exploring the human form in all its naked vulnerability.
The Vikings are here!
June/July/Aug 2020
Artists Kristina Campbell and Wesley Clark time travel for current inspirations from ancient civilizations and mythologies.
A modern interpretation of the art through the millenia.
And the Gallery opens!
May 2020
Artful's opening had been scheduled for March of 2020...
we plan and the Gods laugh.
Artful opened its doors without much fanfare in May of 2020.