Oak Bay Avenue’s Gage Gallery Collective welcomes the two new exhibitions this spring featuring artists Kirsten Brand and Deirdre Kelly.
“Inspired by the amazing hardiness of desert botanicals and the stark contrast to our coastal landscapes,” Brand’s Desert Spring exhibition runs March 14 to April 1. Join the gallery for an opening reception Sunday, March 19, from 1 to 4 p.m.
Sketchbook by Deirdre Kelly is an open book about her artistic process, featuring sketches, photographs and drawings alongside works they have inspired in acrylic, oil and mixed media. From April 4 to 22, take in Kelly’s sophisticated, yet naive, style and exuberant use of colour that combine to create images that boldly tell their own stories.
At Oak Bay’s Avenue Gallery, enjoy the new “knot” series by Dorothée Rosen, through March 15, while at Eclectic Gallery, a nautical theme has emerged spontaneously among several artists in its Winter Salon show, continuing through March 31. From driftwood boats by Victoria artist Jean Hutton containing bits of poetry on the pennant sails to oils on canvas from Naomi Grindlay and Peter Dowgailenk, the sea is close at hand throughout the gallery.
Winchester Galleries concludes its exhibit of work by Sorel Etrog, Evolution of the Figure, through March 18 before closing for spring break.
Accompanying Etrog’s sculpture are works on paper by Yves Gaucher, Ann Kipling, Harold Klunder, Jean McEwen and Jean Paul Riopelle.
Newly opened at the Bateman Centre, on the Inner Harbour, is Urban Nature: the Demand to be Seen, a collection of 30 original photographs by Birgit Freybe Bateman, exploring nature as it exists in our urban landscape. Through her photography, Bateman examines the colours, patterns, textures and light in the world around her, showing nature in conjunction with the everyday objects.
Downtown Victoria’s West End Gallery welcomes spring with bright new paintings by Claudette Castonguay, showing March 11 to 23.
A self-taught painter, Castonguay is known for painting with spontaneity, sensitivity and humour in a distinct, recognizable style.
In this latest collection she expands her repertoire of inspiration using a pastel colour palette and vivid imagination.
Ready for spring and the warmer days ahead she captures blooming flowers, charming countryside villages and bustling parties.
Join West End for an opening reception Saturday, March 11 from 1 to 4 p.m.
On View Street, Madrona Gallery presents an exhibition of Important Historic Canadian Art March 11 to 25. Take in work by leading Canadian artists of the 20th century including members of the Group of Seven, E.J. Hughes, Takao Tanabe Jack Shadbolt, Maxwell Bates,Toni Onley, Gordon Smith, Robert Pilot, H. G. Glyde, Joseph Plaskett and others.
Curated by Madrona Gallery director Michael Warren, this exhibition celebrates a rich history of art making in Canada.
Join the gallery for an opening reception Saturday, March 11 from 1 to 4 p.m.
Also downtown, Open Space presents Awakening Memory, an exhibition featuring Coast Salish artists Sonny Assu, lessLIE and Marianne Nicolson March 24 to April 29.
Designed through a collaborative process about remembering the role of art within Indigenous communities, Awakening Memory made use of a creative method for Indigenous people to engage with objects that ‘belong’ to them.
In response to this process, each artist created new artworks, which are part of the exhibition.
Join the gallery for the opening Friday, March 24 at 7:30 p.m., with an artist’s talk Saturday, March 25.