Unexpected

The Life and Art of Sophie Pemberton, Canadian Artist

Victoria-born and raised, Sophie Pemberton was the middle daughter, her father’s favourite, and a determined personality. Despite episodes of debilitating illnesses and family tragedies, she pursued a serious international artistic career with paintings exhibited at the Royal Academy and Paris Salon. A portraitist by training, she was also a landscape painter of great talent. Through her international connections and friendships forged at art school in England and France with the advantages of birth and position, Pemberton aimed to become a professional artist, a career not readily accomplished by a woman at this time in history.

The Street

The urban street has been an important source of inspiration for artists since the Renaissance, and it remains one of the primary sites for the production and enactment of culture in the world today.

While Black

A forum for speculation on what the gallery can’t hold

While Black: a forum for speculation on what the gallery can’t hold is a multi-year series of forums, talks, and public presentations developed and organized by Black curators from across Canada in conversation with artists to consider both the limits and possibilities of the relationship between contemporary art spaces in Canada and Black art, artists, […]

Symbiosis

Fascinations with the mushroom form and functions have shaped creative imaginations and scientific ideas for generations. Symbiosis gathers interdisciplinary contemporary artists located in British Columbia, across Canada and internationally who have produced work that explore forest ecologies and musings about mushrooms. The symbiotic relationships between fungi and boreal realms have co-dependent networks that are essential […]

Heart of the House

Art & the West Coast Modern Home

This exhibition highlights a selection of art and objects associated with West Coast modernism and the domestic interior from the mid twentieth-century. The works included come from the AGGV’s permanent collection as well as selected private collections. The exhibition considers these works of art as integral to the concept of modern living that developed in mid-century British Columbia, whether part of a fully integrated interior or simply objects made and enjoyed by artists and collectors active in the mid-20th century.

Woven In

Indigenous Women's Activism and Media

Throughout the generations, Indigenous women across Turtle Island have been at the heart of grassroots activism and resurgence. The role of women has been of vital importance since time immemorial – safeguarding homelands, nationhood, sovereignty, and culture – despite the shift towards patriarchy that started with colonization. Woven In celebrates the intergenerational continuum of grassroots leadership and anticolonial organizing led by women through advocacy, communications, artistry, and community initiatives.

GG Arts 2021

This exhibition, presented in collaboration with the Canada Council for the Arts, presents the work of the 2021 recipients of the Governor General’s Awards in Visual and Media Arts – Lou Lynn, Dempsey Bob, Bonnie Devine, Luc Courchesne, Cheryl L’Hirondelle, Bryce Kanbara, Lori Blondeau and Germaine Arnaktauyok.

6th Annual Tanabe Prize for BC Painters

The Art Gallery of Greater Victoria is proud to feature a spotlight on the 6th Annual Tanabe Prize for British Columbia painters exhibition 2022. Robert Burke was chosen for the prize as a mid-career artist and Rain Cabana-Boucher was chosen for the prize as an emerging artist.

Start Here

Kiyooka, Nakamura, Takashima, Tanabe

An introduction to the work and importance of four nisei (second generation Japanese Canadian) artists who built practices which have become significant parts of Canadian art history – opening in conjunction with a city wide arts symposium organized by the National Association of Japanese Canadians.