Each year the Gallery puts a call out to artists of all kinds to submit three artworks, all priced under $500. This exhibition receives interest from artisans, crafters, and visual artists working in all media from across British Columbia.

“No one decides to become homeless and addicted. These people are fathers, mothers, sisters, brothers, and our children. This is a mental health issue, not a criminal one, and has nothing to do with morality. I just watched a documentary on the drug crisis. Twice as many people have died of drug overdoses during the Covid pandemic, then all the people who have died from Covid. This gave me a sense of the scale of the drug crisis we are facing all over the world. I felt compelled to paint not just my story, but that of all the other’s struggling with the never ending cycle of addiction.”

“Just like the branches of the trees, routes of the rivers, and the paths the wind creates on the sand, curved spines are beautiful. They each have a story to tell.“

- Saghi Ehteshamzadeh holds a Bachelor of Cinema Studies from the Art University of Tehran and is currently enrolled in the Arts and Entertainment Management Program at Capilano University in North Vancouver.

In talking about the intent behind the exhibition Laurie writes, “Figurative art can be a form of claiming your space, whatever your space may be. Creating a presence - or even an absence of presence. The viewer is forced to acknowledge the presence of the figure, the person. Historically, artists like Alexandre Cabanel like to paint aesthetically pleasing things, and that is extended to the figures— hence, the “the male gaze”. Think of the many historical paintings in which the youthful woman is the focal subject, often for the rich, male patron of the artist. Contemporary figurative art has broken away from the powerful, the rich, the white man, or the beautiful, flawless maiden as a subject, but incorporating the contemporary world we live in, full of diversity. Black, Indigenous, Asian, queer, body positive and/or disabled figures are spotlighted.”

Using the works of three of histories best known printmakers this exhibition explores how the art of printmaking became one of the most democratic disciplines of art by allowing more accessible to the general public.

Southern Cross: A Novel of the South Seas, is a stunning wordless novel told in 118 wood engravings by the Canadian artist Laurence Hyde in protest to the tests of the hydrogen bomb made by the United States at the Bikini Atoll in 1946.

This exhibition is focused on the incredible work done by two of the leading artist collectives from Oaxaca, Mexico comprised of young art students and street artists. They employ multiple mediums including wood and linoleum block prints, large-scale graffiti murals, interventionist stencils, and wheat pastes.

Young collectors will be escorted into a gallery space designed especially for them. Inside the room will be Gallery staff to assist with selecting their chosen artwork. Then in the second week of this program, the gallery will also open for the young at heart (ages 13-99) to choose from the original artworks in the gallery.

The Penticton art Gallery is proud to host the annual local high school exhibition once again. The exhibit will host works by artists in grade nine through twelve from Penticton Secondary School, Princess Margaret Secondary School, and Summerland Secondary School.

“’From a Bird’s eye view’ is about the beauty of the land, specifically the Okanagan region. This monumental beauty that surrounds us creates in me a strong feeling of gratefulness which in turn propels me to give back by sharing my vision in my work.” said Deselliers, describing her inspiration.

“Self-Preservation” features a combination of sculptures and collages representing a health battle Danielle went through in June of 2020.

"Migration Parade: Holon" is a work that holds a kind of luminous, safe, altered space of inquiry for feeling, thinking, and being in collectives. It explores the individual within the collective and the collective within the individual. It carves out an abstract and sensorial space to explore these phenomena, free of semantic entanglements or polarized political analyses, yet including them as a line of inquiry in the research.

Ari Neufeld will be joining our featured exhibits during the time of the Ignite the Arts Festival in the Toni Onley Gallery. Ari is a second generation British Columbian, raised by missionary parents.

We are thrilled to be able to host Mia Harris in the Penticton Art Gallery over the month of February as our Artist in Residency as she continues to develop the Vocal Improvisation and Motion-activated Electroacoustic Sound Interaction (VIMES Interaction) Project.

In the spring of 2018 the much loved Dr. Michael Sime was recognized by the Penticton arts community at the annual Penticton and District Community Arts Council’s Arts Awards Gala with their highest honour, the lifetime achievement award for his contributions to the development and support of the arts community here in the South Okanagan.