Category Archives: UVic Faculty and Alumni

Exhibitions that draw from the work of University of Victoria faculty, students and alumni.

Paul Walde: Weather Conditions

Sat Jan 17 to April 11, 2026

Curated by Dr. Carolyn Butler Palmer, Associate Professor of Art History and Visual Studies and Williams Legacy Chair at the University of Victoria.

Legacy Downtown | 630 Yates St.
Lekwungen Territory 

Paul Walde: Weather Conditions features two video installations: Of Weather (for Geoff Hendricks), 2018-2024, and Tom Thomson Centennial Swim, 2017, by interdisciplinary artist and University of Victoria Visual Arts Professor Paul Walde. Each artwork documents site-specific performances accompanied by original soundtracks also created by Walde. Prominent within the exhibition are large-scale photographic prints of cloudscapes from Of Weather (for Geoff Hendricks). Both installations transport weather conditions from their apparent distance in the natural world into the immediacy of the gallery space.

Walde’s artworks also pay homage to two art historical figures. Of Weather (for Geoff Hendricks) references the work of Geoffrey Hendricks (1931-2018), a member of Fluxus, who was nicknamed “Cloudsmith” for his long-term interest in depicting the sky and specifically clouds. Tom Thomson Centennial Swim of 2017 memorializes the life and death of Tom Thomson (1877-1917), a canonical figure in the history of Canadian landscape painting. In 1917, Thomson drowned while canoeing on Canoe Lake in Algonquin Park, Ontario. 

Image: Paul Walde, Of Weather (for Geoff Hendricks), 2018, photo by Laura Gildner.

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Weather Conditions Programs & Events 

Opening Reception – Paul Walde: Weather Conditions

Date: Date: Sat., January 17th, 2026 Time: 2:00 – 5:00pm

Location: Legacy Art Gallery Downtown

Join us at the Legacy Art Gallery Downtown for the opening event celebrating the exhibition Paul Walde: Weather Conditions curated by Williams Legacy Chair Dr. Carolyn Butler Palmer.

Performance 

Date: Sat., February 28th, 2026

Times: Two timed-entry slots available – Registration is required:

  • First Performance @ 1 pm (12:45 pm entry) – Register here
  • Second Performance @ 2 pm (1:45 pm entry) – Register here

Location: Legacy Art Gallery Downtown

Free & open to the public

Of Weather Movements: the pictures in the exhibition are activated by a team of art handlers in a performance based on motion-picture camera movements and editing techniques. 

Artist Talk with Paul Walde 

Date: Sat., March 14th, 2026

Time: Times: 1:00 – 2:00pm – Registration is required – Register here

Location: Legacy Art Gallery Downtown

Free and open to the public 

Join us for a talk by intermedia artist, composer, curator, and UVic Visual Arts Professor Paul Walde, whose exhibition Weather Conditions, is currently on view at Legacy.

Performance 

Date: Sat., March 28th, 2026

Times: Two timed-entry slots available – Registration is required:

  • First Performance @ 1 pm (12:45 pm entry) – Register here
  • Second Performance @ 2 pm (1:45 pm entry) – Register here

Location: Legacy Art Gallery Downtown

Free & open to the public

Of Weather Movements: a second activation of the Cloudworks accompanied by a live performance of the Of Weather music score by a string quartet.

nunuukʷin (we sing): (re)connecting to the natural and spiritual worlds through song 

September 18 – December 6, 2025

Legacy Downtown – Inner Gallery | 630 Yates St.
Lekwungen Territory

Curated by ḥapinyuuk, Dr. Tommy Happynook (huuʕiiʔatḥ /Huu-ay-aht First Nation), this exhibition is based on his personal connections to his homelands and ancestors. It explores nuučaan̓uł songs as methodology in the continued production of nuučaan̓uł knowledge and teachings that are integral in the continual transfer between humans (čaačaac̓iiʕasʔat, huuʕiiʔat, nuučaan̓ułat) and non-nuučaan̓uł peoples as well as between humans and the natural (ḥaḥuułi, čaačaac̓iiʕas) and the spiritual (yakʷiimit kʷiyiis nananiqsu) worlds.

Image: yaa yaa yaa waay yaa huu, 2023, ḥapinyuuk, Dr. Tommy Happynook (ḥuuʕiiʔatḥ, Canada). Yellow cedar rounds, elk hide, sinew, ink.

Credits: Vern Theroux at Pat Bay Leather supplied materials for the drums. Emily Thiessen at Wachaiy Studios did the screen printing. The drums were made by the artist.

  

Salish Lines

September 18 – December 6, 2025

Legacy Downtown | 630 Yates St.
Lekwungen Territory 

A selective retrospective of the art and life of SȾÁUTW̱ artist Doug LaFortune curated by Dr. Andrea N. Walsh. Since 1973, LaFortune has been working as an artist in several mediums, including carving, drawing, painting, and serigraphy. Several of his totem poles stand in Duncan, BC, and his welcome figures flank the entrance of First Peoples House at the University of Victoria. A carver for more than 40 years, Doug has been commissioned for various totem pole projects — large and small.

This exhibition will include an ‘archive’ of drawings dating back 40 years in which visitors to the gallery are invited to sit and meander through the decades of work.

Salish Lines Programming:

Doug LaFortune Limited Edition Print Signing and Sale

Dates: November 29, 2025, 1:00 – 4:00pm

Join us at the Legacy Art Gallery Downtown for a special opportunity to meet Doug LaFortune, who will be offering limited edition printer’s proof prints of his artwork—just in time for the holidays.

Enjoy light refreshments and take in the beautiful exhibition Salish Lines, before it closes on December 6th. Doug’s prints are stunning reflections of his artistry and Coast Salish heritage. Perfect for collectors and those who appreciate the beauty of Coast Salish art.

 

Family Curtain in Progress

Saturdays from 1:00 – 4:00pm 

Dates: Oct 18th, 25th and Nov 1st, 8th and 15th 2025

Location: Legacy Art Gallery Downtown

Visit Legacy Downtown on upcoming Saturday afternoons to engage with Salish Lines artist Doug LaFortune as well as Sarah Jim, Sydney Griffith from the Quw’utsun Nation (Cowichan) and Carmin Bear-Blomberg as they work together to create a family curtain for Doug’s son, Bear.

This project invites visitors to engage with Indigenous artists, witness their creative process, and experience the beauty of their practices firsthand. By opening the making process, the artists share not only their skills, but also the values of collaboration, teaching, and cultural continuity.

We welcome you to connect, ask questions, and be part of this meaningful moment as the curtain comes to life.

Fall Exhibitions Opening Event

In celebration of two new exhibitions: Salish Lines and nunuukʷin (we sing): (re)connecting to the natural and spiritual worlds through song.

Dates: Saturday, September 20, 2025

Time: 1:00 – 4:00 pm (doors open at 12:30 pm)

Location: Legacy Art Gallery Downtown

The afternoon will open with a welcome and opening prayer by Elders Terri Barnhard and Kathy LaFortune, with remarks from Curator Dr. Andrea N. Walsh and guest speakers on behalf of artists Doug LaFortune and ḥapinyuuk, Dr. Tommy Happynook. A reception with light refreshments will follow.

We hope you will join us in celebrating these extraordinary artists with their families.

Exhibitions Panel Discussion

Dates: Monday, September 22, 2025

Time: 11:30 am – 12:50 pm

Location: On the UVic campus – In the Cornett Building, Room B235

Join UVic’s Anthropology Department for this panel discussion with Doug LaFortune and ḥapinyuuk, Dr. Tommy Happynook (huuʕiiʔatḥ /Huu-ay-aht First Nation).

A part of the Colloquium Series, this panel discussion is moderated by Dr. Andrea N. Walsh in connection with the two upcoming exhibitions: Salish Lines andnunuukʷin (we sing): (re)connecting to the natural and spiritual worlds through song. Both exhibitions will be on display at Legacy Art Gallery Downtown September 18th – December 6th.

Doug LaFortune: (W̱SÁNEĆ/Tsawout First Nation)
ḥapinyuuk, Dr. Tommy Happynook (huuʕiiʔatḥ /Huu-ay-aht First Nation): Assistant Professor, Department of Anthropology, UVic.
Dr. Andrea N. Walsh: Associate professor, Smyth chair in arts & engagement, Department of Anthropology, UVic.

GEORGE CLUTESI: ḥašaḥʔap / ʔaapḥii  /  ʕac̓ik  /  ḥaaʔaksuqƛ  /  ʔiiḥmisʔap 

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April 16 – July 25, 2025

Legacy Downtown | 630 Yates St.
Lekwungen territory

GEORGE CLUTESI: ḥašaḥʔap / ʔaapḥii / ʕc̓ik  / ḥaaʔaksuqƛ / ʔiiḥmisʔap is an exploration of the life and legacy of artist, activist, and scholar George Clutesi. His life’s work left an indelible mark on the preservation and celebration of the Nuu-chah-nulth community’s cultural traditions and customs. Featuring an extensive collection of Clutesi’s artworks, the exhibition further honours his legacy through striking displays of archival photographs and news accounts, a documentary film about his long-lasting impact for residential school Survivors, and artworks from contemporary Nuu-chah-nulth artists and scholars inspired by Clutesi’s activism and scholarship. 

Participating artists include Hjalmer Wenstob (Tla-o-quiaht), Timmy Masso (Tla-o-quiaht), Marika Swan (Tla-o-quiaht), and Petrina Dezall (Mowachaht/Muchalaht). Participating University of Victoria scholars are Dr. Dawn Smith (Ehattesaht) and Dr. Tommy Happynook (Huu-ay-aht). 

The name of the exhibition, written in the c̓išaaʔatḥ language, honours Clutesi’s many celebrated traits: ḥašaḥʔap (keep, protective) / ʔaapḥii (generous) / ʕac̓ik (talented) / ḥaaʔaksuqƛ (strong willed) / ʔiiḥmisʔap (treasure). 

Listen to George Clutesi Interview “Person to Person” Show on CJAV Radio, March 3 1987. 93.3 The Peak, Formerly CJAV. Courtesy of Community Arts Council of the Alberni Valley.

Image: George Clutesi, The Storm, 1959, oil on canvas, private collection.

Exhibition Partners:

Visual Stories Lab Curatorial Collective: Andrea Naomi Walsh, Jennifer Claire Robinson, India Rael Young, and Raey Lee Costain (Department of Anthropology, University of Victoria). 

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Exhibition Supporters:

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tr̓ar̓ iʔ sʕax̌ʷip – interwoven roots

April 2, 2024 – May 31, 2025

Legacy Maltwood Gallery, lower level of the Mearns Centre for Learning – McPherson Library

Inspired by childhood memories shared by Elder Jane Stelkia of the Osoyoos Indian Band, tr̓ar̓ iʔ sʔax̌ʷip explores the artistic and cultural legacy of a group of sukʷnaʔqinx (Okanagan) youth who attended the Inkameep Day School on the Osoyoos Indian Reserve in the Okanagan Valley during the World War II era.

Members of the Osoyoos Indian Band featuring Taylor Baptiste, Jenna Bower, Jordan Polychroniou, Sheri Stelkia, and Dora Stelkia, join Smyth Chair in Arts & Engagement, Andrea Walsh, in an exploration of contemporary photographic/ sculptural installation, Indigenous curatorial practice, language revitalization, and creative research methods that deepen our understanding of history, and provide vital points of departure for cultural revitalization and growth.

Image: Photo by Taylor Baptiste.

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Victoria and Expressionism’s Second Wave: The Point Group

 January 11 — April 5, 2025

Legacy Downtown | 630 Yates St.
Lekwungen territory

Victoria and Expressionism’s Second Wave: The Point Group exhibition features works of art owned by the University of Victoria. This group of modernist artists emerged in 1959 and cultivated a sense of cohesion through exhibitions of their work at the Point Gallery on Fort Street. They held open space for modern art in Victoria, first initiated by Emily Carr and then picked up by the Society Limners. Although many group members had long and illustrious careers, the artwork that appears in this exhibition is contemporary with The Point Group’s active period — the 1960s.

Featured artists:

Robert de Castro

Richard Ciccimarra

Nita Forrest

Flemming Jorgensen

Duncan de Kergommeaux

Virginia Lewis

Elza Mayhew

Michael Morris

Molly Privett

Herbert Siebner 

Sylvia Sutton

William West

Curated by Carolyn Butler-Palmer, Williams Legacy Chair & Associate Professor, Art History & Visual Studies, UVic.

Image: Michael Morris, Untitled (Pat Bay Highway Renovation Series), 1962, U996.18.1, (detail).

Latent

January 6 – April 6, 2024

Legacy Downtown | 630 Yates St.
Lekwungen territory

The exhibition Latent emerges from conversations between artist Lynda Gammon and curator Carolyn Butler Palmer over the past several years about how artists who identify as women are often overlooked, ignored and sidestepped. At the Legacy Art Galleries, over the past decade the majority of solo exhibitions have featured the work of women artists and this exhibition furthers a desire to bring forward their work by honouring the many women who remain hidden in the University of Victoria’s Art Collection and the mechanisms that conceal them from view: the vault, accessioning, and the catalogue.

Artist bio: Lynda Gammon
See all events: Latent events & programs

Image: 12-minute meditation on untitled (serigraph), Elza Mayhew, n.d., Lynda Gammon, 2023. 

Piers

September 28 – December 22, 2022

Legacy Downtown | 630 Yates St.
Lekwungen territory

Curated by Kim Dhillon

Piers is a group exhibition showing contemporary artwork ranging across media by 18 artists spanning generations, nationalities, and backgrounds, exploring how artists’ practices change through teaching, learning, and mentorship.

Artists:
Katie Bethune-Leamen, Cedric Bomford, Lauren Brinson, Yan Wen Chang, Megan Dickie, Laura Dutton, Annika Eriksson, Daniel Laskarin, James Legaspi, Christopher Lindsay, Evan Locke, Danielle Proteau, Hollis Roberts, Arlene Stamp, Jennifer Stillwell, Beth Stuart, Grace Tsurumaru, Paul Walde.  

Exhibition booklet: view
Artist bios: view

Image: James Legaspi, still from magnolia, 2020, HD video, 18 minutes 13 seconds.

Breaking the Mold

April 16 – June 18, 2022

Legacy Downtown | 630 Yates St.
Lekwungen territory

Organized by Natasha Reid, UVic Art Education

Artist-teachers practice in a hybrid space where pedagogy, art-making, and research intertwine and inform each other. UVic Art Education faculty and sessional instructors share their diverse perspectives, approaches, and experiences inviting visitors to consider ways in which art education stimulates engagement with critical questions and creates stronger connections between people, places, and ideas.

Artists:

Robert Dalton, Mike Emme, Karen Hibbard, Natalie LeBlanc, Connie Michele Morey, Regan Rasmussen, Natasha S. Reid, Kathleen Schmalz, Alison Shields, Shruti Tandon, Michelle Wiebe, William Zuk, Caren Willms

Image: Mike Emme, Lockers, 1986/2022.

Related Programming

‘that to which we cling’
Drop-in clay hand-building workshop with Regan Rasmussen

Saturday, May 14 2022 | 11-3pm
UVic Legacy Art Gallery Downtown | 630 Yates St.

Facilitated by Regan Rasmussen (UVic Art Education), this workshop is dedicated to the theme of resilience. Using local mollusk shells as inspiration and applying clay hand-building techniques, participants will respond to a ceramic sculpture installation from the exhibition Breaking the Mold by making their own small ceramic artifact while considering the question: What beliefs and practices do we cling to for sanctuary and resilience in times of adversity?

Free and open for all ages
Drop-in, no registration required

More about Regan Rasmussen: https://www.reganrasmussen.com/

Gift of Food
Art Hive with Natasha S. Reid

Saturday, June 18 2022 | 12-3pm
UVic Legacy Art Gallery Downtown | 630 Yates St.

Come join us for a pop-up art hive in the gallery! Visitors are invited to experiment with art making in a welcoming drop-in community setting. To learn more about art hives, visit www.arthives.org. As a starting point, Natasha S. Reid will facilitate an activity that explores various fruits and vegetables commonly grown in Jamaica.

At the end, you can give your finished art work to ISSAMBA’s La Teranga Food Distribution to be added to a food hamper or you can bring it home and gift it to someone you know.

This art activity is an extension of Natasha’s artwork Plantain Belt currently exhibited in the Breaking the Mold exhibition at UVic’s Legacy Gallery (630 Yates Street).

Urban Regalia: Westshore Stories

Image: Design by Yolonda Skelton. Photo by Baylee Woodley.

January 18 – April 11, 2020

Legacy Downtown  | 630 Yates St. | Inner Gallery |Lekwungen territory

Button blankets by Westshore Colwood Campus students. Curated by UVic Art History and Visual Studies students. A project of the Legacy Chair.

Button blanket robes are textile regalia worn in Northwest Coast feasts and ceremonies. Urban Regalia: Westshore Stories carries the vision of Gitxsan button blanket maker, fashion designer, and teacher Sugitt Lukxs — Yolonda Skelton from her studio to her students at the Westshore Colwood Campus. Westshore students tell stories from their lives and from making connections to the land using ovoids, u-forms, s-forms, melton wool fabric and buttons. UVic Art History and Visual Studies students curated this exhibition as part of their learning about oral art histories. Urban Regalia: Westshore Stories represents shared learning experiences and emerging connections between UVic and Westshore classrooms.

| Legacy Art Gallery + Fine Arts

Learning Through Looking: Celebrating the 50th Anniversary of Art History and Visual Studies at UVic

February 4 to April 13, 2017

Legacy Maltwood (at the Mearns Centre – McPherson Library)

Curated by faculty members with graduate students Jaiya Anka and Atri Hatef

Using diverse historical and contemporary cultural objects, members of the Department of Art History & Visual Studies show how history, learning, and community interweave to support the mission to teach inter-cultural understanding through the study of world arts.

Image credit: EVA CAMPBELL, UNTITLED, 1992-93, MIXED MEDIA & OIL ON CANVAS. FACULTY OF GRADUATE STUDIES

 

LearningThroughLooking

Event Panel Discussion

March 8 | 5 – 7pm | Rm. 025 | Mearns Centre – McPherson Library

TOPIC: Why Art Matters in Dangerous Times

We live in a visual world where images define our lives. Yet, are we in danger of taking the visual for granted? This lively panel discussion argues that with xenophobia, ethnocentrism, and censorship on the rise, art has more to offer society than ever before in human history. The panel accompanies the exhibition “Learning Through Looking – Celebrating the 50th Anniversary of the Department of Art History & Visual Studies at the University of Victoria.” Part of Ideafest.

 

The Mystery of Grafton Tyler Brown: Race, Art, and Landscape in 19th Century British Columbia

January 21 to April 1, 2017

Legacy Art Gallery Downtown – Inner Gallery | 630 Yates Street

Guest curated by Dr. John Lutz (History, UVic) with Emerald Johnstone Bedell and Caroline Riedel.

Exhibition Catalogue here

We know Grafton Tyler Brown (1841-1918) was one of the first professional landscape artists to work in the Pacific Northwest. His few regional paintings that survive offer vivid windows into the world of 1880s Victoria and British Columbia. Yet, how did this African American artist succeed at a time when racial prejudice prevented most Blacks from entering any skilled profession?

Image credit: Portrait of Artist Grafton Tyler Brown, Image A-08775 courtesy of the Royal BC Museum and Archives

EVENTS & PROGRAMS

Curator’s Talk with Guest Lecture

February 4 | 3 – 4:30pm *Light Refreshments Provided

Legacy Art Gallery Downtown  | 630 Yates Street

Kick-off Black History Month with an afternoon presentation about BC’s first Black professional artist with UVic History Department Chair John Lutz and writer, Robert J. Chandler. Facebook Event Page 

Performance

March 10 | 7 – 9pm *Light Refreshments Provided

Legacy Art Gallery Downtown
630 Yates Street

TOPIC: Re-Imagining Race, Art, and Landscape

Three local artists, Charles Campbell, Kemi Craig and Ann-Bernice Thomas respond to the story of Grafton Tyler Brown, BC’s first Black professional artist. Part of Ideafest. Facebook Event Page

Generously supported by the British Columbia Arts Council