Opening August 18th in the Alternator Member’s Gallery is Clown Tears by Bree Apperley.

Bree Apperley is mixed-media artist who uses assemblage, drawing, textiles and photography to create her work. The main thematic threads of Apperley’s practice include the impact of technology on society, feminine expression in a capitalist system and the generally compromised nature of our current human experience.

In her sculptural pieces, she assembles objects and materials in the spirit of arte povera, a postwar Italian art movement which was a political statement about the increasing monetization of art, rampant industrialization and consumerism, and the rising economic instability of that time. Rather than expensive materials or fabrication processes, she prefers to use found items, organic matter, craft supplies or objects from the thrift store, and manipulates them with handcraft or clumsy DIY techniques. She creates weird, visually impactful, low-tech, low-skilled and potentially decaying juxtapositions that reference and reflect our confused, fractured and materially excessive times.

Bree also explores the ephemerality of the modern photograph in her artwork; how pictures have become inconsequential, fixed in succession with thousands of others on our phones. The camera has finally, truly, become our eyes, looking at everything banal and beautiful, literally capturing our every waking moment. She recognizes the flatness of this and the detachment from meaning, while at the same time tries to ferment a modern poetry that feels generative and expansive.

Bree Apperley is a mixed-media visual artist originally from Regina, Saskatchewan (Treaty 4 Territory). She holds two Fine Art degrees in Printmaking and Design Art, from the Alberta College of Art and Design (now the Alberta University of the Arts in Calgary, Alberta) and Concordia University (Montreal, Quebec). Bree currently lives and works in Kelowna, BC (Okanagan Sylix territory). 

Recent solo exhibitions include Slug Eggs, Kamloops Art Gallery (2026), Cosmic Toothache, ARTSCO gallery (Kelowna, 2024) and Shrine On, Alternator Center for Contemporary Art (Kelowna, 2024). Publications include VUU Studio: Super Special Volume 2 (2017), and Crystallizations Zine (2016). 

Over the last decade, Bree has been focused on the realms of image culture, domestic arts, photography and traditional fine arts such as drawing and sculpture. Overlapping themes include; the impact of technology on society, feminine expression in a capitalist system and the generally compromised nature of modern life. Check out more of Bree’s work on her website.

Tiny masterpieces, huge inspiration; discover local art, artist-made postcards and a creative community worth celebrating.

The Alternator Centre for Contemporary Art is thrilled to announce its 5th annual Postcard Project and Studio Sale, a vibrant exhibition celebrating the creativity of the Okanagan arts community. The exhibition kicked off with an opening reception on July 17, 2026, and runs until August 15, 2026. Member artists have created an edition of unique handmade postcards and submitted artworks to be sold for the Studio sale. This dynamic exhibition reflects the diverse voices and mediums that make our artistic community so unique. It’s a chance to engage with the energy of Kelowna's art scene and support the artists who bring it to life.

Through the Years // 2026 Postcard Project & Studio Sale

Community Built. Artist Run.

Through the Years is an archival exhibition celebrating 37 years of the Alternator Centre for Contemporary Art. Curated by Alternator staff and board members, the exhibition brings together a collection of postcards from past exhibitions, carefully selected from the gallery's archives. These small but significant pieces trace the evolution of the Alternator from 1998-2026, highlighting decades of exhibitions, artists, and community connections, while celebrating the organization's enduring impact on the Okanagan's contemporary arts scene.

Your favourite show and sale is back for its fifth year! 

Our Annual Postcard Project exhibition will open on July 17th, with an opening reception taking place that evening from 6-8pm. 

Please note: Postcard Project & Studio registration is now closed. Join us next year!

The Postcard Project & Studio Sale is back, transforming the Alternator and celebrating the artistic excellence of our community. Member artists are invited to create an edition of unique, handmade postcards, submit artworks to be sold for the studio sale, or both. You are not required to submit to both aspects but are highly encouraged to. 

The Postcard Project invites Alternator member artists to create 5 or 10 original postcards. The works may be watercolour, collage, photographs or any other 2D media that will fit on the 4x6” postcard substrate (postcard blanks will be provided by the Alternator). In the spirit of the Alternator mandate, we welcome experimental interpretations of this project. A piece of creative writing? A painting made by your pet? Dance instructions? We want to see it! This will be a limited run of 300 unique postcards so don’t delay in registering as spots are limited, first come, first served! 

The numbered, limited edition postcards will be exhibited in-gallery and offered for sale to our visitors for $15 each with 75% of proceeds going directly to the artist, and the remaining 25% to the gallery to support the Alternator’s programming. The public will be encouraged to send their purchased postcard out to friends or family or keep it for themselves.

The Studio Sale is an open call for Members to submit up to two guaranteed artworks and one juried artwork (any medium / theme) for inclusion in an exhibition taking place in the Main and Project Gallery. The maximum artwork size is 36”x36”. Artworks may be offered for sale at any price with 75% of proceeds going directly to the artist, and the remaining 25% to the gallery to support the Alternator’s programming. Works will be removed from the wall as they are sold so buyers can walk away with their newly purchased art.

Important Dates

• Registration opens: June 5

• Registration closes: June 30

• Blank Postcard Pickup: June 5 - June 30

• Artwork dropoff: July 2 - 11

• Exhibition Dates: July 17 - August 15

• Opening Reception: July 17, 6-8pm

• Artwork Pickup: August 18 - 22

• Cheques sent out: September TBD

Unsure about participating? Maybe these photos from last year’s Postcard Project will change your mind!

Opening June 5th in the Alternator Member’s Gallery is Where Do We Go From Here? by Stephanie Clark.

Make, buy, discard – Where does it all go? The collection Where Do We Go From Here? invites viewers to examine themes of over-production, over-consumption and their potential consequences. The overarching theme of the collection reflects the tension in our society: we are living in a moment defined by environmental urgency, yet surrounded by systems that continue to promote excess. The body of work aims to offer perspective on this contradiction of urgency and limited action. Rather than confronting viewers with overt critique, collage allows information to be presented in a way that is approachable, layered and open ended. The artist encourages reflection, prompting viewers to consider their own relationship to consumption, and how we got to where we are today, and the ecological realities we face.  Viewed together, the works form a broader narrative about our shared future; individually each work offers its own message, inviting contemplation and personal interpretation.

Working primarily with vintage magazines the artist photocopies the images to maintain the integrity of the source as well as delighting in the reproduced feel this gives the image and the work overall. The artist has an extensive magazine collection, ever growing, to work from.  The vintage pieces allow for the construction of narratives that question social constructs around consumption inviting the viewer to think about how the past has influenced today.  What future are we shaping? The individual images are placed together to form a scene which invites the viewer in. All images are hand cut then glued down and sealed to feel as if it is one continuous image.

Stephanie Clark is a collage and mixed media artist whose work explores themes of looking back on social topics and comparing them to today, focusing on personal experiences, current societal issues, and women in society. She grew up in Edmonton, Alberta where she continues to reside with her family.

Stephanie uses her love of advertisements and photographs, both new and old, magazine images (from her extensive personal collection), her own photographs and a variety of other materials to create her art. She has been influenced by Andy Warhol and his bold, graphic nature and his roots in advertising. Check out more of her work here.

Opening May 22nd in the Alternator Main Gallery is Shallow Breaths by Lara Felsing!

Shallow Breaths is an exhibition showcasing the work of Cree Métis artist Lara Felsing. The exhibition explores the prevalence of wildfires and wildfire smoke, and their effects on humans, plants, insects, animals, and the land. It looks closely at the air we breathe when wildfires burn both near and far, and is themed in climate change, eco grief, community, reciprocity, and our connection through breath. The exhibition is timely, as Kelowna and the surrounding area are experiencing firsthand the devastation of wildfires, wildfire smoke, and the impacts of climate change.

In 2023, Lara was evacuated twice due to wildfires near her home. The title, Shallow Breaths, comes from public health warnings issued during wildfires. Officials advised against outdoor exercise or deep breathing, since harmful particulates can settle deep in the lungs and cause lasting damage. This information led Lara to track local air quality and investigate the global effects of wildfire smoke. After recording air quality data for three years, she is sharing her findings in a body of work made with plant-dyed up-cycled textiles, secondhand items from her community, wildfire burn site castoffs, and harvested plant medicines.

The work in this exhibition is fragrant and tactile. Lara combines sculptural pieces with not only forest castoffs and secondhand materials, but also photographs taken during the wildfires where she lives. Her work references the windows she looked out of during the 2023 and 2024 wildfires, as Lara documented the shifting sky for signs of safety and danger.

Shallow Breaths presents Lara’s experiences as a traditional plant harvester amid wildfire and smoke. Raised in a close-knit Métis community in Northern Alberta, Lara maintains a deep connection to the land. Her culture is based on reciprocity and kinship, and she views all other forms of life as relations with whom we respectfully coexist.

The exhibition invites viewers to reflect on their relationship with the natural world, and offers a space for conversation, sharing, and reflection on where we are, where we’re headed, and how we proceed amid wildfire, smoke, and the climate emergency.

Join us on Friday, May 22nd from 6 - 8pm for an double opening reception, as we celebrate along with Kevin Jesuino’s Tender City: The Silent Slow Dance Project in our Project Gallery.

Lara Felsing is a Cree Métis artist from Northern Alberta, Canada, and a registered member of the Métis Nation of Alberta. Her practice expresses kinship to the natural world, advocating for the necessity of living in reciprocity with the land and all living beings. Traditional plant harvesting is at the core of her practice. Lara gathers roots, leaves, berries, petals, and pine needles to create compostable paintings, weavings, clothing and blankets that honour and show gratitude for Mother Earth's gifts.

Lara has exhibited internationally and attended residencies at the Banff Centre for Arts and Creativity and the Bemis Center for Contemporary Arts, and holds an MFA from Emily Carr University. Her forest baskets were featured at the 2025 G7 Leaders’ Summit in Kananaskis, Alberta, and she was recently a finalist for the Rewilding Arts Prize. Lara co-curates an international group exhibition titled Wildfire. Her practice is supported by the Alberta Foundation for the Arts and Canada Council for the Arts.

See more of her work on her website or Instagram!

Opening May 22nd in the Alternator Project Gallery is Tender City: The Silent Slow Dance Project by Kevin Jesuino!

The modern city is a masterpiece of hardness. Its concrete arteries, steel horizons, and rigid grids are not accidental; they are the physical manifestations of hetero-patriarchal capitalist ideals that prioritize efficiency, surveillance, and productivity above all else. In this environment, the human body, and specifically the queer body, is often viewed as an obstacle to the flow of capital or a site to be regulated. This urban hardness fosters a pervasive alienation that disconnects us from each other and the natural world.

Tender City: The Silent Slow Dance Project is a socially engaged intervention that seeks to pierce this rigidity. By inviting queer men to engage in consensual, silent slow dances on public street corners, the project creates fissures in the city's hardened infrastructure.

This work draws its choreographic inspiration from queer cruising. Historically, cruising was a way for gay/ bi / bicurious men to find intimacy with each other and connect in a world that rejected their existence. It relied on a sophisticated, non-verbal language of glances, coded gestures, and the subversion of urban space. Tender City translates this clandestine, intimate choreography into a public act of intimacy. 

While not explicitly about ecological data, Tender City participates in the urgent discourse of climate justice. The systemic disconnection that alienates us from our neighbors is the same extractive logic that drives the climate crisis. 

Climate justice requires resilience; the capacity to persist, care for one another, and maintain a connection to place amidst crisis. By reintroducing slowness and softness into the public right-of-way, this project models the relational practices essential for building just, sustainable communities. It is an invitation to shift away from the frantic, domineering urban beat and move toward a relational rhythm rooted in mutual care.

As part of this exhibition, gay, bisexual, and trans men were invited to participate in a facilitated public silent slow dance in Kelowna. The project has archived documentation from slow dances in every city where this work has been presented: Vancouver (Canada), Mexico City (Mexico), Fortaleza (Brazil). Upcoming in 2026, this work will also travel to Nanaimo (Canada) and Lethbridge (Canada). 

In this gallery space, the documentation—the torso-focused video installation—serves as a living archive. It allows these fleeting moments of intimacy to linger in public memory, offering a reimagined vision of the city. The video installation is not merely a record; it is a continued invitation for men to engage in the transformative act of partnered silent slow dancing in the gallery and anywhere in the city.

Join us on Friday, May 22nd from 6 - 8pm for an double opening reception, as we celebrate along with Lara Felsing’s Shallow Breaths in our Main Gallery.

Kevin Jesuino is a Vancouver-based Portuguese-Canadian artist who works at the intersection of performance, dance, socially engaged art, photography, video, and any other medium that helps him convey his ideas. His work has been shown in performance and visual art venues, as well as in parking lots, street corners, public parks, back alleys, and DIY spaces across Canada and abroad. Beyond his own solo practice, Jesuino collaborates with diverse communities, scientists, architects, choreographers, and scholars, inhabiting the fluid roles of performer, sculptor, and co-conspirator.

Jesuino’s installations and performances revolve around the architecture of performative inquiry. His works are careful orchestrations of participatory actions and documentation, responding to the urgent themes of uncertain change, unseen histories, and urban connection to the natural world. Deeply rooted in the transformative labour of decolonization and equitable liberation, Jesuino integrates video art, temporary public interventions, and movement to invite participants to navigate complex social questions through embodied, playful and witness actions.

See more of Jesuino’s work on Instagram!

Over the past year, the students of Kelowna Heartwood Learning Community have identified and responsibly foraged for various berries, bark, fungi and plants on the land that they turned into dye baths. By learning about each plant, its properties, and the dye process, they continue to deepen an intimate relationship with the land we learn on, and explore what reciprocity means and how we can uphold and value the teachings of our syilx community and knowledge keepers. 

Each student chose a plant, animal, insect or fungi that grows/lives at Camp Dunlop and the Lebanon Creek watershed and researched information about it and how it is connected to the larger ecosystem. They have drawn and painted or embroidered their chosen kin onto the dye fabric that has been linked/weaved together. The goal for this exhibition is mutual exchange and mutual responsibility. Engaging in a reciprocal relationship with the natural world involves understanding our responsibility within this relationship and committing to a two-way exchange, one that not solely benefits humans. Process based art experiences provide a rich learning environment to process inquiry into something concrete and actionable. 

In the student’s words,

We love the earth and we did the art from our heart. We each picked a plant/animal/fungi then we dyed some cloth from stuff we found at Camp Dunlop. Then we drew what we picked on the fabric and painted it and put it together. We are trying to help you know that everything is connected. The world is connected. I know it doesn't all look the same, but it's all connected and there is something in common with it all. We are all connected.

Thank you to Judith Mueller who was so generous in sharing her experience and advice with natural dyeing. Limlemt Jasmine Peone for the cultural and plant knowledge that was shared that helped inform this project and a special thank you to Grouse Barnes who helped us with the title of the exhibition. Thank you to Scouts Canada for making their camp space available to Heartwood Kelowna and to the Rotary Club of Kelowna Okanagan Mission for their donation and support. 

We are honoured and grateful to learn on the unceded and ancestral territory of the syilx Okanagan people.

This exhibition showcases the work of 52 students from Kelowna Heartwood Learning Community. Heartwood is a blend of 4 days per week of home-learning and 1 day per week of Forest School programming which focuses on nature learning, foraging/wildcraft, social-emotional learning, inquiry and outdoor free play. Our teaching team includes BC Certified Teachers, program mentors, learning coaches and guest educators. We hold classes in forested locations, outside, all year round, with Camp Dunlop as our home base. 

Learn more about Heartwood Learning Community here.

This show was organised and installed by Kelsie Balehowsky. Kelsie is a Canadian contemporary visual artist and educator based in the Okanagan/unceded and ancestral territory of the Syilx people. She received her BFA from the University of British Columbia Okanagan in 2014 and has exhibited in group and solo exhibitions in Canada and abroad. Kelsie has over a decade of experience in public programming and art education. Prior to her role as an outdoor educator with Heartwood Kelowna, Kelsie acted as a Community Engagement Curator at the Vernon Public Art Gallery. Kelsie’s artistic practice has been primarily concerned with themes of the uncanny, technology and connection. She is passionate about community and in recent years her work has shifted towards more curation and community engaged and inspired projects/artworks. 

Opening April 10th in the Alternator Members’ Gallery is The lost art of waiting by Louise Dee!

Louise Dee is a painter interested in the complexity and ambiguity of the human condition. Her work is grounded in personal experience, observation of others and inner reflection, alongside research into early psychoanalytic theory and an interest in Eastern and Stoic philosophy.

For this site-specific installation, she explored the experience of waiting. In a fast-paced, hyper-connected world where instant access to most things is available twenty-four hours a day, many people rarely encounter the pause between one experience and the next. With so many distractions at hand, it is easy to overlook any response in these moments of stillness.

The Stoics, however, regarded waiting as an art form—a proactive activity and a key component of emotional resilience and practical wisdom. Inspired by this perspective, Dee’s installation considers waiting as a verb, asking: if you find yourself in a lineup without your phone or a companion to talk to, how do you wait?

Louise Dee is an emerging contemporary Canadian artist with a background in human health sciences. Based in Vancouver, BC, her studio practice is centred on painting and drawing. In 2023, she completed an MA in Fine Art at City and Guilds of London Art School in the UK, where her studies focused on historical and philosophical ideas surrounding physical and psychological wellness. 

In 2021, one of her paintings was shortlisted for the Kingston National Portrait Prize in Canada.

Check out more of her work on Instagram or her website!

Right to Exist is a series of work that explores contemporary issues around gender expression, specifically around the increasingly violent and hostile tide of conservative rhetoric we are experiencing in North America currently and its social and political implications for gender nonconforming bodies.

Wigglesworth works to give people across a spectrum of gender expressions a platform by painting portraits of them; seeking to visually tell their stories and advocate for their right to a safe existence. Through painting portraits of trans and gender nonconforming people, Wigglesworth represents their powerful humanity in contrast to a dehumanizing and hateful surge.

Advocating for gender expression as a positive and liberatory act, they ask audiences to reexamine their preconceptions of gender and their judgments, challenging them to see how they might contribute to change. Ultimately, they want their art to be the representation that they so desperately craved growing up. They are very grateful that this series was funded through a grant from the BC Arts Council, as it was immensely important to be created and shown in this moment, as it will be more impactful. The hateful rhetoric against gender non-conforming individuals is spreading into Canada and across BC. Wigglesworth created these works to show that these people are human and need respect, through depictions of the sorrow and pain inflicted on them for just needing to exist.

Join us on March 20th from 6 - 8pm for a triple opening reception, as we celebrate alongside Woojae Kim in our Main Gallery and Kel Taylor in our Members’ Gallery. RSVP to let us know you’re coming!

Samantha Wigglesworth is a queer, nonbinary gender-queer artist who works primarily in queer, transgender and gender non-conforming representations through portraiture and abstract figuration. Growing up in conservative northern BC and moving to Abbotsford for their BFA at UFV was an eye-opening time for their artistic journey. While doing their BFA in Abbotsford, Sam had several exhibitions in the area, including a solo exhibition titled Spectrum, which has been shown all across BC. After graduation, Sam decided to continue their studies with a Master of Fine Arts at UBCO in Kelowna in September of 2024. Here, they have been working on their research thesis to further explore contemporary issues around gender expression with the increasingly violent and hostile tide of conservative rhetoric we are experiencing in North America. Through these works, they will advocate for gender expression as a positive and liberatory act.

Opening March 20th in the Alternator Main Gallery is I Hear a Silent Dissonance by Woojae Kim!

I Hear a Silent Dissonance is an exhibition of handmade percussion instruments made in response to the 2023 fire season. The installation is accompanied by a sound composition and a text that reflects the experimentation and listening in its making. 

Exhibiting in Kelowna holds particular significance as the work was shaped by a research trip Kim took to West Kelowna after the 2023 McDougall Creek fire. In response to the landscape, Kim began crafting drums inspired by traditional Korean music. Percussion instruments are used in rituals that seek reconciliation between humans and the more-than-human. These ceremonies—known as 풀이 (Pul-i), or “untangling”—are led by four instruments: the buk (large drum), janggu (hourglass drum), jing (large gong), and gwenggari (small gong). Through collective resonance, these rituals aim to foster empathy and repair. 

In music, dissonance is often understood as tension moving toward resolution. This notion of musical dissonance contrasts with Kim’s experience of cognitive dissonance. He recognises his own complicity within the ecological conditions he responds to while failing to make changes. By analogizing cognitive dissonance to sonic friction, the work invites audiences to listen to the timbre of friction. 

The sound composition is made from recordings of the instruments in the exhibition. It comes from experimentation on producing sound through friction-based techniques: violin bows drawn across cymbals, wooden sticks rubbed against drum skins, and surfaces resisting one another. The installation is arranged to echo the instrument placement during the recording sessions. 

Together, the instruments, sound, and text form an environment that resists closure. I Hear a Silent Dissonance proposes dissonance as a condition to inhabit—an attentive space where resonance, responsibility, and relation remain in conflict.

Join us on March 20th from 6 - 8pm for a triple opening reception, as we celebrate alongside Samantha Wigglesworth in our Project Gallery and Kel Taylor in our Members’ Gallery. RSVP to let us know you’re coming!

Woojae Kim is a Korean artist and writer living on the unceded territories of the Sḵwx̱wú7mesh, Musqueam, and Tsleil-Waututh peoples (Vancouver, Canada). His works explore rituals of interdependency and listening to inaudible frequencies of relationships with non-humans and the land.

His work has been exhibited in Vancouver (Artspeak, Dreams Comma Delta, Afternoon Projects), Toronto (The Plumb) and New York (Psychic Readings*). His texts were published in the Canadian Art and the Capilano Review. Kim received an MFA from Milton Avery Graduate School of the Arts at Bard College.

See more of his work on Instagram!

Opening March 13th in the Alternator Members’ Gallery is Dear Diary by Kel Taylor!

How many diaries have screamed agony or sighed relief as they were shredded and burned? Ken Taylor has lost count of the self-inflicted carnage deemed imperative after witnessing her father's devastation, and imagining her stepmother turning in her grave, when he found and read her journals. Determined never to leave records unattended, abandoned, without being present to deny, defend, or choose the page number, Kel is taking control, deciding where in her Dear Diary pages you can look.

This is a reckoning, a welcoming home for all those disenfranchised parts of herself destined for the shredder and the pyre. Dear Diary will expose chosen stories through visual images, select words and actions. Oh Yes! This exhibition activates. Responding to memories and emotions that show up, sparks may fly!  After all, “If not now then when?” as Tracy Chapman has sung so beautifully.  “If not now then when?”

She invites you to witness. Energy generated and gathered, in the relationship of seeing and being seen, has the power to transform. “Transform what?” you may ask.  Well…a deeper richer compassion for self and others, a greater lived sense of shared humanity, a state of grace.

Join us on March 20th from 6 - 8pm for a triple exhibition reception, as we celebrate alongside Woojae Kim in our Main Gallery and Samantha Wigglesworth in our Project Gallery. RSVP to let us know you’re coming!

Vancouver born artist Kel Taylor lived, worked and studied in five provinces and the UK before settling on the stolen ancestral lands of the Okanagan Syilx Peoples. Her formal art training began with her Occupational Therapy degree and continued through a variety of coursework over the next four decades. Since 2016 she has focused on figurative acrylic and mixed media painting, has been a finalist in the 2025 Salt Spring National Art Prize, shown her work in group curated exhibitions including the Federation of Canadian Artists, Lake Country Art Gallery and Headbones Gallery and was artist in residence in Similkameen.

Check out more of her work on Instagram or her website!

Opening in February 2026 is Whispers of a Peregrina by local artist Patty Leinemann!

Whispers of a Peregrina breathes life into the experience of personal loss, transition, and renewal. It reflects the threads of Patty Leinemann’s life, capturing emotional endurance through intergenerational grief.

This body of work began eighteen years ago, 900 kms through Spain’s Camino de Santiago de Compostela. With each step, she navigated through mental chatter, seeking a new direction. The recollection of this journey now informs her current practice—site-specific installations within her to-be sold family homestead.

Questions of letting go resurface. Careers, relationships, even the echoing ordeals of her parents: the displacement of her mother during WWII, her father’s migration to Canada with only $5 in his pocket, and both their death anniversaries. Leinemann’s father always told her to stop worrying because it wasted energy. But fears continue to ripple in, contradicting her moment of standing strong at the end of the Camino.

Cyanoprints made over a year of every plant from her mother's garden, along with the collaged flowers, are both documentation and ceremony. The cyanotype silhouette captures her hugging the family homestead goodbye, while the sewing needles symbolize both pain and the labour of mending. Her use of wood and cloth is significant because of the symbolism of these materials within her parents’ lives. This entire body of work fits into the family hope chest, ready for departure, ready for moving on.

Leinemann's artwork transforms private loss into a shared human experience. The exhibition is a living legacy—an invitation to begin again. She dedicates this installation to all those who are silently grieving.

Patty Leinemann’s artistic process is exemplified by Socrates’ words: “I know that I know nothing.” She begins with an idea and then ventures through many phases of “I Don’t Know.” Interested in relation to place, she integrates themes of family and memory into site-specific installations using a variety of media, including found and personal items. Leinemann has presented solo shows at the Alternator, Kelowna Community Theatre, Casa Lü Sur in Mexico City, and two exhibitions in the house her father built. She completed her BFA at UBCO in 2018 and continues to exhibit artwork internationally.

Opened on January 16th 2026 was Weather, Window, Echo, Hum by local artist Katherine Pickering!

Weather, Window, Echo, Hum brought together two interconnected bodies of work: Hum, small oil paintings on linen, and Weather Patterns, sewn India ink works on cotton. Through processes of layering, sanding, cutting, and sewing, the work approaches abstraction as a material practice attentive to time, labour, and material process.

In Hum, small geometric abstractions are painted at the kitchen table, then repeatedly sanded and repainted over months, with faint traces of earlier decisions remaining visible. The deliberate slowness of this process becomes central to the work, offering a quiet counterpoint to the speed of contemporary life. The paintings’ small scale fosters intimacy, shaped by the conditions of their making. Lived with, revisited, and left to dry on a windowsill, the works were reconsidered as part of daily routines.

Weather Patterns extends this approach through textile processes. Ink is applied to cotton and dried in hot summer air, preserving the movement of ink. The material is then cut and sewn into geometric compositions that draw on the artist’s mother’s quilt-making practice. Across both series, abstraction emerges as an embodied, iterative process grounded in intimacy, repetition, and attentiveness.

Katherine Pickering is a visual artist based on Syilx territory in Kelowna, British Columbia. Her practice is grounded in material experimentation and abstraction, engaging sculptural and textile processes to expand the language of painting. Her paintings have been presented in solo and group exhibitions across Canada and internationally, and supported through artist residencies in Canada, the United States, and Europe. Pickering holds an MFA from Concordia University (Montréal) and a BFA from UBC Okanagan, where she is a Lecturer in the Department of Creative Studies.

It Takes Time is a body of work that explores the intersections of material, memory, and identity through large scale patchwork spray paintings. Constructed from found textiles such as denim, cotton from worn clothing, and other fabrics, these works showcase collage-like compositions to evoke personal familiarity and texture. The materials used reference urban environments that have shaped the artist’s visual language, carrying traces of use, labour, and live experience. It is through processes of layering, spraying, and stitching these materials that they transform into visual records of memory and influence. Each composition functions as an accumulation of fragments, mirroring how identity is continuously formed through experience, place, and time. This body of work creates an immersive and intentionally disruptive presence with its scale, density and visual noise that contrasts sharply with a clean space, echoing the layered rhythms of the street within this setting. This tension invites viewers to navigate moments of noiseness and empty space, prompting contemplation on belonging, nostalgia, and anticipation. Ultimately It Takes Time, questions how culture, memory and environment coexist, shaping both the artist’s evolving sense of self as well as the viewer’s.

Join us on January 16th from 6 - 8pm for a triple opening reception, as we celebrate alongside Katherine Pickering in our Main Gallery and Chantal New in our Project Gallery. Let us know you’re coming!

Jian Suniga’s practice reflects the influences that have shaped his journey as an artist. Originally growing up in Los Angeles, he was immersed in graffiti, automotive design, fashion, and the communities that surrounded them. These environments continue to inform his visual language and creative identity. Suniga seeks to merge street art, streetwear, and vintage aesthetics through layered form and texture. A recurring theme in his work is that he wants to invoke is the concept of time balancing nostalgia with anticipation. Through deconstruction and reconstruction, he wants to translate chaos into rhythm, exploring identity, memory, and transformation.

Opening in January 2026 is Count is Correct by Chantal New.

Count is Correct critically examines the mechanisms of exclusion and control inherent in institutional frameworks. Through drawing, photography, and sculptural installation, Chantal New investigates how power operates through order and routine, revealing the quiet violence embedded in everyday systems of governance, labour, and punishment. 

Often used in procedural or administrative settings, the phrase ‘count is correct’ refers to an inventory being confirmed or accounted for. This statement is heard over the intercom at the prison where New teaches each time the count of inmates is verified. The exhibition title draws from this bureaucratic language, illustrating the reduction of humans to inventory and the rigid control exerted over bodies and time within a capitalist framework. 

Incorporating materials such as concrete and copy paper, the work references institutional environments—whether office, church, or prison. Detailed drawings and photographs of these spaces are combined with bureaucratic and taxonomic text to explore time and language as instruments of control. The images are characterized by gaps and deliberate omissions, communicating through what is hidden, rather than through what is depicted. Through strategies of fragmenting and combining, cropping and concealing, the viewer’s attention is directed, emphasizing that what is not seen is often more powerful than what is. 

At the core of the project is a sculptural work made by filling fluorescent light tubes with concrete and removing their glass exteriors. This gesture transforms a ubiquitous institutional object into something opaque and oppressive. Light, often used to make seeing possible, is also used in practices of surveillance, hypervisibility, and regulation. The manipulation of this object draws attention to this dual function and the ways visibility is utilized to sustain institutional power. 

By being attentive to the invisible and ignored, Count is Correct exposes the systems that structure daily life and transforms the act of looking into a powerful gesture of care and resistance.

Join us on January 16th from 6 - 8pm for a triple opening reception, as we celebrate alongside Katherine Pickering in our Main Gallery and Jian Suniga in our Members’ Gallery. Let us know you’re coming!

Chantal New is a conceptual artist based on traditional territories of the lək̓ʷəŋən (Songhees and Esquimalt) and W̱SÁNEĆ peoples, colonially known as Victoria, BC. Her work combines drawing, photography and sculptural installation to explore themes of connection, separation, and power. Chantal holds an MFA from West Dean College of Art in Chichester, UK and is a partnering artist of the Art Justice Program, an art-based initiative supporting the well-being and dignity of people incarcerated at William Head Institution.

Opening December 5th in our Members’ Gallery is Requiem for Gentileschi by Rena Warren.

This work was borne out of response to regressive shifts in gender politics and suppression of women’s rights; in the wake of #MeToo, the overturning of Roe v. Wade and war on DEI south of our border; and in response to an increase in racial tensions, a growing political divide, and ever-expanding chasm between the disenfranchised and emboldened elite. It also follows two recent works titled Cognitive Dissonance; Social Media Post #1 and #2; works that superimpose a benignly floral veneer over images of war, questioning a collective social gag order and state where a well-behaved citizen pays taxes, earn Likes, posts selfies and cats or the latest DIY; and where influencers lull us to sleep with self-care du jour; all amid horrific abuses of power and shocking global injustices. This work seeks to address the paralytic state of social discourse, where a call for empathy and humanity can earn one’s place on the institutional chopping block. Requiem for Gentileschi is a battle cry dedicated to the occupied and oppressed.

Requiem for Gentileschi will be available for viewing in our Members Gallery from December 5th to January 10th 2026!

Rena Warren is an artist, art educator, mother, gardener, cat lover and settler currently residing on the unceded and traditional territory of the Syilx Okanagan people (Kelowna). She moved to the Okanagan in 1991 to attend Okanagan University College where she received her Bachelor of Fine Arts. As a young mother, she went on to earn a post-degree in Education at University of Victoria. Since then, she has grown as an art educator, facilitating programs for a variety of arts groups and institutions including Cool Arts Society, the Kelowna Art Gallery, Lake Country Art Gallery and Okanagan College. In an evolving art practice, Rena works in large-scale oil portraiture inspired by gender identity and politics, international travels, and the microcosm of her home garden, often fusing her subjects with archetypal and mythological references.

Opened on November 7th in our Main Gallery was All That Time Has Woven, All It Has Unraveled, by Ibrahim Shuaib.

Lately I've been thinking a lot about time, time spent, time lost, time passed, time held. After an experience that reminded me of the fragility of my own existence.

That has really shaped my approach to life in the past couple of months and in turn showing up in my works.

Time as a protector, time as the destroyer. Day in day out, the moon shines and time reduces it to a fraction of itself a “crescent “ and the cycle continues.

It’s believed the moon is the light of the spirit world by the mystics.

Do we use time or does time use us?

Is time really all that exists, do we exist through time or does time decay us as it does everything?

Is time a wheel that started itself only to come to an end and begin again.

Beautiful innocence of a seed that turns into a leaf, into a plant, then to a tree, only to wilt and return it all.

Songs of a bird reduced to dust returned back to time.

This is my thought process as I myself pass through time or as it eventually passes through me.

All That Time Has Woven, All It Has Unraveled, was an ongoing series rooted in self discovery where culture, spirituality, and the passage of time intersect. It's a narrative that reflects the dual nature of Ibrahim Shuaib’s journey, capturing the innocence of youth and the complexity of adulthood. Central to this series is his use of traditional rugs as a canvas, a deliberate choice rooted in the rich symbolism these objects hold within his Islamic heritage. These are silent companions to our daily rituals, ever-present witnesses to moments of prayer, family gatherings, and quiet reflection.

The rug represents an untold story, each pattern a chapter in the book of Shuaib’s life, each memory a splatter, where moments of joy, sorrow, triumph, and tribulation are interwoven. Each artistic stroke represents a distinct era, manifested memories and subtle impressions, woven into a textured and evolving tapestry that honours both personal and collective heritage.

Ibrahim Shuaib is a multidisciplinary visual artist Born in Nigeria, currently based on Treaty 1 Territory, Winnipeg. His work draws inspiration from the interplay of chaos and tranquility, using art to explore existential questions and interpret life’s complex journeys.

Through painting, installation, and multimedia forms, he investigates themes of identity, spirituality, cultural heritage, and the nuanced experience of double consciousness. His process is intuitive and experimental, consistently pushing the boundaries of his chosen materials.

By engaging these topics, Ibrahim creates spaces for reflection while employing strategies of direction and misdirection, inviting viewers to navigate layers of meaning and connect deeply with the work. Rather than offering answers, his practice opens a path of constructive questioning, providing a contemplative solace for the viewer.

Opening November 7th in our Project Gallery is What Seems Simple by Nasim Pirhadi.

In this work, Nasim stages ordinary gestures — reading a book, brushing her hair, tying a shoelace, biting an apple, taking measurements — within the suspension of an underwater world. These gestures reflect the ways life continues, even when its flow is altered by circumstance. 

Underwater, the page cannot be turned without resistance, the lace floats and twists — fingers struggling to hold a knot in suspension, a breath escapes in fragile bubbles. What might be effortless elsewhere is transformed into a struggle here. And yet, the body persists. These acts are carried out with calm insistence until difficulty itself becomes routine. 

The work proposes a meditation on relativity. A single act can be seamless in one world and heavy in another. This is not about the futility of action but about the familiarity of endurance. It is about how hardship, when lived with daily, becomes normalized — how what should have been easy is instead performed under pressure, and how life continues.

Join us for an Opening Reception for Nasim’s exhibition in the Project Gallery on November 7 2025, 6-8pm.

Nasim Pirhadi is a multidisciplinary artist living and working on the unceded, traditional territory of the syilx Okanagan Nation in Kelowna, BC.

Her work incorporates video, sound, olfactory elements, performance, and sculpture to create multisensory experiences where each component is interconnected. She investigates questions of female identity, subjectivity, and feminist perspectives within historical and contemporary frameworks. She has exhibited her work internationally in solo and group exhibitions in Canada, Iran, Germany, Austria, England, France, Sri Lanka, and the United States. Her work has been recognized with awards, including the Selected Award at the Third Contemporary Drawing Festival in Iran (2011) and being named one of eight finalists for the Behnam Bakhtiar Award in Monaco (2017). In 2022, she received the Audain Travel Award to support a research trip to New York.

Looking at the sky.

Grounded by the smell of the earth, the crisp air in her lungs after taking a full breath. Feeling the cool earth beneath her hand, freezing her fingers.

Looking at the tall grass as it disrupts a perfect horizon line, seeing the warm tones in the ground contrasted against the coolness of a clouded sky.

Feeling the subtle warmth of the sun as it touches her.

Hearing the echo of a bird flapping its wings in flight.

She sat on a tiny log at the edge of a large field and looked: witnessing nature in its wondrous simplicity and stillness.

Grace’s artistic research consists of breaking the routine numbness of day-to-day life, taking time to simply look at the sky or surrounding landscaping. Her creative process is focused on producing a body of work that highlights her act of stepping away from the chaos of life in order to find moments of calm. She is working to preserve these frozen moments of the beautiful present by translating them into paintings, which are based on photographs taken of the sky when it has left her mesmerized. While these painted snapshots of clouds are frozen in their progression across the substrates, her thin build up of oil paint layers and cropped compositions create movement and maintain the energy that lives naturally in the real moment.

Her intention for her paintings is to not only investigate light in its interactions with the  ever-changing sky, but to radiate a sense of tranquility — showcasing the delicate, dramatic, and transient nature of clouds. Grace aims to spark a feeling of awe by recreating an environment in which the viewer can bear witness to the vast ethereal beauty of the sky.

Grace Nascimento-Laverdiere was born and raised in Squamish BC, Canada. She grew up with a love of art, playing with pencil crayon and watercolour for the majority of her childhood. As she got older and began to grow into her potential as an artist, she explored the use of many mediums, including graphite, charcoal, clay, ink, acrylic paint, print-making, and oil paint. Her love of oil paints combined with her fascination with the endless expanse of sky and vast landscapes of British Columbia, resulted in continuous inspiration, rich layers of colour, and a body of work centred around showcasing beautifully captured moments of the natural world.

Grace’s education in art has consisted of personal training in the French Academic System of Art under her mentor Angela Muellers, a local Squamish artist. She is continuing her artistic studies by attending the University of British Columbia in Kelowna, where she is currently pursuing a Bachelor of Fine Arts.

Opening September 12 in our Members’ Gallery is Future Archeology!

There is one thing that seems to stick out in almost every environment, no matter how urban or entirely remote. That is trash, unfortunately. It’s as common as dirt or rocks at this point. We have created a world that has fundamentally affected the global environment and the reminders are everywhere.

Future Archeology deals with the Anthropocene - that being the current geological age we live in, defined by the existence and impact of humans on the environment. This series of cans, of which there was originally 100 made, are created from 3 slip cast moulds. Each can, once removed was then crushed individually. Sometimes by the artist, other times by people they knew. Freezing in time objects that no longer have use. Are they still trash? And at what point does trash become artifact, then go back to the earth?

What legacy will we leave? It appears that it’s a lot more than pottery sherds. Our time on this earth is dotted in layers of ash, carbon and plastic. And one day when history moves on without us, that will be our legacy. So how have the clashing worlds of “natural” and “unnatural” interacted? And how do we define our place within it? There seems to be this idea in the modern age that people are not nature – “man-made”, and “unnatural” are words used to describe things produced by humans, so that it distinguishes us as other than our surroundings. We are not. We are nature and always will be.

Please join us from 6 - 8pm on Friday September 12th for the opening reception. This special opening includes a live performance by fellow exhibiting artists Kendell Yan, Chris Reed, and Romi Kim; you don’t want to miss this! The opening is free and open to the public, with light snacks and refreshments provided. RSVP here

In the present day, where every environment has been impacted by the effects of the Anthropocene, how have the clashing worlds of “natural” and “unnatural” interacted?

In her work, Ella Cottier explores the relationships between our selves and our environments in the modern day. Specifically, she focuses on the items we discard and deem as “trash” and mix them in with more traditional depictions of landscape.

As of recent, they have been interested in exploring archeology. Specifically, the permanence that objects can have when buried and forgotten. What will our future artifacts and fossils be? What legacy will we leave? It appears that it’s a lot more than pottery sherds. Our time on this earth is dotted in layers of ash, carbon and plastic. And one day when history moves on without us, that will be our legacy.

Opened on September 12th in our Main Gallery was SHAPESHIFTERS!

In this exhibition, the collaborative artist trio Kendell Yan, Chris Reed, and Romi Kim explored the intersections of queer monsters inspired by myths and stories from their unique cultures. A common thread woven through Chinese, Cree, and Korean folklore is the notion of shapeshifters, fictional beings that can transform themselves from one physical form into another. Including a series of lenticular printed photographs, an exploratory film, a performance, and a community centered workshop, the artists came to this project representing stories from their respective heritages while considering the intersections and compatibility between these folktales and their drag personas and gender identities.

As an extension of this exhibition, we presented a hands-on bannock making workshop lead by Chris Reed! For those who have never had the chance to try it before, bannock is a staple food for many Indigenous peoples across Canada, and variations of this dish are part of traditional meals all across the country. Bannock is more than just food: it’s a way of connecting with culture, heritage, and tradition.

In addition to the bannock-making experience, Kendell Yan and Romi Kim also shared stories from their own cultural backgrounds, offering personal insights into the folklore and traditions that inspire their work.

This exhibition was presented in partnership with the SUM Gallery.

Shapeshifters are a multidisciplinary QTIPOC artist collective based on the stolen lands of the xwməθkwəy̓ əm (Musqueam), Skwxwú7mesh (Squamish), and səl̓ílwətaʔ (Tsleil-Waututh) nations. Romi Kim (they/them) , Chris Reed (they/them), and Kendell Yan (she/they) are close friends, drag performers and accomplices. Also known as SKIM (he/him), Continental Breakfast (they/them) and Maiden China (she/they).

Shapeshifters have been collaborating since 2022. Their artistic practice is rooted in collective care, cultural and community histories, kinship, and queer liberation. Shapeshifters have exhibited work at Sum gallery (2022), the Vancouver Queer Film Festival (2023), James Black Gallery (2023), and Queer Arts Festival (2023).

Carmen Levy-Milne (she/her) is a curator and cultural worker born and raised on the unceded land of the xwməθkwəy̓ əm people. As a diasporic Jewish settler, her practice is primarily concerned with the philosophy of tikkun olam (“the repair of the world”), where she sees her work in the arts sphere as responsible for uplifting reparative, decolonial, and critical artistic responses to our broader social, political, and cultural circumstances. She holds an MA in Critical & Curatorial Studies from UBC and a BA in Communication and Cultural Studies with a Minor in Religion and Cultures from Concordia University. Her work has been featured by the AHVA Gallery, the Burnaby Art Gallery, Centre A, Deer Lake Gallery, and the Morris and Helen Belkin Art Gallery.

Opening September 12 in our Project Gallery is Shadow Biosphere!

Sunny Nestler is a multidisciplinary artist who works in drawing, painting, illustration, book-making, new media, and social practice. Their drawing practice studies mechanisms of biological life using a process that mimics DNA replication and mutation; They draw from observation, then repeat forms until they mutate and change. Their subject matter explores the idea of a parallel universe, using invented creatures based on familiar objects and symbols, rendered in brightly-colored mixed media combinations of drawing, painting, and collage. Their past work includes collaborative animation, community-led arts programming, volunteering at artist-run centres, a municipal commission, and facilitating community workshops on topics such as ink-making, zines, consensus decision making, and access needs. 

This work is inspired by the idea of the shadow biosphere, a hypothetical ecosystem that exists on earth but that we do not currently have the tools to detect; a world where life forms are not carbon-based but perhaps based on silicon or other material that we don’t yet understand. This realm theoretically exists and evolves alongside us, like a type of parallel universe. There might even be organisms that have components in both worlds simultaneously.

In an extension of this idea of co-existent worlds, several of these pieces reference another type of parallel universe which is personal to Nestler’s diasporic Jewish identity. Here, the shadow biosphere is made up of cultural practices that strive to reconcile a sense of belonging with a detachment from place, celebrating a new ancestral homeland in do’ikayt, which means “hereness” in Yiddish. 

There are elements of time-based media (mixed reality and holography) used to express these speculative spaces, where:

Two realities existing in one space ≈ shadow biosphere → mixed reality

One reality existing in two spaces ≈ diasporic particles → holograms

Please join us from 6 - 8pm on Friday September 12th for the opening reception. This special opening includes a live performance by fellow exhibiting artists Kendell Yan, Chris Reed, and Romi Kim; you don’t want to miss this! The opening is free and open to the public, with light snacks and refreshments provided. RSVP here

Sunny Nestler lives on unceded Coast Salish territories, where they are an Assistant Professor at Emily Carr University of Art and Design. Nestler works in drawing, painting, illustration, book-making, new media, and social practice. 

Their current projects center ecological concerns in the Salish Sea watershed area, a type of parallel universe called the shadow biosphere, and Yiddish language revival. They are a co-founder of Bike Saviours Bicycle Collective, Tempe Zine Fest, the Vancouver Community Bike Shop Network, and VR Club, which are all spaces that work to make complicated tools and resources more accessible. Nestler exhibits at zine and alternative press fairs and has produced 14 publications under their imprint Megaspora Press.

Nestler is active in community-based organizations, such as the Bike Kitchen at UBC, Discorder Magazine, and UNIT/PITT Society for Art & Critical Awareness, and their practice has been supported by Canada Council and BC Arts Council grants and residencies at Banff Centre. 

On view in our Members Gallery from August 22 - September 6, 2025 is 100 Selfies in the Bathroom Mirror by one of the Alternator’s founding members, Michael Griffin.

On “100 selfies in the bathroom mirror,” one a night for one hundred nights

Drawing these small self-portraits was a task I set myself during a period of boredom, a task that started with twenty-five and gradually grew to be one hundred, one a night for a hundred nights in front of the bathroom mirror. I was bored because my studio was more or less packed up for moving, a move that has yet to happen. And the last ten were tedious. These are drawings of a virtual self, a reversed image, the one we think we are because we see it all the time as us, which is maybe why photos of us can catch us so unawares, more as others see us.  So these really aren’t like Selfies, that new technological way of communicating a virtual image of ourselves, curated in our phones to disguise for ourselves and others who we are. And maybe to reveal. The phone selfie says, “Look at me, I exist!” A cry for recognition in the electronic void.

The mirror and self-portraiture are constant themes in visual art. The mirror self portrait speaks of intention, skill, experimentation and a way of revealing something concealed: Perhaps. According to Google, the image of the self in the mirror has deep psychological and spiritual significance. Did Rembrandt use one mirror, or two, the second to move from the virtual to the real? His final self-portrait is devastatingly revealing.

The question is, have I learned anything, has this deeply introspective task been of value to the me I think I am? So I’ll have to have another look, especially now that I see them displayed for the public.

As I write this, however, I remind myself that none of this theorizing about mirrors and symbols and history and meaning mattered so much as the determined task of standing in front of the mirror in the bathroom, looking at the reflection of my face, studying it and drawing it quickly in different drawing tools, then colouring some with watercolour for an effect. In other words, the object was understanding the structure of what I was looking at and drawing it. Every night for one hundred nights. That must say something about me.

Michael’s current art practice is focused on figure drawing and painting. He is particularly interested in the immediacy of the gesture, involving a rapid laying down of images, often while the subject is moving. During the Covid pandemic, he made and exhibited small paintings of figures walking on the boardwalk in downtown Kelowna. Michael also made a large series of watercolour gestural drawings in Ballet Kelowna’s studio, a number of which he has turned into paintings. Michael’s work is strongly influenced by German Neo-expressionism, as well as by artists who have included text in their work, such as Jasper Johns and Barbara Kruger.

Michael has exhibited widely in the Okanagan and elsewhere in BC in both public and private galleries. His work is in collections  in Germany, the UK, California and BC. He has also been involved in arts development in Kelowna, including the OAA (Alternator), the Kelowna Public Art Gallery, the Kelowna Public Art Commission and the Rotary Centre for the Arts. Michael has a BA from UBC, a BFA from UVic and an MA from SFU.

It’s the 4th Annual Postcard Project!

Each year, to celebrate our talented Member artists, the Alternator hosts our annual Members Exhibition: the Postcard Project and Studio Sale! This exhibition features work for sale by over 30 of our members and spans painting, drawing, woodworking, photography, printmaking, and ceramics. As well, a select number of participants have created a series of handmade postcards that are available for $15 each!

This exhibition is on view now until August 16th. Come by to see the amazing diversity of talent that makes up the Alternator, and maybe even find your new favourite piece of art!

This exhibition includes work by:

Alison Beaumont, Anita McManus, Barbara Bell, Carney Oudendag, Carolyn Kingsley, Chantel Thederahn, Cool Arts Society, Katya Torin, Ella Cottier, Fredrik Thacker, Gail Hourigan, Hailey Gleboff, Hana Hamaguchi, Holly Dagenais, Jaine Buse, Kelly Taylor, Marguerite MacIntosh, Monique van Besouw, Moozhan Ahmadzadegan, Nikki Bose, Patty Leinemann, Paula Charter, Rachelle Furney, Rosalie Urban, Ross Cone, Ryan Lough, Sharon Duguay, and Shauna Oddleifson.

The Orchard Valley Quilters Guild is an organization that aims to promote the art form of quilting, exchange creative ideas, foster friendship, and give back to their community by providing quilts to those in need. This year the Guild has focused on creating quilts to be donated to the former residents of the Hadgraft Wilson Place.

The opening of Hadgraft Wilson Place in May 2023 was the realization of a long awaited dream of Pathways Abilities Society and the families they served. The 68 unit structure provided more than just housing for folks with low to moderate incomes. Diversity among the 89 tenants, which included people with disabilities, seniors, single persons and families with children, was recognized as a key factor contributing to a flourishing sense of community that grew within the building. 

On April 2, 2024, the residents were suddenly evacuated due to structural safety concerns of the building. Pathways continued to do their best to support the tenants by helping to organize temporary housing. Okanagan College and Pathways collaborated to form an agreement that allowed tenants to move into their nearly completed student housing for three months at a reduced cost. During that time, Pathways continued to work with agencies and outside sources to try to assist in finding new and appropriate housing for the tenants. But due to the lack of affordable and accessible housing, this became a huge undertaking, with many of the tenants unable to afford market rentals. Tenants were offered some additional (albeit limited) financial support to help with the costs of market rentals by UBC in an effort to assist when it was clear that the tenants could no longer return to their homes in the near future. On August 15th, 2024, the tenancies ended.

Despite these efforts, the building continues to be uninhabitable and its future uncertain. The residents are now scattered within and outside the community. Stable, affordable housing continues to be an extremely stressful challenge for some. For many of these folks, some of whom have no other family members or who had previously been socially isolated, the loss of their community has been devastating. 

As a community, how do we demonstrate caring for some of our most vulnerable citizens? Sometimes small gestures can go a long way to let people know their plight has not been forgotten. The guild hopes these quilts will provide a sense of comfort and support for the displaced residents of Hadgraft Wilson Place

Please join us on Friday, June 20th from 4-6pm for an opening reception for COMFORTING OUR COMMUNITY WITH QUILTS. This reception is free and open to the public. Tea, coffee, and light snacks will be provided.

The Orchard Valley Quilters Guild is a group whose aims are to promote our art form, exchange creative ideas, foster friendship and to give back to the community by providing quilts to those in need.

Annually we donate 400 quilts to the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) at KGH, a minimum of 250 Christmas stockings to the Salvation Army, more than 100 heart comfort pillows to Hospice House, and quilts to the Nurse Family Partnership Program, the Kids Count Program and the Women’s Shelter and others. 

Special projects in the past have included quilts donated in 2022-23 to Survivors of Residential Schools and victims of the McDougall Creek Wildfire. This year we have chosen the former tenants of Hadgraft Wilson Place to be the recipients of our Comfort Quilts.

Exploration of cultural identity. This is how Tanya Zilinski’s voyage with loom beading tapestries emerged. Colour, materials and textures are guided by spirit; their hands flow with direction of that which cannot be seen but is there in celestial essence and in Tanya’s reality. Tanya Zilinski uses traditional loom beadwork for the purpose of passing on cultural knowledge, language, oral stories, for a spiritual connection to their Ancestors and as a daily tincture to cure the body and mind. Tanya Zilinski has developed their own methods and techniques through experimentation for creating large loom beaded tapestries that unite two cultures, complimenting one another, for the next seven generations and beyond of community and family. Tanya is at oneness while they are creating, and this process has gifted them a new perspective on life. It is with great gratitude that Tanya acknowledges this canoe journey has guided them to a good place and the Ancestors will continue paddling alongside them to help navigate through the waters. 

In this series, Tanya Zilinski is exploring three meanings of Transcendence. The physical meaning, the philosophical meaning and the spiritual meaning of the word. This series is comprised of eight ultra-contemporary, abstract loom beaded tapestries, each measuring approximately 21 by 34 inches, and a sculpture made from a vintage HBC blanket, antique trade beads, modern Czech seed beads, and canadian currency with a concealed message only visible in certain lighting conditions. In addition, as an Indigenous artist, the tapestries will be sewn onto British Melton wool as an act of resistance and reclamation. In doing so, it is an expression and a symbol of decolonizing Tanya’s pieces, therefore taking back their power from the colonial regime that largely supports the white settler colonial narrative.

All the tapestries are created with one hundred percent trust in the process alone, with chaos theory in mind, delving into the multifaceted meaning of transcendence. Even though the pieces do not follow a specific pattern, the rule of fractals still applies. Fractals are hidden, repeating patterns that are all around us. We may not notice them, but we are innately attracted to them

transcendence (n.) / trænˈsɛn dəns / c. 1600, from transcendent + -ence, or else from Medieval Latin transcendentia, from Latin transcendentem. Related: Transcendency.

One thing Tanya has found in their research is that numerous artists and philosophers have researched the meaning of Transcendence and come up with their own conclusions. The general consensus is that transcendence is a good thing. In this series Tanya only presents their own perspectives and includes Indigenous perspectives on the meaning of the word.

Viewers are invited to experience each of the pieces in their own way by searching for patterns in seemingly chaos, focusing on colours and using their imaginations, transcend, what they see and feel. The audience will be encouraged to come back on multiple occasions, at their own leisure, to see if they experience or imagine anything new and share their perspectives in a journal made available at the gallery.

On May 30th from 6-8pm, join us for an opening reception featuring light snacks and refreshments. This event is free and open to the public.

This project was made possible with the support of the Canada Council for the Arts, to whom the artist extends their sincere gratitude.

Tanya is a person who is a visual artist, a Halq'eméylem teacher, and is the Matriarch of their family. They are a member of The Red River Nation in Manitoba with maternal family and ancestral ties to Anishinaabe, Cree, Dakota, and Huron Wendat Nations throughout Turtle Island's Plains and Great Lakes regions and is Ukrainian paternally. One of their traditional names is Speplól, which means Little Crow and was a name given to them at the age of fourteen.

They were born and have lived their entire life on the stolen lands of the Chowethel people, Ts'qó:ls, which is the Halq'eméylem name for what is known to settlers today as “Hope, B.C”. Their medium is traditional Indigenous loom beadwork and the retelling of oral stories and teachings through patterns laid out on beadwork tapestries. They were taught to loom bead at 15 years old by a Stó:lō Elder in their community at Chawathil First Nation. Speplól has developed methods and techniques for creating large loom beaded tapestries made from tiny glass seed beads.

Speplól is connected to the Stó:lō community in the Teltíyt Tribe area through unification of the last 32 years, six children, and grandchildren. They have both training and permissions from Elders and community members to teach the language and culture of the Upper River Stó:lō people and is a certified teacher of the BCTF currently teaching the language and culture for School District 78 Fraser Cascade.

low-rez, or low-resolution, pays homage to low-tech media and mediums. The exhibition honours the intersections of Indigenous storytelling, new media, Indigenous futurism, and available consumer technologies. low-rez celebrates storytelling through light based mediums, shape shifting and optical illusion, coding, and glitch photography. Together, the works create the synergy of futurism combined with low-key visuals, Northern Lights, and Northwest Coast First Nations aesthetics.

Krystle Silverfox (b. 1984) is a Selkirk First Nation (Wolf Clan) interdisciplinary visual artist living and working on the traditional territories of the Kwanlin Dün First Nation and Ta’an Kwach’an Council (Whitehorse, Yukon). Silverfox holds both a BFA in Visual Art (2015); a BA in Gender, Race, Sexuality and Social Justice from UBC (2013); also an MFA in Interdisciplinary studies from Simon Fraser University (2019). Inspired by a material- focused practice, Silverfox uses visual mediums to communicate ideas and tell stories. Silverfox’s work explores concepts of Indigenous futurism, feminism, activism, and de-colonialism.