Please note that the West Vancouver Art Museum is closed. The Art Museum will reopen for regular hours on January 22, 2025. Please join us for the opening reception Neighbours | 邻·礼: Xiangmei Su and Jiangang Su, taking place January 21, 2025. 

Joan Balzar, Electra II (detail), c. 1967/2009, acrylic on canvas with neon tubing, 323 x 152.4 cm. Gift of Joan Balzar
Joan Balzar, Electra II (detail) (c. 1967/2009). Acrylic on canvas with neon tubing, 323 x 152.4 cm. Gift of Joan Balzar.

A Generous Spirit: Highlights from the Permanent Collection

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Opening Reception: July 24, 7–9 p.m.
Talk and Tour: Saturday, August 18, 2 p.m.

In 1989, in hopes it would one day be displayed in “a future West Vancouver Art Gallery”, Sandra Therrien Schemmer and her siblings donated Emily Carr’s 1912 painting, Hazelton Totem, to the District of West Vancouver in memory of their parents, Dr. and Mrs. E. E. Therrien. This work, one of three by the artist available to the public in West Vancouver, was transferred to the care of the West Vancouver Museum in 2006, forming the basis of its Permanent Collection.

The Museum’s holdings expanded further with the donation of several paintings by local artist Jane Billaux in 2007 and Gordon Smith’s gift of his personal collection of artworks in 2015. These contributions coincided with several successful museum exhibitions on the history of art and modernism on the West Coast, and the many creative individuals who chose the North Shore as a place to live and cultivate their careers.

Thanks to other generous patrons, artists and donors, the Museum now houses over 300 works by local artists and their associates from across the country, alongside architectural photographs by Selwyn Pullan and John Fulker and design objects by B.C. Binning, Fred Hollingsworth and others. The Museum’s Permanent Collection ensures that the community’s legacy of great art and design is preserved and celebrated. A Generous Spirit presents a selection of these exceptional works, highlighting works by women artists in particular.

Events

Talk and Tour: Saturday, August 18, 2 p.m.

Please join curator Darrin Morrison for a tour of the exhibition and a talk exploring the artists’ connections to the community.

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