Arts and culture are integral to a city’s distinct personality and flair, which is why we're committed to connecting locals with their civic spaces through programming, events and partnerships.
Vancouver Civic Theatres looks to use its venues as gallery space to provide an opportunity for local visual artists and arts organizations to exhibit their work. These artists are selected through a call and jury process which occurs annually. The artists range from emerging and mid-career to more established artists. Our intention is for both artists and visitors to experience and share in the work, using art as a catalyst for individual and community engagement.
Exhibitions will be available for viewing during show times for ticket holders. There will also be opportunities to view the exhibitions without a ticket through our seasonal Visual Arts Open House. Open House dates and information will be listed below once available.
Applications for 2024 exhibition slots in the lobbies of the Queen Elizabeth Theatre are now closed.
Check back next spring for the 2025 Call for Artists.
Summer Exhibition in the Queen Elizabeth Theatre Lobbies
Transformations Art Collective
July 2023 to September 2023
Olga Campbell, Dorothy Doherty and Jane McDougall
This exhibition brings together the work of three artists who share a common vision, employing similar techniques and materials in their art.
Disrupted Narratives features artwork created by a specific process, where layers of paper are adhered to wood panels and altered, distressed, abraded, and more. The pieces are worked and reworked until the desired aesthetic is achieved. To this end, the artworks in this exhibition include early works, as well as new works inspired by experimentation, time, and change. This exhibition presents the diversity of possibilities that can arise from a non-traditional approach with modern materials.
Olga Campbell
Olga Campbell is a visual artist and writer. In addition to having multiple solo and group shows for the past thirty years, she has written two books, “Graffiti Alphabet” and “A Whisper Across Time.” She works in various mediums: mixed media, photography, sculpture and digital photo collage and uses alternative processes in much of her work.
Dorothy Doherty
Dorothy Doherty received her art education from Vancouver School of Art (now Emily Carr University of Art & Design) and Capilano University. She holds an MA in History in Art (University of Victoria) and a PDP (Simon Fraser University). Dorothy is concerned with the effect humans have on the environment. Her artwork blends abstraction and realism, and examines issues including urban decay, global issues, and the beauty of the world around us.
Jane McDougall
Jane McDougall, an ECUAD graduate, is a potter-turned-artist. Inspired by nature and fueled by curiosity, she creates textured and colorful artworks in her backyard studio. Jane's intuitive approach to her materials is evident in her layered, painted, and sanded compositions. Viewers of her art witness her creative journey. Recently awarded SFCA status by the Federation of Canadian Artists, Jane also serves as a juror for the Federation Gallery, embracing her role in the art community.
Spring Exhibition in the ANNEX
Paulo OConnor - ICONS
May 2023 to August 2023
Understanding that our physical surroundings can influence our self is known as a sense of place. In a developed city, we rarely can create our own physical environs. Yet our surroundings still enrich us. They engender a collective sense of belonging. I’m intrigued with the transportive nature of communication. Language and typography are themselves architecture — structures of myriad intentional details that influence our ideas and opinions. ICONS seeks to combine these constructs illustratively — with unexpected beauty and a slowly revealing depth of perspective.
Vancouver Community College - Jewellery Art and Design Graduates exhibit
Queen Elizabeth Theatre - Balcony Lobby
VCT’s creative spaces showcase and empower local artists and artist collectives by providing accessible and high impact gallery spaces. VCT’s partnership with the Vancouver Community College allows graduates of the Jewellery Art and Design program to display their award-winning work on the balcony level of the Queen Elizabeth Theatre lobby.
The current exhibition features work from Camilo Jaramillo, Sonya Schmid, and Kelsey Wilson.
Arts Umbrella - Gallery for Young Artists
Vancouver Playhouse Lobby
VCT proudly celebrates the work of young artists enrolled in the Arts Umbrella Foundation Program. The Foundation Program provides a multi-disciplinary experience for students aged 7-12 with an emerging interest in Art and Design. The students are exposed to many creative disciplines throughout the yearlong program, where they are able to experiment with new forms of working.
VCT’s partnership with Arts Umbrella brings local young artists to the forefront of the artistic community by displaying the students’ year-end pieces in the lively lobbies of the Vancouver Playhouse.
Arts Umbrella’s Foundation Program is generously supported by the Poseley Family.
Platforms
Over the course of the next two years, Platforms: Nine Places for Seeing will be showcased on multiple public platforms throughout the city and will present new works regularly.
It will feature newly commissioned works by 21 local xʷməθkʷəy̓əm (Musqueam), sḵwx̱wú7mesh (Squamish), səlilwətaɬ (Tsleil-Waututh), and urban Indigenous artists.
We are proud to host three of the artists, Olivia George on the Queen Elizabeth Theatre windows, Atheana Picha on the Vancouver Playhouse windows and Aaron Nelson-Moody on the šxʷƛ̓exən Xwtl’a7shn lightbox.
For more info go to: Nine Places for Seeing