There is always so much to explore and discover in Lower Lonsdale, whether you are a first-time visitor or an experienced local! With so many local galleries, museums, pop-up exhibitions, and public art displays, there is something for everyone. Most of these experiences are also free or low-cost, which makes supporting cultural enrichment within the community that much easier. Here is what is happening in Lower Lonsdale:
Mosaic Revival: Three Contemporary Expressions brings together the works of three internationally acclaimed mosaic artists from British Columbia: Daryl Wood, Lilian Broca, and Maria Abagis. Join the artists for the exhibition opening on Thursday, May 1, 6pm-8pm and for their artist talk on Saturday, May 24, 2pm—4pm. Shining the spotlight on this ancient medium; these artists challenge the viewer’s perception of what a mosaic is, and its relevance in the art world today. Mosaics, the art of arranging small pieces of coloured glass, stone and ceramic to create intricate images, has played an important aesthetic, cultural and historical role throughout the millennia. While lesser known in North America, there is a growing community of mosaic artists in Canada, many of whom are making a splash and a name for themselves on the international stage, including the artists in this exhibit.
The Polygon Gallery presents Star Witnesses, a group exhibition by Monika Szewczyk that assembles works by a constellation of renowned artists whose insightful observations of the cosmos bring new understandings of exploratory and migratory movements on Planet Earth. The title gestures toward each artist’s precise vision, honed at the technical limits of photography, and hints at how their work can turn viewers into powerful witnesses in turn. The found and newly produced images take inspiration from the skies while giving substance to vital, human histories: one woman’s survival in an internment camp; one man’s narrow escape from a white mob; underexposed connections between a war in the Middle East and peace in a mid-sized German town; an artist’s moment of grace on top a moonlit mountain, far from home. Each work offers the image of the cosmos as material evidence for a distinctive perspective, worldview, or imaginary — together, they attest to the fact that there is no universal way of gazing at the universe. The exhibition features Daniel Boyd, Vija Celmins, David Horvitz, Bouchra Khalili, Judy Radul, Thomas Ruff, Urban Subjects (Sabine Bitter, Jeff Derksen, and Helmut Weber), Carrie Mae Weems, and Paul Wong. Admission to The Polygon Gallery is by donation, courtesy of BMO Financial Group.
Reflecting is a new work by Sḵwx̱wú7mesh artist Xwalacktun on the The Polygon’s south facade.
For thousands of years, the people of the Sḵwx̱wú7mesh (Squamish) Nation have been living in the Sea-to-Sky Corridor, and have witnessed this land undergo many changes and transitions. A story shared since time immemorial tells of the Creator flooding these lands when the people abandoned their ancestral teachings. The people took to their canoes, paddling to Nch’ḵay̓ (pronounced in-ch-KAI) – also known as Mt. Garabaldi – and gathered at the peak.
The story was recorded by Chief Louis Miranda. Known in the community as Uncle Louis, he significantly documented, taught, and archived the language and culture of the Squamish Nation. When the artist Xwalacktun was a young man, Chief Louis would refer to him as “Nch’ḵay̓”, as he would come down from upper Squamish to North Vancouver. Many years later, in 2023, Xwalacktun took a photograph of the peaks of Nch’ḵay̓. He sketched over the picture digitally, and wrote “Time In Memorial” across it. These words have been reproduced as a new artwork.
Superimposed over the reflection of Vancouver/ K’emk’emelay (pronounced KEM-kem-a-lie), Xwalacktun’s phrase is a play on “time immemorial”. He suggests a continual act of remembering, rather than a time beyond memory. There is a misconception that Indigenous People do not have records as there was no written language. In fact, history has been passed down through robust oral traditions. From one generation to the next, Knowledge Holders have ensured that memory is recorded.
To learn more about The Story of the Great Flood, please follow this link, shared with permission from the Squamish Nation’s economic development corporation named after Nch’ḵaý.
National Indigenous Peoples Day, observed on June 21, is a celebration of the history, culture, and diversity of the First Nations, Inuit, and Métis Peoples in Canada.
More about Xwalacktun
Xwalacktun (born Rick Harry) has decades of experience as a carver and keeper of traditional Coast Salish culture and design principles. Xwalacktun was born and raised in Squamish. He carries with him the rich ancestries of his mother’s and father’s clans from Coast Salish and Kw’kwa k’wakw Nations. His father, Pekultn, carried a hereditary chieftainship from Seymour Creek, North Vancouver. He would like to acknowledge Capilano College and Emily Carr College of Art for teaching him the skills to have a start in his career. His endurance and commitment through trial and error helped propel him forward as an artist.
Healing and growth have become a central theme around Xwalacktun’s work. By focusing on how the traditional stories relate to his own life, he suggests to us how to use this ancient knowledge to help heal ourselves and our community. The giving out of positive energy and seeing it come back through the young people is the reward that continues to feed his spirit so that he can give back to others. Today, Xwalacktun is an accomplished artist in wood, paper, stone, glass and metals.
His public works are situated throughout Vancouver and the surrounding areas. Some widely recognized pieces are: First Nations designs on Vancouver 2010 Olympic wear, carved double doors for B.C. Hydro’s Burnaby and Vancouver locations, cedar doors for Harrison Hot Springs Resort’s “Healing Springs Spa”, and a metal, brick and glass sculpture in West Vancouver’s Ambleside Park.
Outside Canada, Xwalacktun has carved a forty-foot totem pole in New Hampshire for the Kokopelli Gallery and has 30 totem poles throughout Scotland. He collaborated with three artists in Beijing for the Canada Pavilion at the 2008 Olympics. For the 2008 and 2009 Nordic Winter Games, he designed banners and medals as well as elaborate snow boards for the First Nations Snowboarding team. For Vancouver’s 2010 Olympic bid, he contributed the initial Winter Sports Icons for the Bid Book as well as the Bid Box Lid.
In 2012, he received the Order of British Columbia for his many contributions to diverse communities. He is also a recipient of the “FANS” Honor Award from the North Vancouver Arts Council which acknowledged his commitments both locally and world‐wide. Most recently, he won the 2023 Polygon Award for First Nation Art in the Award of Distinction for Lifetime Achievement category.
Chester Fields is a professionally juried photography exhibition for high school students. Initiated in 2009 and named for The Polygon Gallery’s former home at 333 Chesterfield Avenue, the programme proposes a theme for artists to respond to through an original work of photographic art.
In 2025, the theme of Shadow Play was shaped in the context of the forthcoming exhibition Star Witnesses, on view at The Polygon Gallery this summer. Students have been invited to consider how sensors in camera technology render – or fail to render – darkness, and how the resulting images compare to human vision. Operating at the limits, and limitations, of visibility, how might photographs reveal deeper insights about the world, and the imaginations of its witnesses?
Jurors for the 2025 edition include artist and writer Lucien Durey; Capture Photography Festival Curatorial Assistant Khim Mata Hipol; and The Polygon Gallery Assistant Curator Serena Steel.
