Current exhibitions
Paul Walde: Weather Conditions
Sat Jan 17 to Sat April 11, 2026
Legacy Downtown | 630 Yates St.
Lekwungen Territory
Curated by Dr. Carolyn Butler Palmer, Associate Professor of Art History and Visual Studies and Williams Legacy Chair at the University of Victoria.
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 (b. 1968). 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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Everything is Special: A Celebration of Queer and Trans+ materials from the University of Victoria Libraries Special Collections & University Archives and University Art Collections
June 2, 2025 – extended to February 11, 2026
Legacy Maltwood Gallery | Mearns Centre for Learning – McPherson Library
University of Victoria | lək̓ʷəŋən Territory
What’s special about Queer and Trans+ artists’ books, zines, and multiples? Everything. From one-of-a-kind limited editions to unique historical items, the University of Victoria Libraries Special Collections & University Archives and University Art Collections is not only home to the world’s largest collection of Trans+ archival materials, but also a range of printed matter, DIY creations, art, and ephemera representing Queer and Trans+ people and activism from a diversity of creators and communities.
As part of the inaugural Queer Island Festival of the Arts, it’s extra special for UVic Libraries and University Art Collections to be part of a larger conversation with other community partners and organizations, to show our colours and our Pride!
Curated by Michael Radmacher, Transgender Archives Metadata Librarian; Caroline Riedel, Interim Director, Legacy Art Galleries and University Art Collections; Lara Wilson Director, Special Collections & University Archivist and Christine Walde, Fine Arts Librarian, with Heather Dean, Associate Director of Special Collections.
Exhibition is open during regular library hours.
Image: Self Portrait, Joe Average, 1997.
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Located on campus, First Peoples House displays artwork from the university's collection through rotating exhibitions.
Walking in Spirit: Francis and Beau Dick
March 1, 2024 — early 2026
First People’s House | UVic Campus
Lekwungen Territory
Before his passing in 2017, cousins Beau and Francis Dick frequently talked about exhibiting their work together. This exhibition seeks to honour that wish and to foster a deeper connection to their relationship as parallel artists and family.
Walking in Spirit is an intimate display of serigraphs by Beau and Francis from the late 1970s to early 2000s, that explore the incredible cultural teachings of their artworks.
Curated by Teresa Sammut with Lorilee Wastasecoot.
Image: Francis Dick, Spiritual Truth, serigraph, 1998.
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