The Campbell River Art Gallery is an accessible starting point when exploring the area's arts scene. The gallery is located in the same building as the Visitor Centre on the eastside of the Tyee Plaza parking lot downtown. Talk to the friendly staff at either location for tips on private galleries, home studios and exhibition spaces.
Campbell River Art Gallery
The Campbell River Art Gallery presents 20 exhibitions annually in its two galleries, many of them dedicated to local and Vancouver Island visual artists. Summer programs for children, teens, and adults allow visiting creatives to satisfy their own passions while partners and/or other family members play in the outdoors. The small gift shop is packed with work by such Campbell River artists as painter Carol Seeley, sculptor Sylvia McGourlick and raku potter Ellen Statz.
The gallery sponsors an annual garden and art tour in early July. And during the six-week pre-Christmas period, the space becomes an arts and crafts market featuring giftwrappable creations from more than 80 plus local artisans.
First Nations Art
The Wei Wai Kum House of Treasures anchors the waterfront east side of Discovery Harbour Centre and architecturally is a modern interpretation of a traditional Kwakwaka'wakw Big House. Much of the work here is by various members of the Henderson family – notably the renowned carver Bill Henderson (whose totems stand outside the gallery) and his brother Mark, an acclaimed painter.
Another excellent stop for First Nations artwork is the Campbell River Museum (470 South Island Highway). The gift shop here is filled with masks, wooden carvings, drums, rattles, bentwood boxes, gold and silver jewellery, prints and grass baskets. Featured artists include Bill and Greg Henderson, Curtis Wilson and Raymond Shaw.
Clayton Pidcock's Raven Oumbuck Studio on Quadra Island is open by appointment. Internationally renowned Kwagiulth/Squamish carver Dwayne Simeon was born in Campbell River.
Sybil Andrews Cottage
The Campbell River Arts Council is now based in the Sybil Andrews Cottage, the former home of the noted English painter Sybil Andrews (whose work is housed in Calgary's Glenbow Museum). She and her boat-building husband Walter Morgan lived in this quaint blue cottage for more than four decades. Their home and the pretty grounds are open for tours.
Private Galleries & Home Studios
Pick up the Artists of the Campbell River Area brochure at the Visitor Centre. It lists 20 or so art outlets in the region, including the gallery at the Kallisti Photography Studio, the Tidemark Theatre (whose lobby doubles as an exhibition space) and painter Jill Paris Rody's home studio in Oyster River.