 Crown Isle Resort photo The communities of Tofino and Ucluelet offer an excellent selection of First Nations art and craftwork - everything from masks and totems to pottery and prints.
Then there's Chemainus. This quirky town has commissioned over 30 large-scale murals over the years and turned its downtown into a giant, outdoor art gallery.
Art Gallery of Greater Victoria
The Art Gallery of Greater Victoria houses BC's largest public art collection, with an emphasis on Canadian and Japanese art. It also includes many works from other parts of the world.
The gallery features an extensive, permanent exhibit of the work of Emily Carr, the most important BC artist of her generation.
Gulf Islands
Art is such an essential part of the character of Gulf Islands life that no visit is complete without at least some exploration of their creative offerings. It's wonderful to see the exquisite land and seascapes you've just enjoyed outside interpreted on canvas or to pick up a piece of pottery and know that the clay was collected from a nearby riverbank.
You'll find the biggest concentration of galleries and studios on Salt Spring Island in the village of Ganges, but many artists live, work and sell their work on the other main southern islands of Galiano, Mayne, Saturna and Pender. You can take self-guided tours of Salt Spring Island's studios with a purchase of the island's Studio Tour Map.
The main southern islands offer regular ferry service from Swartz Bay on Vancouver Island and Tsawwassen on the mainland. An inter-island ferry service makes hopping between these islands quite easy.
> Salt Spriing Artcraft Gallery website
> Salt Spring Studio Tour website
Ucluelet & Tofino
Like many places on Vancouver Island, Ucluelet and Tofino are home to numerous artists and artisans. Much of the province's West Coast-inspired art is produced here, with First Nations art particularly plentiful. Masks, carvings, totems, jewellery, pottery and prints by West Coast First Nations artists are available from a number of galleries in both towns. There is also a great diversity of interesting work for sale, including power-saw animal carvings, limited-edition prints, stone carvings, books, pottery, basketry and West Coast gift items.
Ucluelet and Tofino are a three-hour drive west from Nanaimo via Highway 4.
Chemainus
The expression "paint the town" takes on a whole new meaning in Chemainus. This former logging community has transformed its downtown into a vast, outdoor art gallery. More than 30 murals -all with a local history theme- adorn its commercial buildings, a sight that attracts as many as 300,000 visitors each year. Most come during the internationally acclaimed Festival of Murals, which began in 1982 as part of the revitalization effort that followed the closure of the local sawmill. Today, Chemainus is home to many artists and artisans who supply its shops and galleries with beautiful Aboriginal as well as West Coast-inspired art and craftwork.
Chemainus is a 1-hour drive north from Victoria via Highway 1.
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