Visual Art

Scott Saunders wants to maintain an almost Masonic level of secrecy about his show at Saint Mary’s University Art Gallery. It’s appropriate, since his installation Grand Lodge is derived from Freemasonry and built out of artifacts taken from the former Freemasons hall on Barrington Street. When the Masons left the building in 2008 because they […]

“New!” reads a gallery wall-sized red bubble, slightly to the left of Dalhousie Art Gallery’s entrance. Garry Neill Kennedy’s painted wall projection yells at you as a Future Shop flyer would, but his installation for the gallery’s newest exhibition, Giving Notice: Words on Walls, is inspired by a small stamp placed throughout a medal catalogue […]

The day demands focus and clarity. Part of the world blurs, becoming peripheral. In Losing It at MSVU Art Gallery, three artists turn periphery into focal point. “This is beautiful,” offers Kirtley Jarvis, looking down at the cardboard sign, with its magic-markered message, in her hands. The textile artist, from London, ON, has selected it […]

Eyelevel Gallery has two giant papier mache fists resting on their pink knuckles, with forearms reaching up to where elbows don’t exist. They’re part of artist Chantal Tardiff’s work (pictured above) for Visual Arts Nova Scotia’s mentorship program exhibition, Tracks, and are coupled with shots of Tardiff wearing the giant fists and playing with positions […]

Take a trip down the rabbit hole this Saturday to see what 12 artists have been cooking up all week in Upper Economy. It’s the second year that the White Rabbit Festival has run, where artist Tom Young invites other artists to create installations on his land for the week leading up to Saturday’s unveiling. […]

Nomi Chi has brought her work back to Halifax this month for her second Utility Gallery show in as many summers. With Chi’s current exhibit, What Found me in the Woods, the young Vancouver tattoo artist and painter’s biologically driven work plays like a twisted fairy tale on the gallery’s walls. “Dark fairy tale and […]

When photographer Graham Ward couldn’t find the camera or film that he wanted for his art, he made it himself. “I wanted big prints, and I really like the aesthetic of the old-style photography,” the Australian-born photographer says over the phone from his Dartmouth home. “I taught myself because there really was nowhere to learn […]

For artist Kiano Zamani, sacred geometry is the art of the universe. For his audience, Zamani wants his sacred geometry-based art to be soothing. “The paintings are supposed to give you a feeling of relaxation,” writes the interdisciplinary student from NSCAD. The repetitive shapes fanning out in a kaleidoscope pattern do give a trance-like feel, […]

Summer time normally means a slower, vacation-like pace, but this Gottingen Street gallery is going ahead full steam with five one-week shows featuring work from its members. Monday sees the opening of In Here & Out There, with work from artists Ella Tetrault and Carey Jernigan, Vince Vining, Robert Scott, Emma Fitzgerald, Keltie MacNeill, Howard […]

Sitting on a passenger train somewhere in eastern New Brunswick and listening to a voice announce that the train will be an additional four hours late getting into Halifax, it’s easy to forget that train travel was once a crucial mode of transport. Photographer Scott Conarroe is conscious of this change. Known for his large-format, […]

Photographer Shehab Illyas has a story to tell: that of the personality and lifestyle of Halifax’s scooter owners. Walk into FRED on Agricola Street and you can follow his portraiture narrative, with local owners and their scoots placed casually in front of landmarks such as Gus’ Pub, the Common, Lost & Found and Pilcher’s Flowers. […]

Canada Day brings a patriotic list of events to Dartmouth’s waterfront, filled with live music (see the shortlist on page 15), pancake breakfasts (see Events, page 18) and red-and-white painted faces. Walk along the boardwalk anytime between 10am and 6pm and you’ll find more than face paint—over 30 artists will be both showing and creating […]