Main Gallery & Cubes

Group Show
Stepping Stones – An Escape into Nature

About the Artwork

Stepping Stones: an escape into nature - “Stepping Stones” offers a tribute to the landscape of Victoria, “The Garden City”. It describes our art journey in relation to pathways through a garden. We liken the creative process to a walk along stepping stones leading to a place for quiet reflection on the beauty of nature and the art of living in harmony. The work in this exhibit encompasses our interactions with nature and love for the environment. As painters, we are inspired by nature and seek a Zen-like, meditative state to embrace the experience of the here and now, an escape from the current global turmoil and news of the day.

About the Artists

Marilyn Chapman’s paintings
offer a close-up view of nature’s fragile life systems. The garden outside her studio window creeps into the work as light, colours,
and textures flow intuitively from the paint through the language
of abstraction.

Linda Darby applies acrylic paint
to a textured canvas in a spontaneous manner. She uses visible brushstrokes
to depict light inspired by nature. Each painting evolves in its own way to invite associations and a sense of place.

Nancy Dolan has a close affinity
to nature as a photographer
and publisher of a natural history guidebook. Her work exemplifies the need to be connected to
the earth as she incorporates natural materials into her diverse body of art.

Liz Wells enjoys painting
en plein air.  She works with a variety of media, sketching with graphite or charcoal, painting
with gouache, watercolour
or oils.  From these sketches come larger studio paintings, usually in oil.

Free Events
Opening Reception: July 23, 2026 between 5:00 and 7:00pm. 

Artist Demonstration

• July 25, 2026 between 1:00 and 3:00pm with Liz Wells (painting with Gouache) and Nancy Dolan (mixed media techniques)
• August 15, 2026 between 1:00 and 3:00pm with Nancy Dolan demonstrating the many ways of using texture in acrylics with various pastes, papers, collage materials, bits & bobs, tools & paint. Create more interest & possibilities in your art with a variety of textures.

Free Hands-On Workshop

• August 8, 2026 between 1-3pm with Marilyn Chapman and Linda Darby.  Learn techniques to draw and paint in mini sketchbooks that you’ll create.  Materials provided.

Websites:
Marilyn Chapman
Nancy Dolan
Liz Wells
Linda Darby

Hallway Case #2 

Garth Homer Artworks Program

About the Artwork / Artists:

ArtWorks is an artist development program for emerging and established artists. Participants engage in a supported studio environment where they can refine their artistic skills, experiment with different mediums, and exhibit their work.

Artists spend each day working on their art, experimenting with different mediums, and refining their techniques in a professional supported studio setting. The atmosphere is relaxed yet focused, allowing participants to work at their own pace while receiving hands-on support from staff who are skilled, practicing artists. These mentors provide guidance, demonstrations, and constructive feedback to help artists push their creative boundaries and bring their visions to life.  For 2026, the ArtWorks Program will be showcasing a variety of different art in this display case, in partnership with Saanich Community Services and Cedar Hill Recreation Centre. 
Website

Cubes & Rear Window Case

Bisia Belina
Little Altars Everywhere

About the Artwork:

I have spent the last 50 years in the world of music. It has been and continues to be my main mode of creative expression. For 40 of those years, massage therapy has been my profession. SoundBody emerged from combining both of my passions. Since the pandemic, things changed. I adapted by giving myself permission to explore other forms of expression. Two public art installations at Ross Bay boardwalk (2021 & 2022) helped me redirect my confusion and sense of dislocation. Creating these Walking Meditations and the little altars along the boardwalk, helped me reconnect with a sense of reverence and stillness.  Little Altars Everywhere was born from these experiences. This is my first multimedia exhibit. 

During Covid I took early retirement from my massage practice and stopped teaching improvisational voice and movement classes, known as VoiceWorks and Vocal Body. During that period I began to declutter my life.
That process included saying goodbye to the women I have been, the jewels, rings, shawls, costumes dresses I once wore. As I was shedding
my old skins I began to incorporate my relics into my art as of a way of transforming them and myself. The poem by Emory Hall was so appropriate and striking as it gave words to the process I was consciously going through. And the quote by Nobel Prize winner Illya Prigogine (Nobel Prize winner in Chemistry) became my mantra.  “When a complex system is far from equilibrium small islands of coherence have the capacity to shift the entire system to a higher level.”

About the Artist:

Born in Montreal to Polish immigrant parents who survived the aftermath of WWII, Bisia Belina was raised in a home where art was a vital tool for resilience. Her father played piano, and her mother was a poet and painter, instilling in her the value of creative expression for emotional balance.
Website

Cedar Hill Facility Hours

Accessibility: Accessible washrooms, Wheelchair access, Designated handyDART loading zone and disabled parking stalls. 

For inquiries related to exhibitions, please contact Shantael Sleight at shantael.sleight@saanich.ca or call 778-584-3756.