Main Gallery
Emma Ainsworth
Inside and Out
About the Artwork
Inside and Out explores how memory can impact collective spaces and therefore imbue a greater personal significance into everyday life. The focus being on the overlap between interior, personal thoughts and external, lived experiences, and how memory is an accessible method into how our personal and collective lives collide.
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About the Artist
Emma Ainsworth is a multimedia artist, who practices both at the University of Victoria as well as in her own community in Victoria B.C. She has dedicated herself towards trying to develop a visual language of self, that is, exploring her emotions, identity, and relationship to the world around her through her artistic practice. Emma’s mediums of choice often include acrylic and oil paint, as well as watercolor coupled with mixed dry-media, and she pulls inspiration from surrealist and impressionist art practices that utilize color as a heavy form of aesthetic and symbolism.
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Free Events
Opening Reception: Friday, August 21, 2026 between 6 and 8pm.
Hallway Case #2
Garth Homer Artworks Program
Organic Matters
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.
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Cubes & Rear Window Case
Bisia Belina
Little Alters Everywhere
About the Artwork:
“When a complex system is far from equilibrium small islands of coherence have the capacity to shift the entire system to a higher level.” Illya Prigogine, Nobel Prize winner for chemistry.
What began as a personal expression of profound sorrow, despair and confusion as to how to ‘celebrate Canada Day, ’transformed into an ongoing commemorative / memorial.
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The “Walking Meditations” involved the intentional laying of stones to honor lives that were lost, to face personal and collective shame, despair, and my loss of faith in humanity. Two public installations were created at the Ross Bay cemetery breakwater to honor the discovery of the residential school graves in Kamloops in 2020 from July 1- Sept 15, 2021, and the invasion of Ukraine by Russia in 2022.
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.
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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.