Mezzanine Gallery Wall & Reception Wall
Melissa Lavoie
About the Artwork
A journey through the sea's dual nature; its fury and tranquility, where lighthouses pierce stormy skies, ships brave tempestuous waves, and mermaids linger in the depths. Textured seascapes contrast brooding swells with luminous breaks in the clouds, while mountains rise like distant waves on the horizon.
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About the Artist
Melissa Lavoie is a contemporary painter whose work explores the raw beauty and untamed power of the sea. Born in landlocked Alberta, she now draws endless inspiration from coastal life, blending nautical realism with touches of myth and mystery. Her textured seascapes capture the ocean’s dual nature, stormy and serene through bold brushwork and luminous contrasts. From brooding waves to glowing lighthouses, her paintings invite viewers to feel the salt spray and hear the creak of ship timbers. When not in the studio, Melissa can be found exploring shorelines, collecting driftwood, or chasing the perfect sunset light to translate onto canvas.
Website
Upper Gallery Wall
Seven Ellis-Embury
About the Artwork
The act of ruminating on trauma creates the illusion of progress. Revisiting memories, replaying conversations, and searching for understanding can feel like movement toward resolution, yet often becomes a closed system in which thought continually returns to itself. Rather than offering clarity, repetition deepens the landscape through which it moves.
The series draws from the phenomenon of the ant mill, in which army ants separated from their colony begin following one another in an endless circle until they collapse from exhaustion. What begins as an instinct for survival becomes a self-perpetuating system. The work considers this phenomenon not as a metaphor for trauma itself, but for the structures of thought that continue searching long after they have lost their sense of direction.
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Built through successive layers of oil paint, each surface records accumulation rather than resolution. Marks are buried, obscured, and rediscovered, creating spaces where depth simultaneously produces uncertainty. The paintings become mental landscapes in which orientation is continually deferred and the viewer, like the artist, is invited to navigate systems that resist escape.
About the Artist
Seven Embury is a multidisciplinary visual artist based in Victoria, BC., on the unceded territories of Lək̓ʷəŋən and W̱SÁNEĆ Peoples. A painter and digital media artist, Seven aims to capture the visceral sensations of anxiety and fears that are produced by our modern world. Reflecting on his self-destructive tendencies, Seven examines how his anxieties are created and influenced through our society. Seven holds a Diploma of Visual Arts from Camosun College and a BFA in Visual Arts from the University of Victoria. His works have been featured in the Tofino Gallery of Contemporary Art, the Audain Gallery, and Silver Bullets and Xchanges Gallery.
Window Gallery
Lydia Miller
About the Artwork
"...To follow a thread" and study a stitch, to pause and examine what holds it all together. In that space, we realize it is not a singular thing, but every component of the cloth. Rarely now do these contemplative fabrics pass through our fingers, for the slow, essential attention they require is absent in our fast-paced lives. This absence, this detachment from the meticulous process of making, is forging a disconnect between humans and the organisms that sustain us. A society of convenience and instant gratification means we seldom rely on our own hands; we no longer need to appreciate the resources which provide us warmth and shelter. The rituals of caring for self and community have been condensed into intervals to ensure a multitude of tasks can be completed daily — replacing the deep, sustained engagement of shared labor with the shallow efficiency of an automated chore. The delusion that humanity is separate from other species is a detrimental notion and leads us toward the precipice.
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About the Artist
For Lydia the vocation of Weaving came unexpectedly but absolutely welcomed through her time spent at Alberta University of Art (now AUA). Moving the medium from 2D to 3D form was the most illuminating point of her explorations through Fibre. Quite literally it brought her weavings to life and expanded confidence and limits within her practice. Continuously inspired by her home environments of British Columbia and using their native Flora and Fauna, Lydia creates beings which force contemplation of their composition. The linear flow of these sculptural pieces direct your gaze, and the tactile textures will tempt your touch. They come to form and boast the transformative qualities of their species. Paying homage to Earth’s plants and creatures and highlighting their crucial relationships, is Lydia’s strongest inspiration. She aims to ignite curiosity and connection within the audience of her work and remind us of the collective soul we are made from.
Website
Accessibility: Accessible washrooms, Wheelchair access on main and second floor, and disabled parking stalls. Limited access to mezzanine and upper gallery spaces
For inquiries related to exhibitions, please contact Shantael Sleight at shantael.sleight@saanich.ca or call 778-584-3756