ART OPENING CELEBRATION (WITH ARTIST TALK BY TRICIA WASNEY)
We’re excited to celebrate the opening of a new exhibition at the Comox Valley Art Gallery! The program will kick off on Saturday, September 19, with a full day of free activities:
- Doors open at 10:00am for the public to view Tricia Wasney’s solo exhibition, The things that hold us, for the first time.
- From 11:00am – 12:30pm, the artist will be hosting an on-site workshop with registered participants (learn more and sign up NOW).
- From 12:30 – 1:00pm, everyone is invited to mingle over coffee/tea and light nibbles, while waiting for the MAIN EVENT to begin — the artist talk!
- At 1:00pm, Tricia Wasney and CVAG representatives will speak about the exhibition, lending insights into the inspiration and origin behind the featured artworks.
- Reception and hospitality will follow socializing with the artist present to chat with the community.
THE THINGS THAT HOLD US
Tricia Wasney’s work celebrates the ordinary and is informed by forgotten or hidden histories, the specificity of place and the materials she discovers. Local, organic, pre-owned and waste materials are incorporated into her work as they arrive with their own layers of embedded meaning. She is especially interested in how relationships between people and the land act as both anchors and buoys, holding us in place while also casting us adrift. The things that hold us reflects Wasney’s experiences over the past four years, beginning with the first CVAG curated residency at the McLoughlin Gardens in 2023. The exhibition includes previous work made about Manitoba landscapes, some work made entirely during the residencies, some re-worked in her studio in Winnipeg and others made in 2026, a result of looking back and reflecting on how the landscape in the Comox Valley impacted her and how her own Prairie landscape affects her. Additionally the four years have included unexpected and destabilizing loss in her personal life that has infiltrated the work; as a whole the exhibition reflects on the impossibility of permanence, about finding, losing, and finally celebrating that which has been found and commemorating that which has been lost.
The things that hold us | Solo Exhibition at CVAG
September 19 – November 21, 2026
The Comox Valley Art Gallery is committed to creating safer spaces where everyone can participate.
All ages are welcome.
CVAG spaces are accessible. Efforts are made to make presented programming contents available to all by using approachable audio and visual technologies to aid in experience and wayfinding. Staff are available to answer any questions and to provide orientation to the presentation and gallery spaces.
Programs are barrier-free (no cost). DONATIONS are appreciated and contribute to ongoing community interactive programming.
PUBLIC HEALTH CONSIDERATIONS: we ask that visitors choose not to visit if they are experiencing symptoms of colds and flus.
Hand sanitation dispensers are available at CVAG. Wearing a mask is at the discretion of the visitor.