WHEN
AUG 28 ― SEP 20, 2026

WHERE
Mahon Hall Stage

Opening Reception
AUG 28  |  6 ― 8 PM
Artist Talk
AUG 30  |  2 ― 3 PM

SHOWCASE SPONSOR

Artists' Statement

Margo and Dan Zak have spent the past 50 years together experiencing the world through art, architecture and most importantly the natural world. Seascape from Reality reveals how the countless hours immersed in close observation of the coastal landscape have deepened the evolution of their respective ceramics and painting practices through increasingly experimental approaches to traditional themes and mediums. The exhibition brings together Dan's expansive seascapes and Margo's biomorphic vessels within a single installation to amplify a deeply personal and shared experience of the ocean landscape through divergent yet fundamentally connected sensibilities.

This body of work is the result of time spent on the coasts Salt Spring and Vancouver Islands, and Tofino in particular. The water's edge has become a vital part of both artists' lives, as a place to recalibrate in the face of life's challenges, and as a source of calm, healing and regeneration.

Seascape from Reality is a departure for both Margo and Dan from their regular practices. For Dan it presents his first attempt at a scaled-up approach to landscape, resulting in a more visceral and expansive pictorial space that the viewer can occupy with their entire body, much in the same spirit as how the paintings took form. For Margo, it marks a break from her meticulous tendencies and highly finished work. Adopting a new and varied sculptural language, here she throws caution to the wind, leaving her fingers and imagination free to reinvent both herself and her art.

WITH GRATITUDE
Our generous community sponsors.

SHOWCASE SEASON SPONSORS

Biography

Margo Zak's ceramics are distinguished by an intuitive, meticulous approach to hand-building, rooted in over forty-five years of experience. Drawing inspiration from the natural world, her practice is composed of an ever-evolving vocabulary of functional and sculptural forms. Margo has received notable recognition, including an Award of Excellence at the Sooke Fine Arts Show (2018), and selection for the Salt Spring Artists exhibition at the Craft Council of BC Gallery (2025). She has been a finalist at the Sooke Fine Arts Show for the past decade, a finalist at the PAS (2017 and 2025), and regularly exhibits at Zak Studio and Artcraft on Salt Spring Island.

Dan Zak pursued a forty-year career as an architect before turning to painting/reinventing himself as a painter at age 60. As a partner in a major international design firm, he led complex healthcare projects and restructuring teams across several continents. His long-time passion for painting and drawing was revived during his time in London, where he immersed himself in the works of JMW Turner. Dan's watercolour and acrylic paintings have been featured at the Salt Spring Painters Guild Summer Show, PAS (2017 and 2021), Sooke Fine Arts Show (2019-2023), and are exhibited on a regular basis at Zak Studio and Artcraft on Salt Spring Island.

Margo and Dan's journey began in 1976, when they met and later married while pursuing their studies in Art and Architecture at the University of Manitoba. Their lives have been shaped by a shared passion for creativity and exploration, taking them to diverse locations around the world including Trinidad and Tobago, San Francisco, London, and Qatar. In 2012, they settled on Salt Spring Island, designing and constructing the home and studios which now serve as the heart of their creative practice.