PROGRAM
Spring Art Show
Annual festival highlighting artists and performers from the Southern Gulf Islands
2027 SPRING ART SHOW
WHEN
April 9 — 24, 2026
Open daily 10 am ― 5 pm
Closed sundays
WHERE
Mahon Hall
114 Rainbow Road
The water we call home:
Re-presencing Indigenous families' connections to fish, water, and family around the Salish Sea.
"The Water We Call Home: Re-presencing Indigenous Family's Connections to Fish, Water, and Family Around the Salish Sea" is an Indigenous-led project curated by Sahtu Dene and Coast Salish artist, writer and storyteller Rosemary Georgeson. Emerging from an advisory circle of Indigenous women convened between 2020 and 2022, and building on two previous "re-presencing" exhibitions, the project explores how returning to ancestral territories can renew family relationships, cultural practices and knowledge connected to specific lands and waters.
Following preliminary research, visits and conversations to identify Indigenous individuals and families with ancestral ties to Salt Spring Island and its surrounding waters, Rosemary and team will invite participants to contribute to activities connected to the 2027 Spring Art Show. These include an opening celebration, an Indigenous-led Talking Circle and a closing celebration, alongside an exhibition at Mahon Hall from April 9–24, 2027.
Centred on "re-presencing"—returning to ancestral territories to renew relationships and knowledge—the Talking Circle will provide a culturally appropriate space for Indigenous participants to share family histories, memories and cultural knowledge, strengthen connections and contribute on their own terms. Their contributions will help shape the project and its presentation.
Documentary films, photography, sound works, oral histories and community stories will demonstrate that these relationships are not simply historical; they continue to shape Indigenous identity, cultural practices and family life today.
School visits and public exhibition activities will extend opportunities for learning and intercultural understanding.
FUNDERS
PAST SPRING ART SHOWS
ABOUT THE SPRING ART SHOW
Each year, the Spring Art Show at Mahon Hall centres on an anchor exhibition curated by a guest curator or curatorial team. Past anchor exhibitions have included solo artist surveys, as well as dual, group, and themed formats.
The anchor exhibition sets the stage for a wide range of cultural programming, including artist talks, panel discussions, music, dance and theatre performances, literary events, and more.
During the Spring Art Show, the Annex Gallery showcases work by local kids and youth, creating space for emerging voices alongside artists working across a wide range of practices and disciplines.
Originally launched as a weekend-long event known as the Easter Art Tour, the Spring Art Show has grown into a rich, multi-disciplinary celebration of the arts.
PHOTOS FROM PAST SPRING ART SHOWS
