The Town of Oakville celebrates its cultural history and fosters creativity through our Public Art Program, Corporate Art Collection, and exhibitions at town facilities as outlined in the Visual Arts Policy.
Public art is accessible to everybody. It can include sculptures, mosaics, banners, earthworks or street furniture. Roles and responsibilities for requesting and/or approving works are defined in the Public Art Procedure. For information about current projects, click on the Public Art Call for Proposals tab on this page.
We maintain a Corporate Art Collection with works on display in many public meeting rooms and facilities.
Our exhibition program showcases creative work reflecting the wide range of local artists, including work by individuals, art organizations, instructors, and students. Queen Elizabeth Park Community and Cultural Centre (QEPCCC) and Trafalgar Park Community Centre offer FREE corridor exhibition space. The Exhibitions Committee reviews proposals for exhibitions twice a year. Application due dates are February 1 and September 1.
The Town of Oakville’s Recreation and Culture facilities welcome exhibition proposals from professional, local, emerging artists, instructors, students, and culture groups in the areas of fine art, craft, and digital arts for temporary public exhibitions.
Exhibiting in the Corridor Galleries at QEPCCC and Trafalgar Park Community Centre is free. The preferred duration of group and solo shows in our open corridors is three to four months.
The Main Gallery at QEPCCC presents professional artwork by local artists for a fee. Content ranges from historical to contemporary themes. Exhibitions may also include works by national and international artists and exhibitions proposed by curators or collectives.
The Exhibitions Committee reviews proposals twice a year. Application due dates are February 1 and September 1.
For more information, please open the:
Applications must include:
Email your application to qepexhibitions@oakville.ca. You may also mail or deliver applications to:
Gallery Submissions
Culture Coordinator
Queen Elizabeth Park Community and Cultural Centre
Town of Oakville
2302 Bridge Road
Oakville, ON L6L 2G6
Contact the Queen Elizabeth Community and Cultural Centre at 905-815-5979 for more information.
The Exhibitions Review Committee helps staff to adjudicate exhibition applications for corridor/gallery displays and exhibitions. The purpose of the committee is to:
The purpose of the exhibition program for the Main Gallery at QEPCCC and Corridor Galleries is to:
Nominations for positions on the committee shall be sought from the community at large with a preference for demonstrated knowledge of arts and culture in Oakville, reflective of our programs and members.
Contact the Cultural Supervisor at tonia.dirisio@oakville.ca for the Terms of Reference for the Exhibitions Review Committee and to submit nominations.
Are you a young artist between the ages of 11 and 19 looking for space to exhibit your work? The Youth Corridor Galleries at QEPCCC provide a platform for emerging youth artists and students in the community at large.
We are interested in showcasing original artwork, and giving youth the opportunity to gain valuable experience in the exhibition process, to install and display their works, and even opportunities to sell their artwork.
A complete application for an exhibition in the Youth Corridor will consist of:
Email your application to qepexhibitions@oakville.ca. You may also mail or deliver applications to:
Gallery Submissions
Culture Coordinator
Queen Elizabeth Park Community and Cultural Centre
Town of Oakville
2302 Bridge Road
Oakville, ON L6L 2G6
The Exhibitions Committee reviews proposals twice a year. Application due dates are February 1 and September 1.
After receiving notification of acceptance by email, applicants must return a signed Exhibitor’s Agreement and Guidelines. A general information meeting is scheduled with town staff thereafter.
Email qepexhibitions@oakville.ca for more information.
There are no calls for proposal at this time. Please check back later.
An anamorphic neon sculpture depicting a chimney swift. The piece draws inspiration from a resident colony of swifts in the old Oakville Trafalgar High School located next to the community centre.
Watch a video conversation with Oakville Galleries Curator Frances Loeffler and Vancouver-based artist Barb Choit about the new public artwork commissioned by the Town of Oakville for display in the galleria of Oakville Trafalgar Community Centre.
A series of four quilts that have come to be known as the “John Willard ribbon quilts” was commissioned by Oakville Galleries to mark their twentieth anniversary. It incorporates traditional quilting elements inspired by pioneer quilt makers. At OTCC it is installed as the artist envisioned, on one full wall.
Renowned Canadian designer/quilt maker and Oakville Library staff for 21 years, John Willard began quilting in 1975, with a background in set and costume design, photography, display, and collecting. Inspired by traditional patterns and historic events, he is especially noted for deconstructing patterns and designing quilts with daring combinations of varying and disparate fabric prints. Willard taught the art of quilt making, specializing in contemporary design.
Artist Emily May Rose’s fun and bright design was the winning proposal for a mural wrap to cover the generator located at the Queen Elizabeth Community and Cultural Centre. Made with careful consideration of colour and composition to create works that are both beautiful and meaningful, the mural reflects the community centre by combining aspects of the local arts and culture, recreation, nature, and history of Oakville.
Emily May Rose is a Toronto-based artist and illustrator. She explores urban themes and her own personal experiences living in the city, generally placing animals like raccoons into the scenarios in a humorous way to make light of their situation.
For more information about the artist visit www.emilymayrose.com
The Canada 150 Mural Mosaic Project brings together 150 communities and thousands of participants by creating community murals that visually reflect the history and culture of Canada. Oakville’s unique mural is composed of 750 tiles, which were painted by residents during registered workshops in February 2016.
Led by artist Lewis Lavoie and his Mural Mosaic Team based out of Alberta, you can visit www.canada150mosaic.com to follow the mural’s progress across Canada.
Since 2005, artist Liz Pead has been using recycled hockey gear to create large scale installation paintings which speak to the Canadian histories of textile, legend, sport and landscape painting through the Group of Seven. This work involved cutting up and affixing the bits of recycled hockey gear to create an outdoor scene.
Nothing at this time.
With its polished stainless steel surfaces and geometric lines, the large-scale structure is designed to be a social hub that invites exploration and reflection by visitors as they move around the piece and view it from its many angles.
An independent selection committee made up of visual arts professionals and community representatives selected Marotta’s sculpture through a Public Art Call process as outlined as part of the town’s Art Policy.
Laura Marotta is a Master of Fine Arts (MFA) graduate from the University of Guelph. Her artwork has been featured in curated exhibitions, festivals and public art commissions. For more information about the artist visit laura-marotta.com
Please contact Tonia Di Risio, Program Supervisor – Culture, at 905-845-6601, ext. 4614 or public.art@oakville.ca.
July 2 to September 4
From the restrained Regency gown to the voluminous Victorian bustle; the elegant Edwardian ‘S shape’ to the shapeless Flapper dress; and the curvy bias cut gowns of the 30s to the enormous shoulders pads of the 80s, the ever-changing silhouette of women’s fashion is explored.
Black History Display – Oakville's Black History
Branden Barsenbach – Barsenbach Gallery
Brank Gregov – First Impressions
Brian Groberman – An Evening within the City
Dick Sanders – Land and Seascapes
Kathryn Shaw – Time is a Flat Circle
Nadine Wyczolkowski – compatible contrasts
Nancy Lalicon – Ode to Alan Turing
Oakville Art Society – Member Work
Oakville Camera Club – Capture Oakville 2022
Oakville Fibre Artists – Musically
Ramolen Laruan – A Kiss Is a Moving Surface
Oakville’s Sports Hall of Fame Display
Elders have taught children important life lessons through storytelling since time began. Through museum artifacts, we take a whimsical look at reoccurring themes found in fables and fairy tales from a long, long time ago.
1225 Trafalgar Road
Alvin Tan – Blooming, 1974
Azhar Shemdin – Reflections in Blue, 1991
John Alford - The Sinking of U-94, 1983
Karl Woetz – Avancez
Michel Foucault – Le Bucheron, 1988
Neville Palmer – Standing Form (After Noguchi), 1974
Neville Palmer – Vertical, 1974
Selections from the Corporate Gifts collection from our Sister Cities: Huai’an, China; Neyagawa,Japan; and Dorval, Quebec.
Fred Schopf – Portrait of Allan M. Masson, Mayor, 1966
Ian Lazarus – Maquette for “Falling Up”, 1983 (On loan from Oakville Galleries)
John McKinnon – Maquette for “The Perfect Fit”, 1988 (On loan from Oakville Galleries)
John McEwen – Maquette for “Still Life and Blind” (On loan from Oakville Galleries)
Josef Petriska – Untitled, 1982
Manfred – A Moment of Trust, 1988
Mark Lewis – The Smell of Books, 1993-1994 (On loan from Oakville Galleries)
Josef Petriska – New Life
Tim Rainey – Mystical Presence (East Side)
Norman Choo – Warm Shower Ends a Day, 2003
Sydna Bell-Windeyer – Old Bronte Harbour, 1988
Thomas Mathews – Fishing Scene, 1974
David Newman – Untitled, 1962
Thomas Mathews – MacDougald’s Warehouse
Thomas Mathews – Sixteen Mile Creek, 1967
3070 Neyagawa Boulevard
Liz Pead – Louis Riel and the Church at Batouche, 1885, 2014-2015
2302 Bridge Road
Thomas Chatfield - Maple Red
120 Navy Street
Almuth Lütkenhaus – Tibetan Girl, 1967 (3rd Floor)
John Willard – Toucans, Tigers and Zebras Oh My! (2nd Floor)
Ronald Arnott Baird – Gates (Various locations)
Thomas Chatfield – Montreal River (3rd Floor)
George McElroy – Easter in Early Oakville
George McElroy – Trotting Races on the Sixteen
George McElroy – Shipbuilding on the Sixteen
George McElroy – The “Radial” Crossing on the Sixteen
1274 Rebecca Street
Gwyneth Young – Untitled, 1962
Oakville Galleries is a not-for-profit contemporary art museum with exhibit spaces in two locations:
The following works are located in the Gairloch Gardens sculpture park.
Steel, laminated walnut and mahogany
Active as a sculptor for 30 years, American artist Catherine Widgery has developed numerous public artworks that integrate technology and the natural environment. Situated just steps away from the main entrance of Oakville Galleries at Gairloch Gardens, Widgery’s Wind Bower is an interactive, immersive work that captures the shifting sights and sounds of the garden. Consisting of an open structure of metal rods with a seating area and a canopy of softly tinkling wind chimes, the work is at once a product of industry and intellect, and a pleasant, shady nook for passers-by to sit in and become attuned to the shifting sensations of nature.
Chrome-plated steel, surgical stainless steel and bronze
The immersive art/life performative works and installations of the Canadian collective Fastwürms bring together conceptual art, popular aesthetics, do-it-yourself amateurism, and humour with various ‘sub-cultural’ sensibilities - queer, working-class, wiccan, occult, and gothic. The duo also has a long-standing affinity with and reverence for the natural world and animals, particularly cats (their own cats often feature in their work).
Wrapped around a distinctive willow tree standing at the edge of the Gairloch Gardens pond, Giant Beaver Charm is – as the title suggests – an oversized charm bracelet with a giant suspended beaver tooth, among other ornaments. Commissioned as part of the exhibition ‘Beaver Tales’ in 2000, it reworks and subverts Canada’s entrenched national icon, suggesting alternative symbolisms and systems of belief.
Buffed stainless steel
Since the early 1970s, Ian Lazarus has created sculptures for exhibitions and public environments in Malaysia, Ireland, Mexico, and across Canada. Glimpsed momentarily by motorists who drive past Gairloch Gardens along Lakeshore Road, Falling Up creates the paradoxical illusion of four solid, stainless steel pillars seemingly knocked upwards, as though rewinding backwards in time. This subtly surreal backwards motion catches viewers off guard, creating a temporary rupture in our understanding of gravity and the “natural” order of things. Falling Up is one of the first works that was commissioned for the Gairloch Gardens Sculpture Park.
Bronze
Over the past five decades, Liz Magor has developed a world-renowned practice that contemplates everyday items such as clothing, packaging, labels, furniture, twigs, branches, and tree stumps. Throughout our lives we are surrounded with ‘stuff’ both natural and fabricated, often forming complex relationships with them. Magor’s work considers what these relationships say about our personal desires and insecurities, as well as the wider pressures of societal, economic, and other outside forces that inform our attachments to things. Often her objects become subtly altered through processes of casting, remodelling, or resituating, so that the boundary between the real and the simulated is no longer clear.
Placed in a wooded area of Gairloch Gardens, Channel is a tree stump cast in bronze that seems at first glance to be entirely harmonious with its natural surroundings. A closer look, however, reveals two eye-like openings. This anthropomorphic twist catches us off guard, and reveals our profoundly unstable relationship to the things we think we know.
Audio Walk (18 Minutes)
Janet Cardiff is a Canadian artist who has been celebrated internationally for her work with sound; particularly her audio walks, which she has often made in collaboration with her husband and fellow artist George Bures Miller. A Large Slow River is an audio walk commissioned specifically to respond to Gairloch Gardens, made while the artists were in residence at the gallery. It was recorded on-site using omni-directional microphones that captured a soundscape of the gardens one might experience on any given day. The recording was then crafted into a uniquely moving and unsettling narrative audio work, which takes listeners on a walk around the gardens, drawing attention to the themes of water, time, memory, and displacement.
Aluminium and Steel
John McEwen is well known within Canada for his large-scale sculptures of animals, namely dogs, deer and wolves, which are often flame-cut from slabs of steel. The artist is interested in how these specific animals often spark a sense of mystery and magic in the human imagination, and can reveal the interconnections between what we often perceive separately as ‘nature’ or ‘culture’. In Still Life & Blind, the sparse outline of a deer is barely visible from a distance, seeming to stand at the lake’s edge. In its original installation, the piece also included a “blind” - a camouflaged place for humans to watch animals without being seen. Here, it acts as a prompt to consider the relationship between viewer and viewed.
Fibreglass
Based in Ontario for most of his life, Walter Redinger was well known for his elemental, pod-like fibreglass sculptures. Created in 1973 (a year after Redinger represented Canada in the Venice Biennale), 1929-1984 Landscape is the first work that was commissioned for the Gairloch Gardens Sculpture Park. The title of the work alludes to the 1929 stock market crash and George Orwell’s well-known dystopian work of fiction, 1984. In framing the decades between these years, Redinger marks out an era of instability in which visions of a dystopian future were coming to pass. Vaguely anthropomorphic, the four figures in this sculptural group suggest a community, albeit one in which individual identities have been eroded by the mechanical and societal developments of a fast-changing world.