Main Gallery
super/Natural creatures
Artists: James Kwaksistala, Alexander Mark, Thomas Whiteley
Curated by Nadine Bariteau
August 20 – October 31, 2026
Opening reception Thursday, August 20, 2026
Supernatural stories from the Pacific Northwest Coast originate from family treasure boxes and have been passed among people since time immemorial. They give grounding and origin to their ancestral communities. Stories acknowledge the lifeforce and power of sacred figures of animal, human, and otherworldly forms. They shape the realms that exist within traditional Indigenous worldviews (the mortal world, the sky world, the land beneath the sea, and the ghost world). Some are moralizing tales: oral histories that teach people how to conduct themselves respectfully, warning of danger. Others celebrate the values of potlatch culture, uphold creation stories, and provide meaning behind identity, culture, and place.
James Kwaksistala (Kwakwaka’wakw), and Alexander Mark (Nuu-chah-nulth) are based on the unceded territories of the Liǧʷiɫdax̌ʷ. Their work draws from ancestral design traditions, giving form to super/natural creatures from the Pacific Northwest Coast—beings that carry the weight and wonder of stories told since the dawn of time. Alongside them a special guest Thomas Whiteley, an Inuit artist from Kuujjuaq, Québec brings a different yet equally deep lineage to the group; Inuit traditions of stone carving and printmaking is intergenerational. Whiteley’s artwork depicts various animals living on the Inuit Nunangat (Territory that includes land, water and ice) and also the dogs which have been a vital ally in Inuit culture for over 4,000 years, serving as companions, transportation aids, and hunting assistants in the harsh Arctic conditions.
Together, this group of artists committed to expanding their artistic practice in printmaking. Their contributions form an exhibition of large-scale, hand-printed woodblock prints accompanied by recorded storytelling: an installation that honours the living oral traditions of their respective cultures.
The contributing artists have moved through this project in different and meaningful ways, each leaving their mark on the work and on one another. Previous iterations of this exhibition, shown at Open Studio in Toronto, Ontario (2024) and Atelier Presse Papier in Trois-Rivières, Québec (2026) have included other artists. We honour each season of this collective effort with gratitude to so many who have supported the work.
This exhibition is the result of three years of relationship building—of exchanges, trust, and deep respect between each artist and Nadine Bariteau, who served not only as curator for this exhibition, but as a printmaking mentor.
Satellite Gallery
Becoming super/Natural
Artwork by the Ha̲mdzat’si Collective
Curated by Nadine Bariteau
August 20 – October 31, 2026
Opening reception Thursday, August 20, 2026
The Ha̲mdzat’si Collective emerged from friendship, artistic exchange, and a shared desire to learn and grow. Founded through connections and respect formed at the Campbell River Art Gallery’s Art Hive, the Collective provides artists with a space to support one another, collaborate, expand their creative practices, and share knowledge regarding printmaking and carving. In time, an ambitious shared goal emerged: to create oversized woodblock carved prints.
The Ha̲mdzat’si Collective lives and works on the unceded territories of the Liǧʷiɫdax̌ʷ. Founded in 2023, the collective was created to give talented Indigenous artists a space to support one another, collaborate, and share their knowledge.
Ha̲mdzat’si—a Kwak’wala word meaning “beehive”—captures the spirit of what the collective strives to be: a living, breathing community where knowledge flows naturally between mentor and apprentice. In certain Indigenous understandings of time and the collective, seasons and participants change, and the work continues. Each person who has been part of this collective—however long or briefly—has made a significant and lasting contribution. Like bees, every one of them has helped build the hive: we honour them.
The works presented in the Satellite Gallery are artworks made by the participants of the 2026 carving and printmaking workshops led by James Kwaksistala, carver, and Nadine Bariteau, printmaker. For some participants, this was their first opportunity to carve, for others an occasion to reconnect with their traditions. These works honour transformation, resilience, and the importance of creating spaces where creativity can flourish. They remind us that knowledge is not only inherited, but also shared, nurtured, and carried forward through relationships, making way for future generations of artists to grow.