Opening Reception: Saturday, February 7th, 1-3pm

The popular photo series “Shelf Memories” by Parksville photographer Sophia Conway returns to the McMillan Arts Centre with a new collection of photographs capturing personal, handwritten annotations found in local used books, along with an invitation for viewers to write their own for Oceanside residents and future generations.

The inaugural exhibition of photographs, held in May 2025 at the MAC, showcased locally sourced book annotations that offered a glimpse into the place of books within human relationships and served as a revealing time capsule of moments in Oceanside-related history.

The follow-up digital exhibition “Shelf Memories: The Invitation” offers new photographs of local annotations gathered over the last six months, as well as invites visitors to write their own into a book to be added to a new Little Free Library launching in the McMillan Arts Centre community garden. People of all ages are invited to bring a new

Opening Reception, Saturday, February 7, 2025     1-3pm

Artist statement:

My paintings explore presence, movement and emotional resonance through bold, expressive animal forms.  Working intuitively with colour and gesture, capturing a sense of character; alertness, calm, curiosity or play, and less so realism.  The animals function as moments of connection rather than symbols, inviting the viewer into a direct, felt encounter that is both familiar and slightly otherworldly.

Biography:

Introduced to art through her grandmother, Brigit began sketching with pen and ink as a teenager, learning to see the world through line, form, dark and light.  She continued her artistic education with portrait studies during university, later experimenting with water colours before embracing acrylics for their boldness and energy.  Inspired by animals and vivid colour, her work blends intuition, emotion and playfulness, inviting viewers into a work that is both expressive and alive.

OPENING RECEPTION  February 7, 1-3pm

Opening Reception:  Saturday, February 7  1-3pm

I am Brian Hiebert and I was born and raised on Vancouver Island.  Art was a gift from a very young age and I have pursued creation of art my entire life.  Over the years my artful expression has taken many forms–wood carving, working with clay, drawing, and creating a rural homestead from raw land.  Living in remote areas most of my life, my technique was honed through local classes and workshops.  Just two of the artists I was privileged to learn from are Betty Edwards (Drawing from the Right Side of the Brain) and Diane Bersea.

Retirement has offered me the opportunity to devote more time to the creation of art.  Realistic/representational art has never been my forte.  I prefer to explore the infinite possibilities of other worlds.  Each piece evolves from an “empty mind.”  Pencil meets paper and the image spontaneously develops and expresses itself.  After the pencil drawing is “complete” it is then “inked.”  The final phase is to

Opening Reception Saturday, February 7 , 1-3pm

Norma McCachen

I paint, therefore I am an artist. “To Paint”, to produce work is my statement as an artist.

I cannot remember a time in my life when I wasn’t drawing or painting. I was raised in a family that was involved with art; looking at art, reading about art and artists, visiting galleries and producing works of art. My father was a talented painter and photographer. My mother also was producing art through sewing, rug making, weaving and painting.

I was fortunate to have a father who taught me, trained me to ‘see’. When I was a young child, he constantly pointed out to me the marvelous sights that surround us every day. He would stop working in the garden, to bring me a beetle. “Look”, he would exclaim, “Look, look at the colour on its back, this amazing metallic blue”. He would stop the car while we were driving. “Look, look at the shadows on the snow, see how they define the shape of the hill, look at the reflected colour of

UP!

ANNUAL OCAC MEMBERS SHOW

November 25 – February 1, 2026

Opening Reception, Saturday, Novmeber 29th, 1-3pm

Join us in the Oceanside Gallery as we celebrate all things UP!

A CELEBRATION OF PHOTOGRAPHY

OCEANSIDE PHOTOGRAPHY SOCIETY

Opening Reception:   Saturday, November 29 , 1-3pm