Summer Arts Guide 2023: Artful and tasteful places to visit throughout B.C.

From Bowen Island installations to Nelson murals to winery concerts, culture vultures have lots to seek out this summer beyond Vancouver

WITH VANCOUVER BEING in its utter glory during the summertime, there’s really no reason for arts and culture lovers to leave—except for the fact that the rest of this stupendously glorious part of the planet has a ton going on in terms of all things artful and tasteful. Here’s a mere handful of happenings taking place beyond the city’s borders that are worth a road trip.

Artfully touring the Sunshine Coast

Sunshine Coast Art Tours is all about the area’s thriving art, craft beverage, and culinary scenes, with several distinct adventures on the menu.

Travelling via the 15-passenger deluxe Art Shuttle, the day-long Coast Art Tour visits three studios and galleries and gives guests the chance to see artists “in action” and talk to them about their processes. The relaxed excursion includes a one-hour restaurant lunch as well as snacks, bevvies, and a closing stop at a craft-beer tasting room. The Choose Your Own Art Adventure means you can customize the tour depending on your interests, whether it’s ceramics, street art, photography, metalwork, woodwork, jewellery, or any of the other forms found on the coast. Multi-day art tours can be arranged, too, which allow for workshops, dining experiences, and studio and gallery visits from Pender Harbour to Powell River.

The Brewery Tour is the place to try new ales as well as ciders and spirits: Gibsons has the highest percentage of tasting rooms per capita in all of B.C and is a major contributor to the Pacific Northwest brewing scene. Find award-winning outlets that make limited-release, small-batch spirits, including Persephone Brewing Company, Bruinwood Estate Distillery, Batch 44 Brewery & Kitchen, Tapworks Brewing Company, The Bricker Cider Company, The 101 Brewhouse + Distillery, Twenty Two Taphouse, One Foot Crow Craft Distillery, Sunday Cider, and Townsite Brewing.

Flights to Flights is a collab with Sunshine Coast Air that takes people to a selection of tasting rooms then up to the sky for a flight over Sechelt Inlet. This combination Ale and Air Tour introduces you to the Coast’s finest tasting rooms and tops it off with a majestic flight over Sechelt Inlet.

It’s all headed by Douglas Bevan, an artist himself whose installation Hot Dog Water made international news in more than 200 publications including Time Magazine and USA Today; he boiled organic franks and put the wieners in bottles of water, coming up with purported health benefits of the beverage and selling them for nearly $40 a pop. A three-month residency at the Banff Centre led to his most ambitious project, The Trojan Horse, which took two years to make with the help of 75 volunteers and came to life at Burning Man in 2011.

Snotty Nose Rez Kids. Photo by Billie Jean Gabriel Photography

An Indigenous feast of music and culture

2 Rivers Remix Music Feast LIVE is a three-day festival by 2 Rivers Remix Society featuring more than 40 leading Indigenous musical artists and acts. Think Snotty Nose Rez Kids, Halluci Nation, Logan Staats, Willie Thrasher, and more. With a theme of Bring the Children Home, it takes place Tk’emlups te Secwepemc Pow Wow Arbor in Kamloops and via livestream, July 7 to 9

Concerts at B.C. wineries

Tinhorn Creek Vineyards is marking its 30th anniversary with a summer concert featuring Canadian icon Steven Page, former frontman of the Barenaked Ladies, on July 15. The concert will take place in winery’s outdoor amphitheatre, and audiences will get to experience an intimate performance while enjoying wine paired with various treats from local food vendors.

Fitzpatrick Family Vineyards is hosting the return of its Crush Deck Concert with Jim Cuddy on July 5. The venue holds just 300 seats, making for an up-close-and-personal live-music experience. There’s an option to make a meal of it, with a three-course wine-paired dinner prior to the show; people can watch the performance from their table or move stageside.

Mission Hill Family Estate always has musical offerings in the summertime, and this year’s lineup includes Diana Krall on July 7, Dean Brody on July 17, Lyle Lovett and his Large Band on July 18, and Colin James on August 8. (Sarah McLachlan’s August 21 appearance is sold out.) It’s a stunning setting at the sloped amphitheatre overlooking Lake Okanagan. At the winery’s Terrace Restaurant, which has similarly gorgeous views of the water and so many Chardonnay and Pinot Noir vines, executive chef Patrick Gayler is serving up an ever-changing tasting menu of garden-fresh ingredients. New for 2023 is the Legacy tasting menu, with Legacy series and other exclusive wines from Mission Hill paired with deluxe dishes.

High art and wine art at Silver Star

Over at Silver Star in the Okanagan, Gallery Odin—Canada’s highest gallery—is hosting opening receptions on June 29 and July 1 for its summer 2023 exhibitions featuring original works by 21 artists from across Western Canada (including Jerry R. Markham, whose work is pictured above). Among the mediums are oils, acrylic, mixed media, sculpture, pottery, fibre, glass, metal art, and more.

Silver Star Wine Festival takes place August 10 to 13, the annual event is devoted exclusively to British Columbia wineries. Its Signature Walk-Around Tasting, on August 12, is a relaxed way to sample wines in the great outdoors. There are also winery dinners, seminars, live music, and the Polson Park Market Artisan Market pop-up featuring local vendors.

Squamish Nation artist Sinámkin – Jody Broomfield, *Thunderbird*, Whistler Cultural Connector.

Culture Crawling in Whistler

The Squamish Lil’wat Cultural Centre and Audain Art Museum are both part of Whistler’s Cultural Connector, a pretty pathway through Whistler Village and the Upper Village that links six cultural venues, with artworks and other points of interest noted along the way. The walk gives a glimpse of the area’s cultural evolution over time; copies of a printed brochure and map are free at Village Host booths, the Visitor’s Centre, and facilities along the easy-walking trail.

Indigenous arts and culture are further shared at the Squamish Lil’wat Cultural Centre, situated on the ancestral territories of the Sḵwx̱wú7mesh and Líl̓wat7úl Nations in Whistler. As part of the venue’s 2023 Summer Salish Carving Series, Squamish artist Xwalacktun Rick Harry and SLCC apprentice Brandon Hall will be live carving a new 30-foot pole, so visitors will be able to talk to and watch the artists while they work. UNCEDED: S7ulh Temíxw / Ti Tmicwkálha / Our Land - A Photographic Journey into Belonging has been extended to October 8. Featuring photography by Logan Swayze, the exhibition features environmental portraiture of Sk̲wx̲wú7mesh Úxwumixw and the Lil’wat7ul set in various spectacular locations. See Stir’s feature here.

Over at the Audain Art Museum, The Audain Artist Dinner Series is presenting Manabu Ikeda + Chef Koji Chiba: A Summer Taste & Tour of Japanese Art. This event is inspired by Japan’s summer festivals and the artwork featured in the AAM’s special exhibition, Manabu Ikeda: Flowers from the Wreckage. This all-inclusive dinner includes a signature cocktail reception, a six-course omakase-style menu with wine and sake pairings prepared by master chef Koji Chiba, plus an exclusive tour of the exhibition with the artist Ikeda. There are four dates for fine-dining-art experience: July 7 and 21 and August 11 and 25. See more in Stir’s write-up here.

A highlight of Cornucopia’s Nourish Spring Series by Cornucopia—the annual food festival held every November in Whistler—is Paint & Picnic. Taking place on June 24, the event is guided by professional artist Andrea Mueller. Guests will connect with their inner artist while noshing, all surrounded by the beauty of Alta Lake.

Mitchell Villa, TD Art Gallery Paint-In. Photo by Don Descoteau/Victoria News

Paint-In in Victoria

The Art Gallery of Greater Victoria is hosting the 34th TD Art Gallery Paint-In on July 15. The largest summer arts festival on Vancouver Island, it brings together more than 160 Vancouver Island artists to Moss Street. Live music, food trucks, and a family-friendly beer garden at the gallery with drinks from Lighthouse Brewing Company and Sea Cider Farm & Ciderhouse are all part of the fest.

A Garden of Island delights

Art in the Garden on Bowen Island is a soirée featuring original work by resident artists and a wine tasting in a beautiful three-acre garden. It takes place July 22 from 7 to 9 pm (July 29 is the rain date). Proceeds from art and wine sales will benefit the Bowen Island Conservancy’s new Wild Coast Nature Refuge at Cape Roger Curtis.

Pac Rim-style art

The Pacfic Rim Arts Society hosts its annual Pacific Rim Summer Festival from July 1 to 23 in Ucluelet, Tofino, and surrounding communities. Perforimng arts, indoor and outdoor concerts, storytelling, pop-up art exhibitions, and a kids’ creative zone are among the highlights. The Orange Door Gallery in Ukee is the fest’s brain centre and is also home to rotating group shows.

A peak muse

Pemberton kicks off summer with the Mountain Muse Festival, presented by the Pemberton Valley Lodge. The celebration of the local arts scene takes place at the Pemberton Downtown Community Barn, with a nod to the summer solstice. Local bands, an artisan craft market, food trucks, and beverages are all part of the hoopla on June 24 and 25.

Mountain murals

The Nelson and District Arts Council presents the Kootenay city’s annual Nelson Mural Festival running from August 11 to 13. Local, national, and international street artists, muralists, creatives, and arts lovers will gather for large-scale public artworks.

InFrinGinG Dance Festival in Nanaimo

Crimson Coast Dance hosts the 25th annual InFrinGinG Dance Festival at various venues from July 5 to 9. Scheduled to coincide with the Dragon Boat Festival, the dance fest invites audiences to “dance in the belly of the dragon”; the yearly gathering focuses on cultural dances. Local and visiting artists taking part include Raven Spirit Dance, Shayna Jones (with Rufus Cappadochia on cello), Lauren Semple, and Ted Robinson with Genevieve Johnson and Holly Bright, who is the event’s artistic managing director.

Cultivating creativity on Gabriola

Presnted by the Gabriola Arts Council, Cultivate Performing and Arts Festival, running July 1 to 9, is now in its fifth year. Art installations in nature, music in a night market, local theatre, and dance performances in everything from tap to Baroque are just some of the features on what’s dubbed the Isle of the Arts.

Alyssa Schwann, *Forest Markings: a series of connected lines*

Hot arts in Harrison

The Harrison Festival of the Arts happens at picturesque Harrison Hot Springs July 7 to 16. Ceileigh Cardinal, Ruby Singh and the Future Ancestors, and Las Cafeteras are among the many musical acts. So is Toronto’s Polkys—a band that peforms the music, song, and dance of Poland, with Ukrainian, Jewish, and Slovak musical influences ahd Polish knee fiddles, percussion, fiddle, and other instruments. Meanwhile, the Ranger Station Art Gallery will feature shows by two loca artists, Sylvie Roussel-Janssens and Alyssa Schwann, presented by The Harrison Festival Society and The Kent Harrison Arts Council. Roussel-Janssens’s Mend exhibition is a series of 28 embroidered recycled plastic objects, the number referring to the cycle of the moon and the way women measure time. Environmental artist Schwann “draws” with string in nature, at the place where art and ecology meet. The work is intended as a meditation on an understanding of the need to nurture a deep relationship to place, using the Coastal Western Hemlock foThe Spirit Trail is a one-kilometre stroll through coast cedar rainforest full of ceramic masks and faces that artist Ernie Eaves has placed among the trees.

Seaside sounds in Powell River

As reported previously by Stir, the 11th annual PRISMA Festival takes place June 12 to 24 in Powell River, drawing internationally sought-out guest artists and topnotch international students for a series of concerts that range from intimate to epic. If PRISMA on the Beach—Serenade by the Sea isn’t the epitome of a B.C. arts-filled summer,we don’t know what is: grab your beach blanket, or lawn chair to the free concert where audiences take in the music on blankets and lawn chairs, the sparkling water the beautiful backdrop.

The Flavours of Sooke

The Sooke Flavour Trail map is a new offering from Magnolia Hotel & Spa that encourages guests to visit independent restaurants, farms, breweries, and cafes of Southern Vancouver Island, specifically the communities of Sooke, Metchosin and Langford. Sheringham Distillery, Bilston Creek Farm, the farmland My-Chosen Cafe, Sea Chest Ice Cream at Becher Bay Marina & Campground (which uses seasonal ingredients from owner Mouette Loustalot’s garden), Shirley Delicious (a little cafe nestled in the woods), Stoked Wood Fired Pizza & Market, and Wild Mountain (advcoates of the Slow Food Movement) are among the stops of discovery. To celebrate, the hotel has a signature Celebrate Fitz Brut, a collaboration with Fitzpatrick Estate Winery.

Squamish regroups

Formerly the Squamish Wind Festival, the newly named Squamish Arts Festival is taking place August 7 to 19. It promises a celebration of creativity, culture, and community. On August 12 at Junction Park and August 19 at the oceanfront, there will be various performances in multiple art forms, while live music also takes place at Brackendale Art Gallery. Multigenerational workshops in everything from mushroom needle felting to watercolour to eucalyptus wreath-making will take place all throughout the event. A major highlight is the return of dancer and cultural leader Alex Wells of the Lil'wat Nation, who has been named the World Hoop Dancer Champion three times. Then there are appearances by Squamish Circus Collective, Yin Xzi Ho Pop up Poetry, Treeline Aerial, live painting, Sea to Sky Dance Collective, and more.

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Gail Johnson

Gail Johnson is a Vancouver-based journalist who has earned local and national nominations and awards for her work. She is a certified Gladue Report writer via Indigenous Perspectives Society in partnership with Royal Roads University and is a member of a judging panel for top Vancouver restaurants.