Exhibitions
Upcoming in 2025
2025 - Banff Snow Nights - Linda Craddock - January 17 to February 2
More in 2025
Ed Bamiling
March/April - Georgina Perkins-Hunt - opening on World Day For Glaciers, March 21, 4 to 6 pm
June - Wild Things by Marsha Schuld
September 21 to October 5 - Amy Loewan “A Full Circle” - opening on World Day For Peace
October-November - Jeremy Mayne
Upcoming in 2026
May - Jim Visser
2027 - At the Esplanade, Medicine Hat, Alberta - a Tom Willock retrospective - March to July
Past Exhibitions & Events
In 2024 - May - 25th Anniversary - we started our business in 1998 and opened the gallery door in 1999.
Dwayne Harty - WILDLIFE
An October feature and booksigning during the Banff Mountain Film & Book Festival
and in conjunction with the Whyte Museum of the Canadian Rockies exhibition Bison Legacy: The Artistic Vision of Dwayne Harty
Booksigning with the artist, Wednesday, October 30, 3 to 4 pm.
Thesis Exhibition: Commonplace Series - Low-fired Soda and Earthenware
An October exhibition showcasing Heather Lepp’s thesis project in celebration of her newly earned MFA.
September 8 to October 6 - “Ode To Banff” paintings from the 1940s by Martha Houston CPE (1896-1980)
Near and Far by Ray Van Nes
feature of platinum / palladium contact prints September 2024
Charles Lewton-Brain RCA - Retrospective - April-May
…This career exhibition is a rare survey of different periods of my work, with examples from my student days up through the present. It is a chance to see my research and design experimentation in the light of time. Carefully selected by Susan and Tom these works are a deep insight into my process, my interest in drawing, in exploring the tension between nature and structure…
Yixing Teapots by Ray van Nes
during the 2024 Exposure Photography Festival - February 4 to 25
The exhibition Yixing Teapots, by Calgary photographer Ray van Nes, stemmed from a small-scale still life project involving a baker's dozen of Chinese terracotta tea pots, a Shu Dynasty inspired teacup, as well as a Moose Jaw teapot called Love Monster.
Depictions of everyday items are wonderful windows into the past and present. Using a platinum / palladium print process, the photographer has imbued these material objects with life, glorifying their form, meaning, and charm. The images recognize the value of mindful contemplation while going about the simple rhythms of familiar tasks.
At the Whyte Museum of the Canadian Rockies - a retrospective
October 20, 2023 to January 21, 2024
Intersections - for her fall exhibition, Jackie Anderson is referencing ‘a place or area where two or more things intersect’. Previous work has often been based on a singular influence or theme. The new series plays with the intersection of two or more influences in one piece resulting in unexpected combinations and crossovers.
Retro + Active - an exhibition of retro and current works spanning Peter Deacon’s career. The significance of the relationship between location and autobiographical history has been a significant factor in all his artistic work since 1975. Some works are of a large scale; some of it on canvas, board or copper, utilizing a diversity of mediums and processes ranging from photography and painting to etching and drawing. Parallel to this mainstream activity, he has always produced small-scale work. These intimate and immediate pieces have instigated the approaches used in more definitive works. They are deeply thoughtful considerations of place and space by an artist who continues to contribute greatly to his adopted country both with his work and with his teaching.
Peter Deacon, our feature artist during the FESTIVAL GALLERY HOP, part of the Banff Centre Mountain Film and Book Festival in Banff, Alberta: October 28-Nov.5, 2023
September 22 to October 15
Reception Saturday, September 23
1 to 3 pm, artist in attendance
October 28 to November 5
Reception Saturday, 28 October
1 to 3 pm, artist in attendance
Fall 2023 Exhibitions at Willock & Sax
Spring & Summer 2023 Exhibitions
June 11 to 26
Reception June 17
‘Again I hear these waters…’ - The images which have been turned into these paintings gave me the opportunity to compose with colour, form, line, pattern, and texture - and to create landscapes of particular times and places, which will, I hope, afford the person viewing these pieces an opportunity to reconnect with their own similar experiences of the natural world.
July 15 to 31
Reception July 22
Alberta…The open land, as observed primarily in Alberta’s expansive prairie spaces, is my ingrained organic living experience. So too are my many and varied visits in our mountains. Alberta is my home, my life, and my love. In painting the prairie spaces or high country, I am moved to ponder a possible interpretation of the moment. As a painter I wish to express my love and emotions for the revelations on display. In response to the beauty and grandeur, I put brush to canvas with a pronounced realism from the heart.
July 29 to August 15
Home…My work explores the idea of the home as a sanctuary, a space where the prairie finds its way indoors. By integrating ceramic and wood into domestic objects, I aim to blur the boundaries between the natural and the artificial, inviting the prairie's tranquility and vitality to permeate our living spaces. These objects act as reminders of the vastness and beauty that lies just beyond our doorsteps, grounding us in a sense of place and fostering a deeper connection to the land we call home.
Ethel Christensen, Figure - Subjective Objective, c.1966, oil/canvas.
…in a Tenth Street way…
Clement Greenberg, during his 1962 visit to Edmonton, noted in his characteristic manner, that Ethel Christensen’s paintings were “brash and aggressive in a Tenth Street way.”
Vessels of Storage
Storage vessels contain accumulations of items, objects & goods (i.e. cookies, buttons, tea bags).
What do you need stored?
Featuring vessels by Bradley Keys, Sean Kunz, John Chalke, Roger Olson, Barb Tipton
Filled With Snow
January 18 to 31, 2023
For Snow Days in Banff our gallery is “Filled With Snow.” A group exhibition of winter scenes by Gallery artists.
SWOOP
starting 28 November until Christmas 2023
Fusing, scoring and bending, soldering and construction…jewellery and sculpture.
PARKITECTURE.
October 29 - November 6, 2022 - during the Banff Centre Mountain Film & Book Festival
and continuing into November…
Buildings, both humble and grand, in Banff National Park by Mitchell Fenton.
Atmospheric Woodfired Vessels by Robin DuPont
September 12 until October 2
rich, earthy one-of-a-kind vessels with the launch of our e-commerce element to our website…order online.
A Retrospective
June 9 - 30, 2022
Reception: June 11 from 1 until 4 pm (artist in attendance)
A wide-ranging exhibition that showcases the energy of an immensely talented artist over her long career. Touching on her initial work with ceramics in the late 1960s, there are also works in watercolour, rice paper dye, printmaking, drawing, and sumi ink gesture drawings.
And to celebrate Yuriko Igarashi Kitamura’s birthday.
“Peaks & Spires”
until May 29
A series of drawings focussed on sunlit or cloud-draped mountain peaks and spires in the Canadian Rockies. My intent is to draw the viewer into a distilled view of their power and purity. Each majestic mountain is shown as if under a microscope, illuminating the structure of these natural sculptures which inspire such awe. Such sentinels remain essentially untouched by human alteration. Viewers are meant to feel the importance of maintaining wild areas and a renewed sense of urgency to take care of this beautiful planet.
explore women in art…
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Jackie Anderson RCA
The design process and the evolution of 20th century art and design have long inspired this immensely talented artist to incorporate areas of our visual culture in her work. Working from elements of our urban landscape, particularly architecture, structural design, and commercial signage, and away from the connotations of traditional precious jewelry, Anderson developed multimedia pieces in the form of miniature structures.
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Mary (Spice) Kerr (1905-82)
Mary Spice was born in Yorkton, Saskatchewan. Educated in English and Library Science, she became a high school teacher in Yorkton before studying art and literature at the University of Manitoba (Winnipeg). She later went to England, where she did her Master of Arts Thesis on the effects of the Depression on the novel.
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Amy Loewan RCA
Celebrate International Women’s Day by contemplating a series of contemplation pieces by Amy Loewan.
She submits that peace, within us and with others, can be attained through acts of consciousness initiated by art.
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Janet (Holly) Middleton CPE (1922-2018)
A watercolour by pioneering artist Janet (Holly) Middleton, who taught at the Department of Extension, University of Alberta (1948-64), which offered her an opportunity to travel across the Province of Alberta. Between 1948 and 1971 she was a painting instructor at the Banff School of Fine Arts for the summer terms. She later lectured at the University of Guelph, Ontario.
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Barb Tipton
Over the years I’ve discovered there’s quite a lot of freedom in working around a single theme. With a central image in mind I can press thick slabs by hand, employ marking tools, bisque press molds, or form thick shapes and join them. As the clay changes, I attempt to catch it at the right moment; I’m constantly on the lookout for something that seems to ring true as an expression, a sidelong glance, a dim remembrance.
Exposure 2022 —— February 1 & extended to March 6
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Town & Country
Calgary - cSPACE, Level 1
Exploring the human scope in the landscape is the subject of the Town & Country photographic exhibition of Tom Willock and Bill Peters.
The photographers consider the implications of urban and rural environments. By setting up a dialogue between what was and what is, whether it is in the city, small towns, or their nearby countryside, they delve into the human nature of our surroundings. Considered within the context of the rural to urban shift, these images encourage conversations of the challenges and issues as well as the celebrations of who we are and what we are doing.
“We are all visitors, some simply stay longer than others (Tom Willock, 1993).”
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Town & Country
Calgary - cSPACE, Level 1
Exploring the human scope in the landscape is the subject of the Town & Country photographic exhibition of Tom Willock and Bill Peters.
The photographers consider the implications of urban and rural environments. By setting up a dialogue between what was and what is, whether it is in the city, small towns, or their nearby countryside, they delve into the human nature of our surroundings. Considered within the context of the rural to urban shift, these images encourage conversations of the challenges and issues as well as the celebrations of who we are and what we are doing.
“We are all visitors, some simply stay longer than others (Tom Willock, 1993).”
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Discrete: Film & Digital by Tom Willock & Bill Peters
Banff - Willock & Sax Gallery
Tom Willock has photographed since the 1960s. His work for this exhibition involves the use of Linhof, Deardorff, and Hasselblad cameras to produce darkroom-based selenium toned silver emulsion black and white photographs of Southern Alberta and Northwestern Montana.
This exhibition of film-based and digitally developed images stems from respective approaches to landscape photography. Although similar in their use of a camera, each photographer employs the specifics of film or digital to offer perspectives, whether that is in Alberta/Montana or at the Salt Ponds by San Francisco.
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Discrete: Film & Digital by Tom Willock & Bill Peters
Banff, Willock & Sax Gallery
The digital approach suited Bill Peters’ aerial views of San Francisco Bay salt ponds, sloughs, and wetlands in the period 2009 - 2019. Rapid, intuitive selections of colour and composition, while in the air, are the basis for detailed choices and manipulations in studio. The resulting photographs contain bold colour and abstracted form with unanticipated details.
This exhibition of film-based and digitally developed images stems from respective approaches to landscape photography. Although similar in their use of a camera, each photographer employs the specifics of film or digital to offer perspectives, whether that is in Alberta/Montana or at the Salt Ponds by San Francisco.
Banff Exposure Art Walk
Art Walk connecting three premier photo exhibiting venues, the Whyte Museum, Brandon T. Brown Gallery and Willock and Sax Gallery.
Visit all three locations in a self-directed walk. In-person Events have been cancelled due to Covid concerns at this time. Check back for updates.
SnowDays 2022
January 19 - 30
A group of works by a number of artists celebrating snow and cold…
Piste Maps by Murray Hay
during the 2021 Banff Centre Mountain Film & Book Festival (October 30 to November 7)
We are fortunate to exhibit for sale three unique and original piste maps by Murray Hay (1931-2015). A well known Calgary artist, best known for painting ski areas (piste maps) from 1976 to the early 2000’s, who left behind a unique legacy. His work helped thousands of skiers navigate many beautiful ski areas, including the featured Fernie, Kimberley, and Azu Powder King.
jewellery by Jackie Anderson RCA
Literally bouncing off walls, semi precious beads roll around in the pieces and remain contained under the plexiglass top. Like being quarantined during the pandemic.
September 17 to October 17
Reception, Friday, 17 September 2021, 3 to 6 pm (artist in attendance)
paintings by Georgina Perkins-Hunt
Nature is a powerful gift! We should never assume such gifts, instead we must work to preserve.
September 17 to October 17
Reception, Friday, 17 September 2021, 3 to 6 pm (artist in attendance)
Considered Intent: Intent I.
April 6 to May 17, 2021
Intent 1, the first of the exhibition series Considered Intent, includes sculptural works by acclaimed clay artists Ruth Chambers, Jeannie Mah and Barb Tipton. Our show is in conjunction with the Ruth Chambers’ solo exhibition Tend at the Art Gallery of Regina (Saskatchewan, Canada) February 5 to April 11, 2021 and with Human Capital at the MacKenzie Art Gallery (Regina, Sask., Canada) which includes Jeannie Mah works (until 18 April 2021).
Week 1 - Barb Tipton…
Week 2 - Jeannie Mah…
Week 3 - Ruth Chambers…
Ruth Chambers, Yellow Tulip, 2021, cone 10 hand modelled porcelain, 8.5 x 3 x 2 inches (21.5 x 7.5 x 5 cm).
Ruth Chambers
Ruth Chamber’s bowls and cylinders reference painting and ceramic histories to literally unsettle our assumptions of the genres. Her hand built bulbs and flowers are created out of delicately coloured porcelain and present various stages of their growth patterns. The artist carefully considers and skillfully hand builds these sculptures in extreme detail.
Jeannie Mah, Pithos, 2001, porcelain, photocopy transfer with underglazes, 12.75 inches (32.5 cm)
Jeannie Mah
Jeannie Mah is well known for her fine porcelain work; she produces embossed and photo embedded porcelain pieces of supreme delicacy. Her porcelain narratives document her time either at home in Regina or abroad, such as in France or in southern Portugal. They speak of the quiet, layered history of beautiful places.
Barb Tipton, Alberta Spring, 2017-20, earthenware, wheel thrown and altered with multiple slips, glazes, decals, (acquired by Nickle Galleries, University of Calgary).
Barb Tipton
Barb Tipton is an expressive and innovative ceramic artist, who explores the aesthetic as well as technical elements of clay.
Tapping our memories, the artist returns to familiar themes to investigate fundamental forms and expressions on and of cups and saucers, through various means. Her sculptures are stick thrown, hand built and assembled with multiple slips glazes.
Amy Loewan, Peace Project
Jackie Anderson RCA, Patterns and Pearls Earrings.
Rick Grandmaison
Charles Lewton-Brain RCA, Bowls and Vessels Series
unknown photographer, Mt. Assiniboine, silver gelatin.
Grant Leier, Walk A Duck
D. Helen Mackie RCA - SnowDays 2021
Bradley Keys - hand carved and glazed stoneware
Mitchell Fenton, Lake O'Hara from Odaray
Terry Hildebrand - Yunomi, soda-fired porcelain
Jane Isakson, Paint Brush
Heather Lepp - soda-fired porcelain
Susan Kristoferson - collage and handmade papers
Heather Lepp - midfired oxidation, stoneware
Gerald Faulder, Larch, oil on paper.
Terry Hildebrand - Whiskey Cup, soda-fired porcelain
unknown photographer, Lake Louise, handtint
Bradley Keys - hand carved and glazed stoneware
Murray McDonnell - The Art Of Our Necessities
Heather Lepp - midfired oxidation, stoneware
unknown photographer, Along Sunwapta Way - Beauvert and Pyramid, gelatin silver print
Terry Hildebrand - Espresso Cup, soda-fired porcelain
Allan Harding MacKay RCA, Banff Blue
Bradley Keys - hand carved and glazed stoneware
Murray McDonnell - The Art Of Our Necessities
February Photography Month.
Here is a selection of historical works by known and unknown photographers, who utilized film based photography and traditional darkroom work.
D. Helen Mackie, There Is Ice On The River.
January 17 to 31
For SnowDays 2021
we have wonderful snow filled block prints by master printmaker D. Helen Mackie.
a Banff Lake Louise Tourism (BLLT) celebration
Keeping you updated:
Happy New Year
In the spirit of peace and understanding, kindness and generosity, we express our gratitude for your friendship and support over the past years and wish everyone a safe and happy 2021 …. from Tom, Susan and Sarah.
Amy Loewan, Fragment and Wholeness-Peace Project
So far, we have reformatted and updated our new website with wonderful works by:
Stay tuned for the continuing updates.
October to December 2020
We are pleased to present, until December 8, two shows postponed by Covid: “Zen Carving & Furniture” a ceramic based show by well-known Alberta artist Bradley Keys and “The Art of Our Necessities” by the emerging Saskatchewan artist Murray McDonnell. Also part of the Banff Centre Mountain Film & Book Festival.
Driven by a deep focus on their art and process as well as knowledge of their respective media, both artists followed their inspirations to produce sincere works that speak to the strength of design and the contemplation of still, perfect moments.
Zen Carving
Bradley Keys’ work has always investigated the ways we know, take in, and are affected by our environment. Inspired by the elements of the world around him, he reconstructs these aspects through his chosen ceramic processes. With a subtle hand, Zen-like intensity, and a cherished carving tool, Keys offers vessels festooned with carved patterns based on Kumiko, a Japanese woodworking technique. His love of furniture-making comes alive later in the month, with a furniture show that speaks to life in the prairies and mountains of Alberta.
The Art Of Our Necessities
Derived from his active lifestyle, Murray McDonnell’s paintings express his need to move, be outside, to explore, to use his senses, and his need to create. For him, it is “not the image, nor the subject that is important, rather it is the need to make and share something with others in order to reflect that initial powerful internal visual experience”. Explore nature through the artist’s acrylic surface landscape and urbanscape paintings.
