Category: Oxygen Art Centre

CELEBRATE THE FIRST EXHIBITION OF 2026 AT OXYGEN ART CENTRE

Phuong Nguyen

porcelain like flesh and skin, flesh and skin like porcelain

14 January – 14 March 2026

Oxygen Art Centre invites the public to attend the opening reception for porcelain like flesh and skin, flesh and skin like porcelain, a solo exhibition by Toronto-based artist Phuong Nguyen on Wednesday, January 14, 2026, at 6:00pm.

The artist will be in attendance. Light refreshments provided. Everyone welcome to attend. Join us in celebrating the artist and her solo exhibition as we kick off the 2026 programme.

Following the event, Nguyen’s exhibition will be on view at the artist-run centre from January 14, 2026, to March 14, 2026. The gallery will be open on Wednesdays to Saturdays from 1:00pm to 5:00pm throughout the exhibition run.

The artist’s fourth solo exhibition, Nyugen presents a series of new oil paintings with ornate wood-carved and ceramic frames and woven adornments.

The exhibition title, porcelain like flesh and skin, flesh and skin like porcelain, refers to the “undead” or a living yet dead person alongside stereotypes associated with feminine beauty. The artist is interested in troubling these stereotypes through material juxtaposition grounded by art historical references, specifically the Chinoiserie—the European interpretation and mimic of East Asian art and culture, predominantly in the eighteenth century.

Born and raised in Tkaronto (Toronto), Phuong Nguyen is a Tkaronto-based visual artist working in representational oil painting and experimental weaving. Nyugen travels to Nelson in early January to install new paintings for this exhibition and will be in attendance at the opening reception.

We welcome the public to join in celebrating the exhibition and the artist on Wednesday, January 14, 2026, from 6:00pm to 7:00pm for an opening reception of porcelain like flesh and skin, flesh and skin like porcelain.

Phuong Nguyen’s exhibition porcelain like flesh and skin, flesh and skin like porcelain will be on view at Oxygen Art Centre from January 14, 2026, to March 14, 2026.  The gallery will be open on Wednesdays to Saturdays from 1:00pm to 5:00pm during exhibition run. Admission is free. 

This program is generously supported by the Canada Council for the Arts, the BC Arts Council, the Vancouver Foundation, and the Regional District of Central Kootenay ReDi program. Special thanks to Kenton Doupe for their support as Gallery Preparator.

Oxygen Art Centre is located at #3-320 Vernon Street along the alleyway behind Baker Street in Nelson, British Columbia. More information about how to access the facility can be found on Oxygen’s website or by contacting info@oxygenartcentre.org.

Image Credit (above): Phuong Nguyen, Artist headshot, Courtesy the Artist, 2025.

Press Contact:

Julia Prudhomme

Executive Director

Oxygen Art Centre

info@oxygenartcentre.org

Artist Biography:

Born and raised in Tkaronto (Toronto), Phuong Nguyen is a Tkaronto-based visual artist working in representational oil painting and experimental weaving. Nguyen uses these mediums to explore themes of Ornamentalism and the relationship between exoticism and violence by referencing the aesthetics and the history of Chinoiserie and South East Asian/Vietnamese femininity. Nguyen holds a BFA from OCAD University (2014).

Image Credit: Planche CXCV V4, Phuong Nguyen, oil on panel with reclaimed clay, plastic twine; Photography by Greg McCarthy, Courtesy the Artist, 2025.

SOLO PAINTING EXHIBITION BEGINS 2026 PROGRAM AT OXYGEN

Phuong Nguyen

porcelain like flesh and skin, flesh and skin like porcelain

14 January – 14 March 2026

Oxygen Art Centre is delighted to begin their 2026 program with a solo exhibition by Toronto-based artist Phuong Nguyen entitled porcelain like flesh and skin, flesh and skin like porcelain, on view from January 14, 2026, to March 14, 2026.

The exhibition opens with a reception on Wednesday, January 14, 2026, at 6:00pm. The artist will be in attendance. Light refreshments provided. Everyone welcome to attend.

The artist’s fourth solo exhibition, Nguyen presents a series of new oil paintings with ornate wood-carved and ceramic frames and woven adornments.

The exhibition title, porcelain like flesh and skin, flesh and skin like porcelain, refers to the “undead” or a living yet dead person alongside stereotypes associated with feminine beauty. The artist is interested in troubling these stereotypes through material juxtaposition grounded by art historical references, specifically the Chinoiserie—the European interpretation and mimic of East Asian art and culture, predominantly in the eighteenth century.

Born and raised in Tkaronto (Toronto), Phuong Nguyen is a Tkaronto-based visual artist working in representational oil painting and experimental weaving. Nguyen travels to Nelson in early January to install new paintings for this exhibition and will be in attendance at the opening reception.

Oxygen Art Centre welcomes the public to celebrate the exhibition and the artist on Wednesday, January 14, 2026, from 6:00pm to 7:00pm for an opening reception of porcelain like flesh and skin, flesh and skin like porcelain.

Phuong Nguyen’s exhibition porcelain like flesh and skin, flesh and skin like porcelain will be on view at Oxygen Art Centre from January 14, 2026, to March 14, 2026. The gallery will be open on Wednesdays to Saturdays from 1:00pm to 5:00pm during exhibition run. Admission is free. Everyone welcome.

This program is generously supported by the Canada Council for the Arts, the BC Arts Council, the Vancouver Foundation, and the Regional District of Central Kootenay ReDi program.

Oxygen Art Centre is located at #3-320 Vernon Street along the alleyway behind Baker Street in Nelson, British Columbia. More information about how to access the facility can be found on Oxygen’s website or by contacting info@oxygenartcentre.org.

Image Credit: Phuong Nguyen, oil painting on wood panel with ribbon; Photography by Greg McCarthy, Courtesy the Artist, 2025.

Press Contact:

Julia Prudhomme

Executive Director

Oxygen Art Centre

info@oxygenartcentre.org

Artist Biography:

Born and raised in Tkaronto (Toronto), Phuong Nguyen is a Tkaronto-based visual artist working in representational oil painting and experimental weaving. Nguyen uses these mediums to explore themes of Ornamentalism and the relationship between exoticism and violence by referencing the aesthetics and the history of Chinoiserie and South East Asian/Vietnamese femininity. Nguyen holds a BFA from OCAD University (2014).

Image Credit: Phuong Nyugen, Artist headshot, Courtesy the Artist, 2025.

Genevieve Robertson

Residency:      12 November – 20 December 2025

Artist Talk:     Thursday, December 11, 2025, at 6:00pm

Open Studio:   Saturday, December 13, 2025, from 1:00pm – 3:00pm

Oxygen Art Centre welcomes the public to attend two events at the close of Genevieve Robertson’s residency. Genevieve Robertson is artist-in-residence at Oxygen Art Centre from November 12, 2025, to December 20, 2025.

An artist talk will be held on Thursday, December 11, 2025, at 6:00pm. The Artist Talk will introduce Robertson’s artistic practice, as well as share process-based explorations from her residency. 

An open studio event will take place on Saturday, December 13, 2025, from 1:00pm-3:00pm. The Open Studio event provides an informal view for the public to engage with Robertson’s artistic practice and works-in-progress from within the artist’s working residency studio.

Both events will be held at Oxygen Art Centre’s downtown facility, located along the alleyway behind Baker Street at Stanley Avenue, Unit #3A-320 Vernon Street, Nelson, B.C. All events are free to attend. For folks who are able, please consider providing a small cash donation at the door. Everyone welcome to attend.

Robertson works at the intersection of visual art and environmental studies. Her practice is grounded in drawing and painting, extending to video, installation, and various forms of collective work and collaboration. Through long-term place-based research projects, her work explores anthropogenic impacts on ecology and the climate, and the intelligence and interconnection of the life systems of which we are part.

During her residency the artist will offer an Artist Talk on Thursday, December 11, 2025, at 5:00pm, and an Open Studio event on Saturday, December 13, 2025, from 1:00pm to 3:00pm at the artist-run centre. Both events are free to attend. Everyone welcome.

The artist-run centre welcomes Robertson for this residency at an auspicious moment in her practice to provide space, time, and resources to focus on a body of work intended for exhibition at the Midlands Art Centre, UK, in Spring 2026, which will be shared with the community through open studio and artist talk events.

Robertson will be artist-in-residence at Oxygen Art Centre from November 12, 2025, to December 20, 2025. While in residence, the public are invited to attend an Artist Talk on Thursday, December 11, 2025, at 5:00pm, and an Open Studio event on Saturday, December 13, 2025, from 1:00pm to 3:00pm. All events are free to attend. Everyone welcome.

This program is generously supported by the Canada Council for the Arts, the BC Arts Council, the Vancouver Foundation, and the Regional District of Central Kootenay ReDi program.

Oxygen Art Centre is located at #3-320 Vernon Street along the alleyway behind Baker Street in Nelson, British Columbia. More information about how to access the facility can be found on Oxygen’s website or by contacting info@oxygenartcentre.org.

Image Credit: Documentation of Genevieve Robertson’s residency at Oxygen Art Centre featuring works in progress, November 2025

ILLUSTRATION EXHIBITION BY EMERGING ARTIST BETHANY PARDOE NOW ON VIEW

Oxygen Art Centre is delighted to present an exhibition by illustrator and writer Bethany Pardoe entitled The Small Earth. On view in the O2 vitrine exhibition space from November 22, 2025, to January 16, 2026, The Small Earth presents sketchbook pages and illustrations that shape the cosmology of a graphic novel in progress.

Bethany Pardoe is a traditional illustrator and writer with a BFA from Emily Carr University of Art and Design. From picture books to graphic novels, Pardoe writes and illustrates fantastical stories inspired by growing up as an odd duck.

Imbued with elements of nature and personal folklore, her art and narratives are for people who feel things deeply. Pardoe currently lives and works in Vancouver, BC, and grew up in Nelson, BC, before moving to the coast to attend postsecondary school.

The exhibition, The Small Earth, presents a selection of Pardoe’s works-in-progress to share insight on the emerging artist’s creative praxis and worldbuilding for her forthcoming graphic novel. Selections include pages during Pardoe’s residency at the Banff Centre’s Comics and Graphic Novel program.

Located on the Stanley Avenue side of the Nelson Trading Company building (430 Baker Street) in downtown Nelson, B.C., O2 is a window-turned-gallery that serves as an extension of Oxygen Art Centre’s contemporary art programming.

Pardoe’s exhibition, The Small Earth, will be on view to the public at Oxygen Art Centre’s O2 vitrine exhibition space from November 22, 2025, to January 16, 2026. O2 is a public facing window located in downtown Nelson.

This program is generously supported by the Canada Council for the Arts, the BC Arts Council, the Vancouver Foundation, and the Regional District of Central Kootenay ReDi program. Special thanks to Hall Printing for their support in realizing this exhibition.

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Image Credit: Storyteller, Bethany Pardoe, illustration on paper, 2025; Courtesy the artist.

Press Contact:

Julia Prudhomme

Executive Director

Oxygen Art Centre

info@oxygenartcentre.org—

Julia Prudhomme (she/her)

Executive Director / oxygen art centre

My regular office hours are Tuesday – Thursday, 9:00am – 2:00pm PT. Responses will be slow outside of this window. 

info@oxygenartcentre.org

www.oxygenartcentre.org

#3 – 320 Vernon St. Alley Entrance

Nelson, British Columbia, V1L 4E4

Oxygen Art Centre is is an artist-run centre located on the tm̓xʷúlaʔxʷ (land) of the Sn̓ʕaýckstx (Sinixt), Syilx and Ktunaxa Nations colonially known as the West Kootenay in the southeastern interior region of British Columbia, Canada.

We strive to listen, learn and grow respectful relationships with all those who have deep connections with this land and its waterways, including Métis and many diverse Indigenous persons. We honour their ongoing presence as stewards and carriers of knowledge.

We make this statement to recognize our privilege as uninvited guests and to reflect on our own connections to this place. Our responsibility as an artist-run centre is to uplift voices of justice, move at the speed of trust, and deepen understanding and relationships.

We are grateful for the financial support we receive from the Canada Council for the Arts, BC Arts Council, BC Gaming, Province of BC, Government of Canada, Vancouver Foundation, Columbia Kootenay Cultural Alliance, Columbia Basin Trust, Regional District of Central Kootenay’s ReDi program, Osprey Community Foundation, United Way, Nelson Lions Club, and Nelson and District Credit Union.

We offer thanks to the Polka Dot Dragon Festival, the Elephant Mountain Literary Festival and other key partners including Hall Printing, Speedpro Signs, and Selkirk College for their support.

We especially thank our collaborators, volunteers, donors, and members.

OXYGEN ART CENTRE AWARDED MAJOR MULTI-YEAR FUNDIND

Oxygen Art Centre is excited to announce that the artist-run centre is the recipient of a major multi-year funding program. The generous support comes from the Vancouver Foundation’s Transforming Systems Grant.

These grants of $300,000 offer flexible, operational funding for three years to organizations advancing systemic change by addressing the root causes of inequality and supporting those most affected to shape their own futures.

Vancouver Foundation is dedicated to creating healthy, vibrant, equitable, and inclusive communities across BC. Since 1943, our donors have created 2,200 endowment funds and together we have distributed more than $1.5 billion to charities. From arts and culture to the environment, health and social development, education, medical research and more, we exist to make meaningful and lasting improvements to communities in BC.

Oxygen Art Centre is an artist-run centre located on the tm̓xʷúlaʔxʷ (land) of the Sn̓ʕaýckstx (Sinixt), Syilx and Ktunaxa Nations colonially known as the West Kootenay in the southeastern interior region of British Columbia, Canada.

Located in the city of Nelson, Oxygen was founded as the Nelson Fine Arts Centre Society in 2002 by former writing and visual arts faculty from the Kootenay School of the Arts. Oxygen operates in a 900 sq. ft. renovated warehouse space that serves as a studio, gallery, residency centre, event space, and office.

Oxygen is known for challenging and experimental programming. We value the curatorial, research, and production of contemporary art programming that support diverse artists in all stages of their careers. We are particularly interested in contemporary art practices that are interdisciplinary, process-based, and socially engaged, focused through two core programs: the Exhibition and Residency Program and the Education Program.

With the support of the Vancouver Foundation—at this increasingly precarious economic moment for arts and culture nonprofits—the artist-run centre will direct these funds to human resources and operating expenses to establish a secure foundation for systemic change work.

Vancouver Foundation’s three-year operational funding will increase the organizational capacity required to codify internalized processes into policies, conduct high-level strategic planning activities, and create conditions for critically researching and producing contemporary art programming.

This work will be conducted by Oxygen’s staff and board of directors where they will engage in strategic planning activities and professional development to secure the centre’s future, alongside enhancements to forthcoming public contemporary art programs.

Oxygen Art Centre extends deep gratitude to the Vancouver Foundation for their support of the artist-run centre through the Transforming Systems Grant.

As a non-profit charitable organization, Oxygen is grateful for the financial support we receive from the Canada Council for the Arts, BC Arts Council, BC Gaming, Province of BC, Government of Canada, Vancouver Foundation, Columbia Kootenay Cultural Alliance, Columbia Basin Trust, Regional District of Central Kootenay’s ReDi program, Osprey Community Foundation, United Way, Nelson Lions Club, and Nelson and District Credit Union.

We especially thank our collaborators, volunteers, donors, and members for their continued support of the artist-run centre. Not a member yet? Become a Member for just $2 – $10 to support arts and culture in your community!

Oxygen Art Centre is located at #3-320 Vernon Street along the alleyway behind Baker Street in Nelson, British Columbia.

Oxygen Art Centre’s Fall 2025 Art Education Semester is now open for registration. Taking place from September 15, 2025, to November 10, 2025, at the artist-run centre’s downtown facility, the program features classes on writing, drawing, painting, and playwriting, and everything in between.

Favourites like Life Drawing and Painting from a Model return with new classes exploring sketchbooking and handmade textiles with Kaylyn Hardstaff, and a writer’s weekend workshop with Deryn Collier joining the roster.

Learn about the classes and your instructors on Oxygen’s website: https://oxygenartcentre.org/fall-semester/ . Register early to reserve your spot! Classes are small to create a dynamic experience for each student, but they fill up quickly.

Oxygen’s Education program has offered professional art classes to adults and youth for over 21 years. The program is unique as it is developed and taught by established, professional local artists and art educators who share their skills and advanced education with the community.

Interested participants can register to attend each class by signing up online through Google Forms.

As a non-profit artist-run centre we rely on minimum registration to pay professional artist instructor rates and to ensure enough time for instructors and staff to prepare for your class. For information about Oxygen’s registration policies are available on their website and on each registration form.

Oxygen Art Centre is an artist-run centre located at #3-320 Vernon Street along the alleyway behind Baker Street. For more information about how to access the facility or to register for a class, please visit Oxygen’s website.

Get creative this fall at Oxygen Art Centre!

Image Credit: Oxygen Art Centre, Fall 2024 Semester Open House and ArtSpeak exhibition, 2024

Website link: https://oxygenartcentre.org/fall-semester/