Category: Oxygen Art Centre

DRAW, PAINT AND PROCESS FLAX THIS FALL AT OXYGEN ART CENTRE

Oxygen Art Centre’s Fall Semester is now open for registration. Taking place from September 23, 2026, to December 5, 2026, at the artist-run centre’s downtown facility, the program features classes in textile, drawing, and character design, and everything in between.

The fall semester is broken into two parts, where students can sign-up for two different blocks of Life Drawing and the studio critique class, Art Speak with Emilie Leblanc-Kromberg. Running over five- and four-weeks each, the sections provide new and returning students with a myriad of opportunities to engage in creative praxis.

Part One takes place from September 28, 2026, to October 31, 2026, consisting of weekly sessions in Life Drawing, Storyboarding Workshop, Character Design for Children’s Books, Art Speak, Chinese Brush Painting classes, and single workshops to work from a professional model in any medium or costumed models in movement, and a special four-day weekend workshop to explore flax from plant to textile with Danielle Soucie.

Part Two takes from November 9, 2026, to December 5, 2026, featuring Life Drawing and Art Speak classes, with additional weekly and one-day workshops to be announced later in the month.

Learn about the classes and your instructors on Oxygen’s website. Register early to reserve your spot! Classes are small to create a dynamic experience for each student, but they fill up quickly. Materials and equipment provided for most classes.

Part One of the Fall Semester is now open for registration, as of September 9, 2026. Part Two will be open for registration by September 23, 2026. Additional classes and events will be announced on a rolling basis.

Oxygen’s Education program has offered professional art classes to adults and youth for over 23 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. Community-focused classes are generously subsidized by the Province of British Columbia’s Community Gaming grants program. 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 or contact the artist-run centre via email.

Image Credit (above): Flax growing, Danielle Soucie, Promotion for Soucie’s upcoming class The Flax Lab, 2026; Courtesy the artist

Image Credit (below): Oxygen Art Centre Education program poster design for the Fall semester, Part One, 2026

Website link: https://oxygenartcentre.org/2026-fall-semester-part-one/

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

𝐹𝒜𝐿𝐿 𝒮𝐸𝑀𝐸𝒮𝒯𝐸𝑅 ˚꩜ early-bird registration !! now open !!

EDUCATION 𝐹𝒜𝐿𝐿 𝒮𝐸𝑀𝐸𝒮𝒯𝐸𝑅 PART ONE September 28 – October 31, 2026 [5 weeks] Registration open: September 9 /˚꩜ early-bird registration: today! PART TWO November 9 – December 5, 2026 [4 weeks] Registration open: September 23 Oxygen Art Centre’s Fall Semester is now open for early-bird registration—a special offering to Oxygen’s members and newsletter subscribers ︎ Taking place from September 23, 2026, to December 5, 2026, at the artist-run centre’s downtown facility, the program features classes in textiles, drawing, and character design, and everything in between. The fall semester is broken into two parts, where students can sign-up for two different blocks of Life Drawing and the studio critique class, Art Speak with Emilie Leblanc-Kromberg. Running over five- and four-weeks each, the sections provide new and returning students with a myriad of opportunities to engage in creative praxis.  Part One takes place from September 28, 2026, to October 31, 2026, consisting of weekly sessions in Life Drawing, Storyboarding Workshop, Character Design for Children’s Books, Art Speak, Chinese Brush Painting classes, and single workshops to work from a professional model in any medium or costumed models in movement, and a special four-day weekend workshop to explore flax from plant to textile with West Kootenay Fibreshed Collective co-founder, Danielle Soucie.  Part Two takes from November 9, 2026, to December 5, 2026, featuring Life Drawing and Art Speak classes, with additional weekly and one-day workshops to be announced later in the month. Learn about the classes and your instructors on Oxygen’s website. Register early to reserve your spot! Classes are small to create a dynamic experience for each student, but they fill up quickly. Materials and equipment provided for most classes. Oxygen’s Education program has offered professional art classes to adults and youth for over 23 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. Community-focused classes are generously subsidized by the Province of British Columbia’s Community Gaming grants program. For information about Oxygen’s registration policies are available on our website and on each registration form. Contact education@oxygenartcentre.org with any questions or for support to register.PART ONEis a MondaysOxygen’s Life Drawing sessions offer a weekly opportunity to draw from a professional model in a studio setting. Poses will typically begin with short (2-minute poses) for quick gestural studies and work up through increments to longer (15-20 minute) poses. No instruction is offered. Participants will have access to easels, donkeys, drawing boards and miscellaneous drawing materials and are encouraged to bring materials for the drawing medium of their choice. Classes are kept small to create a dynamic, engaging environment for creative and technical engagement. Course fee:  $90.00Deadline:     Monday, September 21, 2026REGISTER Wednesdays This is a daytime version of Oxygen’s Life Drawing sessions, which offer a weekly opportunity to draw from a professional model in a studio setting. Poses will typically begin with short (2-minute poses) for quick gestural studies and work up through increments to longer (15-20 minute) poses. No instruction is offered. Participants will have access to easels, donkeys, drawing boards and miscellaneous drawing materials and are encouraged to bring materials for the drawing medium of their choice. Classes are kept small to create a dynamic, engaging environment for creative and technical engagement. Course fee:  $75.00Deadline:     Wednesday, September 23, 2026REGISTER Wednesday This figure drawing class features dynamic, costumed models—from fantasy characters to jiujitsu fighters and vintage outfits—striking bold, expressive poses in a relaxed atmosphere. Ranging from 30 seconds to 15 minutes, these short-pose costume studies are a valuable method for capturing actions quickly, make fast decisions, and block-in shapes efficiently. Participants will have access to easels, donkeys, drawing boards and miscellaneous drawing materials and are encouraged to bring materials for the drawing medium of their choice. Classes are kept small to create a dynamic, engaging environment for creative and technical engagement. No prior experience is needed—just bring your sketchpad and an open mind. Course fee: $50.00Deadline:       Friday, September 18, 2026REGISTER Fridays Over three sessions, students will explore the wondrous world of Chinese brush painting. Led by Zen Wang, students will cover scenery, animal and plants painting techniques. All supplies will be provided. Course fee:  $100.00Deadline:     Friday, October 2, 2026REGISTER WeekendREGISTERTuesdaysThis course covers the complete pipeline from script and thumb nailing to creating pitch-ready storyboards to add to your Animation portfolio. Students will be given a short script and characters to work from to then visually draw shot selection, camera angles, perspective, and character acting to drive narrative clarity. In between classes there will be homework that will be reviewed at each following class. Drawing abilities are necessary but no prior experience with animation or storyboarding required. This class will primarily engage in storyboarding techniques with paper and pencil, with some introduction to digital techniques. This class is taught by an industry veteran with backgrounds at studios like DreamWorks. Course fee:   $140.00Deadline:      Tuesday, September 29, 2026REGISTER Wednesdays This is an introductory course into character design for the development of children’s picture books. Over three classes, students will learn skills in character design from initial idea to sketching, layout, and final illustrations. Leonard Erlbruch is a new Oxygen instructor, recently having moved to Nelson with his family from Leipzig, Germany. Leonard brings an extensive background in illustration, character design, and writing children’s books. Course fee:  $100.00Deadline:       Wednesday, September 23, 2026REGISTER Thursdays Art Speak is an opportunity to meet other artists and discuss artworks created within a common theme. It is a weekly challenge to listen, think, observe, elaborate, and commit to the creative process. Whatever skill level or medium used, the group supports an intimate space where all feels included, connected, respected, and excited to share courageous exploration. Course fee:   $90.00Deadline:       Thursday, September 24, 2026REGISTER Saturday An extension of Oxygen’s Life Drawing sessions, Working from a Model provides participants with a four-hour session to work from a professional model in any medium. The long duration supports students interested in developing a body of work or focusing on a single artwork from a single pose held (with breaks) for the duration of the session. Course fee: $50.00Deadline:       Friday, September 18, 2026  REGISTER The Flax Lab is a four-session exploration of flax from plant to textile. Through discussion, demonstration, and hands-on practice, participants will learn about growing, harvesting, retting, breaking, scutching, hackling, and preparing flax fibre. The course will then move into spinning and creating a small woven or knitted sample. Beginner-friendly and adaptable for experienced makers, the lab offers space to work at your own skill level while building a deeper understanding of flax, traditional processing methods, and the possibilities of locally grown fibre through shared experimentation.  Course fee:  $290.00 [all materials + equipment incl.]Deadline:      Friday, October 9, 2026 LEARN MORE O2 CALL TO ARTISTS Call to ArtistsO2: window exhibition space Deadline to apply:September 27, 2026, by 12 AM Midnight PSTAPPLY

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FOR   IMMEDIATE   RELEASE: CALL TO LOCAL ARTISTS FOR O2 WINDOW EXHIBITIONS

O2 window exhibition space

Call to Artists

Deadline:  September 27, 2026 at 12:00 AM Midnight PT

Applications accepted via Google Form: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLScMQMBFdaNhJYKRVWMqrw0LfA2358mV430BO5KZNjmm3yu3Mg/viewform?usp=header

Oxygen Art Centre is currently accepting proposals from artists and collectives for an alternative exhibition window space entitled “O2.” Applications will be accepted until September 27, 2026, by 12 AM Midnight.

O2 is a window. O2 is Oxygen Art Centre’s off-site gallery. 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. More details about the location, previous exhibitions, and how to apply can be found on Oxygen’s website.

Since 2023, O2 has presented exhibitions by the West Kootenay Fibreshed Artist Collective, Rayya Liebich, Bethany Pardoe, Michele Dupas, and the 2025 Art Speak cohort, to name a few.

We accept proposals from artists and collectives at all stages in their practices who are situated in the Columbia Basin/West Kootenay/Southern Interior B.C. region. Oxygen Art Centre encourages applications from BIPOC, LGBTQIA2S+, and persons with disabilities. 

Artists will be paid a CARFAC fee for public exhibition and a material honorarium. Installations will be on view for two-month durations. Proposals will be considered for the artist-run centre’s 2027 Exhibition & Residency program at their remote window exhibition space.

Interested artists can submit their proposal to this call through the Google Form. Applicants can anticipate devoting 10 to 15 minutes completing the form. We thank all artists for their proposals, however only artists proceeding in the process will be contacted.

Learn about previous exhibitions at O2 by visiting Oxygen’s website: https://oxygenartcentre.org/exhibitions-residencies/o2-window-exhibition-space/ 

The deadline to apply to Oxygen Art Centre’s O2 Call to Artists is Sunday, September 27, 2026, by 12 AM Midnight PST.

Oxygen Art Centre’s main facility 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. Admission to all events 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.

Image Credit (above): Bethany Pardoe, The Small Earth, Illustrations printed on paper, November 28, 2025, to January 16, 2026, O2 installation documentation, November 2025

Image Credit (below): O2 promotional graphic for September 2026 Call to Artists, 2026

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.

OℙEN STUDIO & FILM SCREENING today! -ˋˏ✄Three Way Mirror residency

RESIDENCYSummer Residency 𝕋𝕙𝕣𝕖𝕖 𝕎𝕒𝕪 𝕄𝕚𝕣𝕣𝕠𝕣Daniel Barrow, Glenn Gear, Paige Gratland July 3, 2026 – August 7, 2026 Open Studio event Saturday, August 1, 2026, from 1:00 – 3:00pm > Film screening at 2:00pm Performance Winnipeg Babysitter (2005-2023) Written, Directed & Performed by Daniel Barrow Saturday, August 1, 2026, at 7:00pm 90 minutes, multi-media presentation *NEW* Workshop Interaction of Colour For Weavers Workshopwith Paige Gratland Wed., August 5, 2026, from 6:00 – 8:00pm Register to attend, Spaces limited All events are free to attend. At Oxygen Art Centre, we sadly near the conclusion of the summer residency with the artist collective, Three Way Mirror. Join us for the final public events on Saturday, August 1, 2026, including an Open Studio (1-3PM), Film Screening (2PM), and Performance (7PM). The artists have been in residence at the artist-run centre since July 3, 2026. Three Way Mirror is composed of artists Daniel Barrow (QC), Glenn Gear (QC), and Paige Gratland (BC). The artists visit Nelson from Montréal and Vancouver for a six-week residency where they develop their textile practices individually and collectively in what they call a craft ‘triangle’. For artists who belong to a social group that has often been marginalized, it is unsurprising that they are drawn to similarly marginalized crafts, art forms that link the personal and the political. Traditionally, a craft circle is a non-competitive circle of production where artists can create work and act on their concern for social justice. Three Way Mirror embraces this concept through a craft triangle where the artists create an intersectional queer space for textiles production and dialogue. The public are invited to attend an informal open studio event during the residency period to engage with the artists and encounter works-in-progress. The final open studio event is scheduled for Saturday, August 1, 2026, from 1:00pm to 3:00pm. Admission is free. Everyone welcome to attend. 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 Dara van der Meulen for their support as Residency Coordinator (Canada Summer Jobs) and Kenton Doupe for their support as Gallery Preparator and Photographer.FILM SCREENING During the Saturday, August 1, 2026, Open Studio event, the artists share their individual video practices during a film screening at 2:00 PM. Kablunât 2016 10min 32 sec Glenn Gear Based on an Inuit legend from Labrador, “Kablunât” explores the complex and intersecting histories of early Inuit and Settler life on the North Atlantic coast. Employing archival images, animation, collage, and time-lapse video, the retelling of this origin story unfolds in a poetic space between past and present, myth and lived experience.BOOTWMN 2015 11 minutes Paige Gratland Deana McGuffin is a third generation New Mexico boot maker, hand-crafting wearable pieces of art. When she is approached by a Canadian artist and a San Franciscan tattooer to create a gay themed cowboy boot, a story unravels of a unique collaboration that takes them to the heart of cowboy country in Northern Texas. BOOTWMN is a heart-warming, intimate and at times funny portrait of the queering of a traditional art form.Handsome Devil 2025 Animated music video Daniel Barrow This music video in romantic pink and green was created used Amiga software from the late 1980s (DeluxePaint 4). A green-skinned “sissy devil” probes the depths of internet intelligence, composing an “advanced search” on an antiquated search engine (using the lyrics of the Ballet’s song). Simultaneously, a naked, green, feminine artist traces the contours of her devilish destiny on her sketch pad, and then within an imaginary dating app. The “advanced search” becomes a kind of contemporary, queer, love poem.Handsome Devil premiered at the Ottawa International Animation Festival in 2024.LEARN MOREPERFORMANCE Winnipeg Babysitter (2005-2023) Written, Directed & Performed by Daniel Barrow Saturday, August 1, 2026, at 7:00pm 90 minutes, multi-media presentation Free to attendIn addition to their Paper Doll Poems workshop, artist-in-residence Daniel Barrow presents a multi-media performance entitled Winnipeg Babysitter (2005-2023) on Saturday, August 1, 2026, at 7:00pm. In the late ’70s and throughout the 80s, Winnipeg experienced a “golden age” of public access television. The performance draws on Barrow’s decades-long research and independent archive of Winnipeg’s public access television from the late 1970s and 80s presented as a 90-minute hybrid storytelling performance. Winnipeg Babysitter is an archival project that restores a previously lost history. Daniel Barrow travels to each screening providing an overhead projected commentary/context, tracing the histories of public access television in Manitoba, and describing the various and outrageous biographies of each television producer and personality. Presented at venues such as The Portland Institute of Contemporary Art, La Maison Rouge (Paris) and Light Industry (Brooklyn), Winnipeg Babysitter (2005-2023) features a live commentary by the artist from an overhead projector over excerpts of archival television. Barrow’s performance is not exclusively an exercise in nostalgia—it is also a critical gesture with deep relevance to our contemporary media landscape. Winnipeg Babysitter (2005-2023) foregrounds the politics of visibility and the value of infrastructures that support creativity without commodification. This performance offers audiences with a suggestion that the future of media art may benefit from looking back at a moment when the signal was open, and the screen truly belonged to the public. Join us at Oxygen Art Centre on Saturday, August 1, 2026, at 7:00pm for Winnipeg Babysitter (2005-2023).LEARN MOREWORKSHOP Interaction of Colour For Weavers Workshopwith Paige Gratland Wednesday, August 5, 2026,from 6:00 – 8:00pm Register to attend, Spaces limited.All materials provided.This workshop will explore colour theory as it applies to weaving. Join artist in residence, Paige Gratland, as she shares some of her research on the topic and leads the group through some off-loom activities to create certain visual effect through yarn winding. The concepts aim to help participants better understand colour and how to work with it. Paige Gratland learned to weave in 2019 at the Richmond Weavers and Spinners Guild and this topic is part of her research for her final year at the Master Weaver Program at Olds College.REGISTERABOUT THE ARTISTSDaniel Barrow is a genderfluid, Montreal-based storyteller/artist uses simple (often antiquated) technologies to present pictorial narratives by merging the methods of cinema, comics, animation, and magic lantern shows. They are best known for adapting comic book narratives to “manual” forms of animation by manipulating drawings on an overhead projector. In recent years, they have been developing a unique pictorial language which they referred to as “paper doll poems”.Glenn Gear is an Indigiqueer filmmaker and multidisciplinary artist of mixed Inuit heritage living in Montréal. He is originally from Corner Brook Newfoundland and has family throughout Labrador and Nunatsiavut. His research creation-practice is shaped by Inuit ways of learning and knowing, through a hands-on and tactile approach incorporating installation, animation, photography, bead work, and the use of traditional materials such as sealskin.Paige Gratland is a visual artist and filmmaker producing projects and objects that engage with social history, design and craft practices. She learned to weave in 2019 at the Richmond Weavers and Spinners Guild and is currently completing the Master Weaver Program at Olds College. She is also 1/3 of the artist group Three Way Mirror with Daniel Barrow and Glenn Gear. LEARN MORE NEW EMPLOYEEOxygen Art Centre welcomes Dara van der Meulen in the role of Residency Coordinator this summer through the Canada Summer Jobs program! Dara joins the artist-run centre to support the summer residency, conduct research and arts administration for upcoming programs, and complete a creative project over their 9-week contract.

Summer Residency, Film Screening, Workshop, Performance, O2 Exhibition + more Donate! Support your artist-run centre RESIDENCYSummer Residency 𝕋𝕙𝕣𝕖𝕖 𝕎𝕒𝕪 𝕄𝕚𝕣𝕣𝕠𝕣Daniel Barrow, Glenn Gear, Paige Gratland July 3, 2026 – August 7, 2026 Open Studio events Saturday, July 18, 2026, from 1:00 – 3:00pm > Film screening at 2:00pm Saturday, August 1, 2026, from 1:00 – 3:00pm Workshop Paper Doll Poems workshop with Daniel Barrow Wednesday, July 29, 2026, at 6:00pm Registration required Performance Winnipeg Babysitter (2005-2023) Written, Directed & Performed by Daniel Barrow Saturday, August 1, 2026, at 7:00pm 90 minutes, multi-media presentation All events are free to attend. Oxygen Art Centre is currently hosting the artist collective, Three Way Mirror, from July 3, 2026, to August 7, 2026. Three Way Mirror is composed of artists Daniel Barrow (QC), Glenn Gear (QC), and Paige Gratland (BC). The artists visit Nelson from Montréal and Vancouver for a six-week residency where they will develop their textile practices individually and collectively in what they call a craft ‘triangle’. For artists who belong to a social group that has often been marginalized, it is unsurprising that they are drawn to similarly marginalized crafts, art forms that link the personal and the political. Traditionally, a craft circle is a non-competitive circle of production where artists can create work and act on their concern for social justice. Three Way Mirror embraces this concept through a craft triangle where the artists create an intersectional queer space for textiles production and dialogue. The public are invited to attend two informal open studio events during the residency period to engage with the artists and encounter works-in-progress. Open studio events are scheduled for Saturday, July 18, 2026, and Saturday, August 1, 2026, from 1:00pm to 3:00pm. Admission is free. Everyone welcome to attend. During their residency, the artists present two open studio events, a film screening, workshop, and performance. Learn about the upcoming events below and on Oxygen’s website. All events are free to attend. 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 Dara van der Meulen for their support as Residency Coordinator (Canada Summer Jobs) and Kenton Doupe for their support as Gallery Preparator and Photographer.FILM SCREENING During the Saturday, July 18, 2026, Open Studio event, the artists share their individual video practices during a film screening at 2:00 PM. Kablunât 2016 10min 32 sec Glenn Gear Based on an Inuit legend from Labrador, “Kablunât” explores the complex and intersecting histories of early Inuit and Settler life on the North Atlantic coast. Employing archival images, animation, collage, and time-lapse video, the retelling of this origin story unfolds in a poetic space between past and present, myth and lived experience.Phranc: The Butch Closet 2026 21 minutes with English subtitles Paige Gratland Legendary artist and musician Phranc makes beautiful sculptures from hand-painted paper and cardboard that trace the longing and belonging embedded in objects and clothing. The film maps connections between Phranc’s personal history, archive, and memories, revealing the stories behind each piece.Handsome Devil 2025 Animated music video Daniel Barrow This music video in romantic pink and green was created used Amiga software from the late 1980s (DeluxePaint 4). A green-skinned “sissy devil” probes the depths of internet intelligence, composing an “advanced search” on an antiquated search engine (using the lyrics of the Ballet’s song). Simultaneously, a naked, green, feminine artist traces the contours of her devilish destiny on her sketch pad, and then within an imaginary dating app. The “advanced search” becomes a kind of contemporary, queer, love poem.Handsome Devil premiered at the Ottawa International Animation Festival in 2024.LEARN MOREWORKSHOPPaper Doll Poems workshop with Daniel Barrow Wednesday, July 29, 2026, at 6:00pm Registration requiredFree to attend Participants will work with paper collaging techniques developed by the artist through their “paper doll poems” practice, which combines Barrow’s interests in the traditions of folk poetry and limericks, butterfly collections, emoji chains and pictographic languages.  Barrow’s collaged pictographic poems have evolved over the past two years to explore symmetry in palindromic language, incorporating many precepts of floriography––the cryptological system of communication through the exchange of bouquets of flowers. The artist is particularly interested in the floriography which flourished in the 19th-century, when floral arrangements permitted the sender to express feelings which were forbidden to be spoken aloud in Victorian society. Participants can expect to spend time with the artist making and learning techniques together in collage and composition. This workshop is free to attend and limited to six participants. All materials and tools will be provided. Registration is required to attend.REGISTERPERFORMANCE Winnipeg Babysitter (2005-2023) Written, Directed & Performed by Daniel Barrow Saturday, August 1, 2026, at 7:00pm 90 minutes, multi-media presentation Free to attendIn addition to their Paper Doll Poems workshop, artist-in-residence Daniel Barrow presents a multi-media performance entitled Winnipeg Babysitter (2005-2023) on Saturday, August 1, 2026, at 7:00pm. In the late ’70s and throughout the 80s, Winnipeg experienced a “golden age” of public access television. The performance draws on Barrow’s decades-long research and independent archive of Winnipeg’s public access television from the late 1970s and 80s presented as a 90-minute hybrid storytelling performance. Winnipeg Babysitter is an archival project that restores a previously lost history. Daniel Barrow travels to each screening providing an overhead projected commentary/context, tracing the histories of public access television in Manitoba, and describing the various and outrageous biographies of each television producer and personality. Presented at venues such as The Portland Institute of Contemporary Art, La Maison Rouge (Paris) and Light Industry (Brooklyn), Winnipeg Babysitter (2005-2023) features a live commentary by the artist from an overhead projector over excerpts of archival television. Barrow’s performance is not exclusively an exercise in nostalgia—it is also a critical gesture with deep relevance to our contemporary media landscape. Winnipeg Babysitter (2005-2023) foregrounds the politics of visibility and the value of infrastructures that support creativity without commodification. This performance offers audiences with a suggestion that the future of media art may benefit from looking back at a moment when the signal was open, and the screen truly belonged to the public. Join us at Oxygen Art Centre on Saturday, August 1, 2026, at 7:00pm for Winnipeg Babysitter (2005-2023).LEARN MOREABOUT THE ARTISTSDaniel Barrow is a genderfluid, Montreal-based storyteller/artist uses simple (often antiquated) technologies to present pictorial narratives by merging the methods of cinema, comics, animation, and magic lantern shows. They are best known for adapting comic book narratives to “manual” forms of animation by manipulating drawings on an overhead projector. In recent years, they have been developing a unique pictorial language which they referred to as “paper doll poems”.Glenn Gear is an Indigiqueer filmmaker and multidisciplinary artist of mixed Inuit heritage living in Montréal. He is originally from Corner Brook Newfoundland and has family throughout Labrador and Nunatsiavut. His research creation-practice is shaped by Inuit ways of learning and knowing, through a hands-on and tactile approach incorporating installation, animation, photography, bead work, and the use of traditional materials such as sealskin.Paige Gratland is a visual artist and filmmaker producing projects and objects that engage with social history, design and craft practices. She learned to weave in 2019 at the Richmond Weavers and Spinners Guild and is currently completing the Master Weaver Program at Olds College. She is also 1/3 of the artist group Three Way Mirror with Daniel Barrow and Glenn Gear. LEARN MORE NEW EMPLOYEE

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Three Way Mirror: Daniel Barrow, Glenn Gear, Paige Gratland

Summer Residency

3 July – 7 August 2026

Open Studio events

Saturday, July 18, 2026, from 1:00pm to 3:00pm

Saturday, August 1, 2026, from 1:00pm to 3:00pm

Paper Doll Poems workshop with Daniel Barrow

Wednesday, July 29, 2026, at 6:00pmFree to attend, Registration required

Performance

Winnipeg Babysitter (2005-2023)

Daniel Barrow

Saturday, August 1, 2026, at 7:00pm

90 minutes, multi-media presentation

Free to attend

Oxygen Art Centre is currently hosting the artist collective, Three Way Mirror, from July 3, 2026, to August 7, 2026. Three Way Mirror is composed of artists Daniel Barrow (QC), Glenn Gear (QC), and Paige Gratland (BC).

The artists visit Nelson from Montréal and Vancouver for a six-week residency where they develop their textile practices individually and collectively in what they call a craft ‘triangle’.

During their residency, the artist-run centre will open to the public for a series of public events, including two open studio events, a workshop and a performance.

The public are invited to attend two informal open studio events during the residency period to engage with the artists and encounter works-in-progress. Open studio events are scheduled for Saturday, July 18, 2026, and Saturday, August 1, 2026, from 1:00pm to 3:00pm. Admission is free. Everyone welcome to attend.

Artist Daniel Barrow hosts a paper doll poem workshop on Wednesday, July 29, 2026, at 6:00pm. This workshop is free to attend; however, registration is required and spaces limited. Participants will work with paper collaging techniques developed by the artist through their “paper doll poems” practice, which combines Barrow’s interests in the traditions of folk poetry and limericks, butterfly collections, emoji chains and pictographic languages.  

Barrow’s collaged pictographic poems have evolved over the past two years to explore symmetry in palindromic language, incorporating many precepts of floriography––the cryptological system of communication through the exchange of bouquets of flowers. Participants can expect to spend time with the artist making and learning techniques together in collage and composition. To attend, please complete the online registration form available via Oxygen’s website.

In addition to their workshop, Barrow presents a multi-media performance entitled Winnipeg Babysitter (2005-2023) on Saturday, August 1, 2026, at 7:00pm. The performance draws on their decades-long research and independent archive of Winnipeg’s public access television from the late 1970s and 80s presented as a 90-minute hybrid storytelling performance.

Presented at venues such as The Portland Institute of Contemporary Art, La Maison Rouge (Paris) and Light Industry (Brooklyn), Winnipeg Babysitter (2005-2023) features a live commentary by the artist from an overhead projector over excerpts of archival television.

Barrow’s performance is not exclusively an exercise in nostalgia—it is also a critical gesture with deep relevance to our contemporary media landscape. Winnipeg Babysitter (2005-2023) foregrounds the politics of visibility and the value of infrastructures that support creativity without commodification. This performance offers audiences with a suggestion that the future of media art may benefit from looking back at a moment when the signal was open, and the screen truly belonged to the public.

The public are invited to attend Daniel Barrow’s Winnipeg Babysitter (2005-2023) performance on Saturday, August 1, 2026, at 7:00pm at Oxygen Art Centre. This event is free to attend. Everyone welcome.

In addition to these public events, artists Glenn Gear and Paige Gratland make connections within the craft and textile community in Nelson to explore techniques in wet felting and colour composition in weaving. While these events will be private for select artists, the public will be invited to engage in their creative practices through the open studio events.

The overarching residency considers how traditional crafts can convey queer stories and community, and how queer signifiers and strategies can express intersectional identities through conceptual craft-based practices. For each artist this has been a natural progression, resulting in the production of woven queer colourways (Gratland), glitter-bombs sealskins (Gear) and paper-doll poems (Barrow).

The artist collective Three Way Mirror will be in residence at Oxygen Art Centre from July 3, 2026, to August 7, 2026.  The gallery will be open to the public for two Open Studio events on Saturday, July 18, 2026, and Saturday, August 1, 2026, from 1:00pm to 3:00pm.

Join Daniel Barrow in their Paper Doll Poem workshop on Wednesday, July 29, 2026, at 6:00pm. Registration is required. Spaces are limited. All materials and tools provided.

Daniel Barrow’s performance Winnipeg Baby (2005-2023) will be presented on Saturday, August 1, 2026, at 7:00pm.

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. Admission to all events 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 Dara van der Meulen for their support as Residency Coordinator (Canada Summer Jobs) and Kenton Doupe for their support as Gallery Preparator and Photographer.

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Image Credit (above): Daniel Barrow, “Paper doll poem,” Hand-dyed and cut paper dolls pinned to screen-printed matboard, 102 x 81 cm; Courtesy the Artist

Image Credit (below): Daniel Barrow, “Natalie Kiss” (video still) from Winnipeg Babysitter (2005-2023), Performance; Courtesy the Artist

Press Contact:

Julia Prudhomme

Executive Director

Oxygen Art Centre

info@oxygenartcentre.org

Artist Biographies:

Daniel Barrow is a genderfluid, Tiohtià:ke / Montreal-based storyteller/artist/filmmaker who has employed parallel strategies in their approach to the tradition of paper dolls – inventing “narrative architectures” and “paper doll poems” that grapple with the dollhouse/paper doll.   

Glenn Gear is an Indigiqueer filmmaker and multidisciplinary artist of mixed Inuit heritage currently living in Montréal. He is originally from Corner Brook Newfoundland and has family throughout Nunatsiavut. His practice is grounded in research creation shaped by Inuit and Indigenous ways of knowing – often employing the use of animation, photo archives, painting, beading, and work with traditional materials such as sealskin.

Paige Gratland is a visual artist and filmmaker producing projects and objects that engage with social history, design and craft practices. She learned to weave in 2019 at the Richmond Weavers and Spinners Guild and is currently completing the Master Weaver Program at Olds College. She is also 1/3 of the artist group Three Way Mirror with Daniel Barrow and Glenn Gear.