Category: Oxygen Art Centre

SUMMER STUDENT EMPLOYMENT OPPORTUNITY AT OXYGEN ART CENTRE

Oxygen Art Centre is currently looking for a candidate to fulfil one (1) summer employment opportunity: Residency Coordinator (In-person, CSJ).

This summer employment opportunity is generously supported by the Canada Summer Jobs program.

To apply, email a Cover Letter and Resume to info@oxygenartcentre.org with the subject line: “ATTN: Residency Coordinator Application.” Please include confirmation of your Canada Summer Jobs (CSJ) eligibility in the Cover Letter and email.

Applications will be accepted until Wednesday, May 6, 2026, at 12AM Midnight PT.

The Residency Coordinator position will be employed over a 9-week period from June 8, 2026, to August 8, 2026.

Reporting to Oxygen’s Executive Director, the Residency Coordinator (CSJ) will assist with day-to-day arts administrative duties with focus supporting the Summer 2026 Residency with textile artists Paige Gratland, Glenn Gear, and Daniel Barrow (July 1 – August 8, 2026), as well as conduct contemporary art research to support the Exhibition & Residency program and assist with the research and production of exhibition catalogues, exhibitions, residencies, and adjunct educational materials.

A typical work week for this position is Tuesday-Saturday at approximately 6 hours per day, 30 hours per week. The employee will develop a flexible work schedule to support public programming including some evenings and weekends. This position includes working with artists, the public, and independently.

The Residency Coordinator’s work will primarily be conducted on site at the centre’s downtown Nelson facility. Research and administrative work will be conducted remotely. The Residency Coordinator will have access to a laptop, software, and technology to support this flexible work arrangement. The Residency Coordinator (CSJ) will develop a work plan and schedule specific to the candidate’s interests and goals with the Executive Director during the Orientation period (June 8-10, 2026).

This position is funded by Canada Summer Jobs. Additional administration through the CSJ portal will be required at the beginning and end of the employment contract. Candidates are required to state their eligibility for the CSJ program in their Cover Letter and email.

Oxygen Art Centre is a rural artist-run centre operating on 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, in the city of Nelson.

Oxygen Art Centre’s activities include the Exhibition & Residency Program and the Education program. Oxygen is unique in its structure and provides vital arts and cultural programming. We are currently looking for a Residency Coordinator to add to our dynamic team.

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

Oxygen Art Centre will accept applications to the Residency Coordinator (CSJ) summer employment opportunity until Wednesday, May 6, 2026. Applications are to include a Cover Letter and Resume. Please review the qualifications and scope of the position on Oxygen’s website.

Image Credit: documentation from Summer 2024 artist-in-residence Chris Dufour’s plant dying workshop, 2024; Oxygen Art Centre

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 OPENS CALL FOR FREE ONLINE MENTORSHIP PROGRAM FOR REMOTE ARTISTS

Hedge-rider: online mentorship program
Deadline to apply: April 29, 2026, at 12 AM Midnight PDT

Form link: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSfNhhFvT212nE2LyqWiCc_4h32_dmbxwuQovAIvg2bCG5hHxw/viewform?usp=header

Oxygen Art Centre announces an open call to emerging or early-career artists living and working in remote areas across British Columbia to participate in a free, online mentorship program.

Presented alongside the artist-run centre’s spring semester, “Hedge-rider” is an opportunity for artists to work one-on-one with artist-mentor Genevieve Robertson.

Hedge-rider is a free, online mentorship program designed to support emerging, remotely located contemporary artists. Presented by Oxygen Art Centre, it is open to artists working in all mediums across visual and interdisciplinary practices who live and work in remote, rural contexts across British Columbia. 

Mentees will be paired with Nelson-based artist Genevieve Robertson. Meetings will take place online via Zoom. Meetings will be structured according to the mentee’s needs and specific directions.

Three artists will be selected to participate in three one-hour meetings taking place from June 1, 2026, to July 16, 2026.

The artist-mentor, Genevieve Robertson, will support artists in the areas of professional development, studio work, and writing. Robertson is specifically interested in the responsibilities, gifts and challenges of living outside an urban centre as an artist, and how place informs practice and profession. 

In the spirit of liminality, the program is entitled “hedge-rider” to connect with the etymology of the hag, a woman or practitioner who lives in two realms simultaneously. 

The hedge-rider’s artist-mentor, Genevieve Robertson, is interested in the idea of someone who occupies two places or realms at once, whether this is the hedge-rider who lives on the periphery of a town, an artist who bridges rural and urban contexts, or someone who has access to and knowledge of more-than-human spaces–bringing experience across one to the other. Information gained from hedge-rider journeys is used for healing, finding lost items, or gaining wisdom, which this program seeks to situate within artistic exchange.

This program is an extension of Robertson’s Fall 2025 residency at Oxygen Art Centre, where the artist developed a new body of work intended for exhibition this Spring in the Midlands, UK. Hedge-rider provides meaningful engagement in studio praxis and connection across distance.

The deadline to apply is April 29, 2026, by 12 AM Midnight PDT. Applications are to be submitted via the Google Form available on Oxygen’s website. More information about the selection criteria can be found on Oxygen’s website and on the Google Form.

Applications will be reviewed according to an equity-lens. Three artists will be chosen to participate in the mentorship program. Selected artists will be notified by May 8, 2026.

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 apply or what to expect, please contact us via e-mail.

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Image Credit: Geneveive Robertson, Monument Creek Wildfire, video still, October 2022; Courtesy the Artist (above); “Hedge-rider” promotional graphic, Oxygen Art Centre, 2026 (below)

Website link: https://oxygenartcentre.org/hedge-rider-online-mentorship-program/

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.

FOR   IMMEDIATE   RELEASE: GET CREATIVE THIS SPRING WITH ART CLASSES AT OXYGEN

Oxygen Art Centre’s Spring Semester is now open for registration. Taking place from March 30, 2026, to June 20, 2026, at the artist-run centre’s downtown facility and online, the program features classes in poetry, drawing, and printmaking, and everything in between.

Favourites like Life Drawing and Working from a Model return with new classes exploring costumed short-pose life drawing with local animator Marceline Tanguay, and an introduction to cyanotype image-making with local artist Natasha Bucheit.

The spring 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 six- and five-weeks each, the sections provide new and returning students with a myriad opportunities to engage in creative praxis.

Part One takes place from March 30, 2026, to May 15, 2026, consisting of weekly sessions in Life Drawing, Papier mache animal masks, Art Speak, Sketchbooking, and Dreaming into Poetry classes, and single workshops to work from a professional model in any medium, make instruments from trash, and learn basic techniques for cyanotype image-making.

Part Two takes from May 19, 2026, to June 20, 2026, featuring Life Drawing and Art Speak, with additional weekly and one-day workshops on printmaking, colour and composition, collaging with personal photos, Chinese calligraphy, and drawing from the spring garden and in nature at a series of local parks.

In addition to in-person classes, Oxygen hosts two online classes held via Zoom, including “The Art of Submission: Submitting Creative Writing to Periodicals” with Susan Andrews Grace and “Be Not Afeard: A Poetry Workshop for Beginners” with Rayya Liebich.

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.

Part One of the Spring Semester is now open for registration, as of February 4, 2026. Part Two will be open for registration by February 25, 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 22 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 BC Gaming Community 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: Gesture drawing on paper, Marceline Tanguay, 2026; Courtesy the artist (above); Promotional graphic for Oxygen’s spring semester part one, 2026, Oxygen Art Centre (below)

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

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.