• Location Various Venues 
• Price Prices Vary

Don’t miss out on some great art this April! This month’s visual arts roundup is packed with new and ongoing exhibitions and spring art sales ready to delight, surprise and challenge your mind.

21st Annual Juried Members Exhibition

April 1 – June 4, 2023
Leighton Art Centre (282027 144th St. W, Millarville)
By donation

This annual exhibition at Leighton Art Centre celebrates the talent and creativity of their artists. The 2023 jury panel has selected 56 works from 40 artists, exploring a wide range of themes and media including ceramics, paintings, wearables and textiles
leightoncentre.org

Human Sprawl

April 1, 2023 – March 31, 2024
Leighton Art Centre (282027 144th St. W, Millarville)
By donation

Michelle Atkinson explores humanity’s tendency to live in excess, with personal consumption impacting biodiversity. Born from industrial waste, animal sculptures were created using thick slabs of once broken office window glass destined for the landfill.
leightoncentre.org

MFA in Craft Media Thesis Exhibition 2023

April 4 – 15, 2023
Illingworth Kerr Gallery, Alberta University of the Arts (1407 14th Ave. NW)
Free to explore

Explore bodies of work created by students Anahita Mosayebi, Cici Lai and Kate Ritchie while they we were mentored by internationally acclaimed artists and scholars during their intensive 20-month program.
auarts.ca

False Promises: BFA Honours Degree Student Exhibition

April 6 – 29, 2023
Nickle Galleries, University of Calgary (435 Campus Lane NW)
Free to explore

Through various mediums, multidisciplinary artist Justine Bui’s BFA Honours Degree exhibition, False Promises, explores the layers of impact that colourism imposes on one’s body.
nickle.ucalgary.ca

Palette Fine Art Show and Sale

April 14 & 15, 2023
Triwood Community Hall (2244 Chicoutimi Dr. NW)
Free to explore

The Palette art show and sale features paintings by many independent artists in a variety of mediums including acrylic, oil, watercolour, pastel and mixed media that you can browse and buy.
calgarycommunitypainters.com

FCA Spring Art Show

April 15, 2023, 10am – 4pm
Haysboro Community Association (1204 89th Ave. SW)
Free to explore

You are invited to celebrate the arrival of spring surrounded by a collection of paintings carefully juried by the Federation of Canadian Artists at this annual spring art show!
federationgallery.com

Easter Group Show

April 15 – May 10, 2023
Wallace Galleries (500 5th Ave. SW)
Free to explore

This group exhibition focuses on all things that our beautiful countryside has to offer, featuring works by Robin Smith-Peck, David Alexander, Simon Andrew, Bob Kebic, Dorothy Knowles, Brent Laycock and others.
wallacegalleries.com

Acclaimed Fine Art Show and Sale

April 21 & 22, 2023
Crescent Heights Community Association (1101 2nd St. NW)
Free to explore

Enjoy a stroll through original artwork by 12 of Calgary’s professional fine artists. This beautiful show features hundreds of paintings in a variety of styles, sizes and prices with the artists in attendance to chat.
acclaimedfineart.com

The Animal Show

April 21 – 23, 2023
Nvrlnd Boutique (1048 21st Ave. SE)
Free to explore

Local artists Daniel Audet, Heather Buchanan, Amy Gaulin, Tobias Luttmer, Karin McGinn, Gary McMillan, Nick Rooney, John Ross and Carl White express their relationship to animals through painting, sculpture and drawing in this exhibition.
instagram.com

Starry Dynamo Arts Market

April 22, 2023, 11am – 4pm
Royal Canadian Legion No. 1 (116 7th Ave. SE)
Free to explore

Check out this art market showcasing smaller makers including low income, minorities, LGTBQ+ and other folks who don’t get the same opportunities to show their work. Enjoy live music, weird photo installations and over 50  local artisans!
instagram.com

Last Chance + Ongoing Exhibitions

Astral Dance

Until April 9, 2023
Contemporary Calgary (701 11th St. SW)
With admission

Astral Dance is the first solo exhibition of works by Chitra Ganesh in Canada, and a significant survey of her practice. Ganesh delivers fantastic, dreamlike worlds where the past, present and future are merged into new, speculative propositions.
contemporarycalgary.com

Jean McEwen

Until April 12, 2023
Wallace Galleries (500 5th Ave. SW)
Free to explore

Celebrating the centennial of his birth, Jean McEwen is a renowned Canadian Quebecois artist known for his ground-breaking work during the action expression movement of the ’50s and ’60s and beyond.
wallacegalleries.com

Snap Shots: Pages from the Past

Until April 12, 2023
Wallace Galleries (500 5th Ave. SW)
Free to explore

Wallace Galleries presents works on paper by Ted Godwin, Kenneth Lochhead and Harold Town. Snap back in time with some historic modern works of artists from the Regina Five and Painters Eleven
wallacegalleries.com

A Time for Stories

Until April 14, 2023
Inglewood Bird Sanctuary (425 9th Ave. SE)
Free to explore

As part of a rotating exhibition of artworks that feature connections to the land, this exhibition features 2D, 3D and sound artworks, by Shirley Hill, Amy Hill and Sonny-Ray Day Rider.
calgary.ca

Human Capital

Until April 16, 2023
Contemporary Calgary (701 11th St. SW)
With admission

Human Capital presents work that offers insight into the impact of Canada’s immigration policies and history: how it treats humans as capital, and the role it plays in shaping the complex and contested formation of a Canadian identity.
contemporarycalgary.com

Retainers of Anarchy

Until April 16, 2023
Glenbow at The Edison (2nd floor, 150 9th Ave. SW)
Free to explore, tickets required

Experience the mesmerizing 25-metre hand-drawn animation from artist Howie Tsui. The exhibition showcases Tsui’s talent at bringing together martial arts characters and techniques with social and political realities of present-day Hong Kong.
glenbow.org

David Garneau: Métissage

Until April 22, 2023
Nickle Galleries, University of Calgary (2500 University Dr. NW)
Free to explore

Edmonton-born artist David Garneau documents his Métis heritage and his struggle to shape a contemporary Indigenous identity. With imagination, wit and some ambivalence, this exhibition of more than 50 artworks celebrates historical and contemporary Métis lived experiences.
nickle.ucalgary.ca

The Birth of Portraiture

Until April 22, 2023
Nickle Galleries, University of Calgary (2500 University Dr. NW)
Free to explore

This exhibition explores the life of Alexander the Great and his successors through their portraits on ancient coins. Tiny masterpieces of Hellenistic art, these coins record likenesses and suggest the distinct personalities of their subjects.
nickle.ucalgary.ca

After Holbein – Turkish Carpets and the Tudors

Until April 22, 2023
Nickle Galleries, University of Calgary (2500 University Dr. NW)
Free to explore

Hans Holbein the Younger, a 16th-century artist, famously painted portraits of Henry VIII and other nobles that frequently included richly patterned Turkish carpets. Curator Michele Hardy offers a selection of these carpets and explores how they signalled power and wealth.
nickle.ucalgary.ca

The Visitors

Until April 30, 2023
Esker Foundation (4th floor, 1011 9th Ave. SE)
Free to explore

Ragnar Kjartansson creates performances exploring the intertwining of pathos, humour and collective emotion. The Visitors is a large installation consisting of nine audio and video channels documenting a single-take musical performance.
eskerfoundation.com

Interiors

Until April 30, 2023
Esker Foundation (4th Floor, 1011 9th Ave. SE)
Free to explore

Margaux Williamson is a painter who also writes and makes videos. Within her multifaceted practice, Williamson’s painting has evolved through long rhythms; her bodies of work have been produced over the years.
eskerfoundation.com

We Were Here: Stories from Early Chinatown

Until April 30, 2023
Gasoline Alley Museum, Heritage Park (1900 Heritage Dr. SW)
$4.95 – 9.95

Bring your family and learn about Chinese history on the prairies through art and imagination, discover fictional stories written by members of the Chinese community and explore two iterations of Chinatown in Calgary.
heritagepark.ca

It Looks Nice from a Distance

Until May 6, 2023
TRUCK Contemporary Art (2009 10th Ave. SW)
Free to explore

Taking the form of a 12-channel video installation incorporating text, sound, video and sculpture, Anahita Norouzi’s multimedia installation explores the themes of otherness and displacement.
truck.ca

The Desert Turned to Glass

Until May 7, 2023
Contemporary Calgary (701 11th St. SW)
With admission

Contemporary Calgary presents Charles Stankievech’s The Desert Turned to Glass, a transmedia installation that inhabits both the projection room of the planetarium’s dome and the subterranean space below.
contemporarycalgary.com

11,104 Days: From Artists to Zenith

Ongoing
Newzones Gallery of Contemporary Art (730 11th Ave. SW)
Free to explore

In honour of its 30th anniversary, 11,104 Days: From Artists to Zenith displays each of Newzones’ represented artists, including spectacular new work created by gallery artists in celebration of this milestone.
newzones.com

Canadian Music Hall of Fame: Nickelback

Until September 30, 2023
Studio Bell, home of the National Music Centre (850 4th St. SE)
With admission

This exhibition features numerous instruments, personal items, concert footage and behind-the-scenes photos. The gallery includes a large video wall outfitted with a full stage display with many of Nickelback’s outfits and customized instruments.
studiobell.ca

Music & Wellness

Ongoing
Studio Bell, home of the National Music Centre (850 4th St. SE)
With admission

Check out National Music Centre’s new permanent Music & Wellness exhibition, which taps into the power of music on mental and physical health through a series of powerful video interviews that create an immersive sense of personal conversation.
studiobell.ca

Have a visual arts event that’s not listed? Email us at events@calgaryartsdevelopment.com or fill out this form.