• Location Various Venues 
• Price Prices Vary

August is alive with visual arts offerings, from the annual BUMP Festival celebrating public art and murals, to unique and engaging exhibitions taking place across Calgary. Seize the opportunity to discover something new!

Diinsi Abuur

July 22 — September 16, 2023
The Bows (2001b 10th Ave. SW)
Free to attend 

‍‍Diinsi Abuur is an exhibition of new, abstract works by Minneapolis-based Somali diaspora artists Kaamil A. Haider, Khadijah Muse and Mohamud Mumin. Their artistic practices are driven by a common urge to comprehend their histories, embracing Somali art among other sources of cultural knowledge.
thebows.org

Free Range

August 1 — September 1, 2023
Framed on Fifth (1207 5th Ave. NW)
Free to attend 

Come and celebrate the artistry of Sandy Rogers and Janet Armstrong in Free Range. These Cochrane artists blend traditional elements with contemporary artistry in a variety of subject matter, including western and mountain themes.
framedonfifth.com

Spirit of Summer

August 3 – 31, 2023
Various venues
Free to attend 

Join artists-in-residence Roxana Najar and Sheila Schaetzle in the Spirit of Summer. Watch, learn and get inspired as the walls of the Sparrow Artspace fill with new art created by Sheila and Roxana. And join them in mini-workshops on Saturdays to play with shapes and colours.
sparrowartspace.com

BUMP Festival

August 5 – 26, 2023
Various venues
Free to attend 

Featuring a number of local, national and international artists joining this annual mural extravaganza, the Beltline Urban Murals Project is turning Calgary into an expansive open-air art gallery. Be sure to check out a mural tour, live music and shows, a movie screening, or the always-bumping graffiti jam.
yycbump.ca

Who Made You The Judge?

August 8 – September 1, 2023
cSPACE Marda Loop (1721 29th Ave. SW)
Free to attend 

Who Made You The Judge? is a social justice exhibition focusing on people facing judgement and inequity within society. The Calgary-based artist XOX Unknown presents a diverse array of portraits painted on collages of descriptive words unique to each person and accompanied by their stories.
eventbrite.ca

Last Chance + Ongoing Exhibitions

Sunscreen

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

Newzones is excited to showcase various types of artwork including paintings, photographs and sculpture. This stimulating exhibition is sure to delight the senses. Stop by the gallery as the artwork rotates each week!
newzones.com

Interior/Periphery

Until August 12, 2023
The New Gallery (208 Centre St. S)
Free to explore

Interior/Periphery invites Kylie Fineday, Tomo Ingalls and Raeann Kit-Yee Cheung, artists of Asian and Indigenous backgrounds, to consider the complexities of being both inside and outside ‚ whether of a community, a place or one’s own body.
thenewgallery.org

Dawn Thrasher: Dimensions of Play

Until August 26, 2023
ASA Gallery, Crossroads Art Centre (Suite #222, 1235 26th Ave. SE)
Free to explore

The Alberta Society of Artists presents Dimensions of Play featuring the work of Alberta artist Dawn Thrasher. During Covid-19, individuals pursued different ways to experience joy and relieve loneliness. Various forms of play provided mechanisms that eased the melancholy of isolation and preserved our sense of self.
albertasocietyofartists.com

DDK Collective: Urban Surprises

Until August 26, 2023
ASA Gallery, Crossroads Art Centre (Suite #222, 1235 26th Ave. SE)
Free to explore

The Alberta Society of Artists presents this group show featuring the work of Doris Charest, Daniele Petit and Karen Blanchet. In this exhibition, their different viewpoints and styles combine with a common interest in colour and a concern for the environment.
albertasocietyofartists.com

Pulse of the Planet

Until August 27, 2023
Esker Foundation (4th floor, 1011 9th Ave. SE)
Free to explore

Pulse of the Planet is a major solo exhibition by Paris/Sydney-based artist Mel O’Callaghan. For the last 20 years, O’Callaghan has explored resonant objects, spaces and tools and how they affect, codify and connect bodies.
eskerfoundation.com

Entwined & Entangled

Until August 27, 2023
Leighton Art Centre (282027 144th St. W, Millarville)
By donation

Entwined & Entangled celebrates contemporary fibre arts, creative collaboration and a half-century of shared history between the Sheep Creek Weavers Fibre Arts Guild and Leighton Art Centre.
leightoncentre.org

Prairie Persuasion

Until August 27, 2023
Gasoline Alley Museum, Heritage Park (1900 Heritage Dr. SW)
With admission

Beginning in the 1860s, propaganda was everywhere. It brought settlers and tourists to the province, helped form community groups, enlisted troops for war efforts and opened doors for fake remedies and advertisements. Join Heritage Park for its newest temporary exhibit all about propaganda.
heritagepark.ca

Summer Exhibition

Until August 31, 2023
City & Country Urban Winery (544 38A Ave. SE)
Free to explore

View the work of local abstract artists Barb Kreutter, Patricia Langevin and Claudia Lorenz at the Abstract’d Art Collective Summer Group Show! Drop by during its run to take in the work in a lovely contemporary space.
instagram.com

People We Know

Until September 1, 2023
Nickle Galleries, University of Calgary (435 Campus Lane NW)
Free to explore

Portraiture has a unique place in the history of art. This exhibition looks at gender, race, status and self-portraits that move beyond the capturing of the physical likeness or personality to depict time, emotion, thought, place and history.
nickle.ucalgary.ca

Devotion: Louis Riel Writes Home

Until September 1, 2023
Nickle Galleries, University of Calgary (435 Campus Lane NW)
Free to explore

In 2022 the University of Calgary’s Libraries and Cultural Resources acquired an important collection of archival materials from the descendants of Louis Riel. A selection of personal artifacts from this collection is featured in this  exhibition at Nickle Galleries.
nickle.ucalgary.ca

Converse Subversives

Until September 2, 2023
Alberta Craft Gallery & Shop, cSPACE Marda Loop (Suite #280, 1721 29th Ave. SW)
Free to explore

In Converse Subversives, Calgary artist Shona Rae uses narrative, figurative sculptures to engage traditional myths, fairy tales, folklore, ancient artifacts and personal history. Through juxtaposition, she blurs the boundaries between sculpture and fine craft.
albertacraft.ab.ca

the places we’ve left behind

Until September 4, 2023
Window Galleries, Arts Commons (205 8th Ave. SE)
Free to explore

the places we’ve left behind is a curated collage of colourful fragments of memory that are to be used to construct artist Ryle Ramirez’s environments. This artistic journey is showcased as part of the RBC Emerging Visual Artist Program
artscommons.ca

Diane Arbus: Photographs, 1956-1971

Until September 17, 2023
Contemporary Calgary (701 11th St. SW)
Free to explore

In 1956, photographer Diane Arbus (1923–1971) marked a roll of film with the number 1 and her career as an artist began. Over the next 15 years, she produced a body of work that would revolutionize not only the portrait genre, but the medium of photography.
contemporarycalgary.com

Hearing Home / Seeing Home

Until October 1, 2023
Lougheed House (707 13th Ave. SW)
With admission

The Lougheed House exhibition brings together Tyler J. Stewart’s Hearing Home, an audio exhibit with listening stations throughout the house, and Seeing Home, a re-interpretation of the collection by members of the Lougheed House Re-Imagined Community Advisory Committee.
lougheedhouse.com

Gathie Falk: Revelations

Until October 15, 2023
Glenbow at the Edison (2nd floor, 150 9th Ave. SW)
Free to explore with tickets

Revelations is an impressive collection of art created by visionary Canadian artist Gathie Falk, spanning more than 50 years and across a number of mediums. Embracing the simplicity of everyday objects, Falk invites audiences to see the world with curiosity.
glenbow.org

Carol Sawyer: The Natalie Brettschneider Archive.

Until October 29, 2023
Contemporary Calgary (701 11th St. SW)
With admission

The Natalie Brettschneider Archive is an ongoing series of photographs, texts and music recitals that together reconstruct the life and work of a genre-blurring historical performance artist. Brettschneider is fictional, but her story is laced with real references
contemporarycalgary.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

Human Sprawl

Until 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

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

Music & Wellness

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

National Music Centre’s permanent Music & Wellness exhibition 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.