Arts Archives – The Discourse.

A mural featuring a stylized arbutus tree has cars parked in front of it

‘It was just meant to be’: Arbutus mural gets revitalized

By Julie Chadwick ● Nanaimo ● July 16, 2024

Artist Paul Grignon painted the iconic arbutus tree mural more than 30 years ago. Now, the community is rallying to save it.

Latest in Arts

A man in a blue shirt kneels and holds the hand of a young woman in black while a man in a white shirt and plaid overskirt extends his arm. They are all in what looks like a wooded park

New play Nice While it Lasted explores ‘coming of age on a burning planet’

By Julie Chadwick ● Nanaimo ● June 25, 2024

Reconciliation Theatre tours Vancouver Island with original play.

A man in a silver suit and ball cap dances in front of a green background

‘entre chien et loup’ teeters between the body and technology

By Julie Chadwick ● Nanaimo ● May 21, 2024

Performance explores ‘the fault lines between fear and unknowing, civilization and the wild, and security and safety.’

An abstract painting shows a stripe of yellow over a cluster of other colours below

Sun Over Swamp explores the abstract aesthetics of ‘vast and complex lifeworlds’

By Julie Chadwick ● Nanaimo ● April 23, 2024

Nanaimo Art Gallery’s Sun Over Swamp group show features abstract works from Takao Tanabe, Rebecca Brewer, Azadeh Elmizadeh, Rita Letendre and Gailan Ngan.

It’s not that serious: ‘i love the laundry room’

By Aia Segal ● Nanaimo ● April 16, 2024

Comic artist Aia Segal explores feeling like you’ve got it all figured out — only to find out that maybe you actually don’t.

A crowd of audience members gather in a backyard around a makeshift stage constructed of wood

Nanaimo’s Backyard Fest is back on

By Julie Chadwick ● Nanaimo ● April 9, 2024

Two-day backyard festival that celebrates local musicians and artists saved by ‘working together,’ says organizer.

‘We go for epic everything’: Tremblers of Sevens put on a wild live show

By Julie Chadwick ● Nanaimo ● February 28, 2024

Our Q&A with drummer Rad Juli covers communicating through music and how the band ‘makes two people sound like 10.’

Artist Yvonne Vander Kooi stands in front of a collection of large paintings in a white dress

Exploring family history through art

By Julie Chadwick ● Nanaimo ● February 13, 2024

Artist Yvonne Vander Kooi’s portrait ‘Walking The Hounds’ looks at identity and the transitory nature of memory.

Kerri Orser sits at a sunny table with a variety of linocut tools around her, carving a piece with acorns on it

It’s all in the cut for printmaker Kerri Orser

By Julie Chadwick ● Nanaimo ● February 6, 2024

The local artist, teacher and printmaker’s linocut art was recently featured in Pressing Matters magazine.

Title block reads It's Not That Serious and features the drawing of a person with a star for a head

It’s not that serious: the formless goo stage

By Aia Segal ● Nanaimo ● February 6, 2024

Comic artist Aia Segal explores feeling like you’ve got it all figured out — only to find out that maybe you actually don’t.

‘It was just meant to be’: Arbutus mural gets revitalized

Latest in Arts

New play Nice While it Lasted explores ‘coming of age on a burning planet’

‘entre chien et loup’ teeters between the body and technology

Sun Over Swamp explores the abstract aesthetics of ‘vast and complex lifeworlds’

It’s not that serious: ‘i love the laundry room’

Nanaimo’s Backyard Fest is back on

‘We go for epic everything’: Tremblers of Sevens put on a wild live show

Exploring family history through art

It’s all in the cut for printmaker Kerri Orser

It’s not that serious: the formless goo stage

Nanaimo Affordable Housing Society name change to Ballenas ‘in discussion’ for years,’ says CEO

10 ways to better support tenants with vulnerabilities due to income, age or disabilities

‘I want it to stop’: Tenants and advocates allege bullying by non-profit housing provider

Q and A: What are vulnerable tenants rights in non-profit housing?

Who will protect low-income seniors from dying in extreme heat?

Seniors left in distress — or dead — for days in Nanaimo Affordable Housing Society units