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One Hundred Artists Deep

April 11, 2026 to June 20, 2026

Main Floor, 2121 Lonsdale Ave, North Vancouver
Opening: Friday, April 10, 6-9pm
Exhibition Open Hours: Thursday to Saturday, 12-4pm

Jack Shadbolt, Night Garden Transformations, 1973-89, archival pigment print of lithographs, 39.5 x 63 x 1 in., Collection of Artists for Kids and the Gordon Smith Gallery, reflected in Alex Gibson, Image of a Garden Lattice, 2026, stainless steel, 72 x 108 x 0.05 in., Courtesy of the Artist. Photograph by Dylan Maranda

Curated by: Andrea Valentine-Lewis, Curatorial Fellow

Featuring Artwork by: Corey Bulpitt, Andrew Dadson, Alex Gibson, Chantal Gibson, Tiziana La Melia, veto monteiro, Bill Reid, Jack Shadbolt, Gordon Smith, Manuel Axel Strain, Isabel Wynn

In One Hundred Artists Deep, eight local artists were invited to create new work in response to artworks from the Artists for Kids Permanent Collection by founders Bill Reid (1920–1998), Jack Shadbolt (1909–1998), and Gordon Smith (1919–2020). Each of these artists left an enduring legacy, not only through their artistic practices but through their deep commitment to arts education.

Over the course of their lives, Reid, Shadbolt, and Smith taught and mentored thousands of young artists and apprentices. Their ideas, values, and approaches to making continue to circulate -- sometimes visibly, sometimes quietly -- through subsequent generations of artists.

The eight participating artists were selected for the strength and diversity of their practices, as well as for their sensitive and intuitive approaches to art-making. They were invited to respond to works by Reid, Shadbolt, and Smith from the Artists For Kids Collection, with full freedom in how that response took shape. The historical works and the contemporary responses are presented together in the gallery, creating a space for conversation across time.

The exhibition’s title is drawn from a phrase that Smith often used, saying he was “a hundred artists deep” and stood “on the shoulders” of artists past and present. Every artist emerges from a layered history of influence - artistic, personal, familial, educational, and cultural. One Hundred Artists Deep reflects on this accumulated inheritance and the many ways artistic knowledge is carried forward.

Previous Exhibitions

From the Ground explores the interconnectedness of the natural world and our reciprocal relationship with the ecosystems in which we are embedded. It invites us to learn from the more-than-human, expanding our awareness of both the visible and invisible in our environments and broadening our sense of time. The exhibition is rooted in the learning principle articulated by the First Nations Education Steering Committee, which emphasizes “connectedness, reciprocal relationships, and a sense of place.” Within the urgency of the climate crisis, From the Ground invites shared dialogue and connection through creative and educational practices. 

Throughout the exhibition, drawings, sculptures, prints, and photographs represent the natural world through stories, materials, time, and natural processes. From the Ground features contemporary artists Amelia Butcher, Lauren Brevner, Xinwei Che, James Nexw’Kalus-Xwalacktun Harry, and Genevieve Robertson, alongside works from the Artists for Kids and Gordon Smith Gallery’s Permanent Collection. 

To learn more about FNESC and the First Peoples Principles of Learning, visit www.fnesc.ca 
Playhouse features artworks from over 20 Canadian artists and presents the Gordon Smith Gallery as a place to experience stories, meet characters, and transform the spaces we inhabit in order to unveil unseen narratives. The exhibition sets the stage for us to consider ways in which the physical, social, cultural, and imagined qualities of a place are intertwined.

Playhouse is inspired by comics, broadly interpreted as characters acting in frames, asserting control over their own narratives. Comics are accessible forms of sequential storytelling where the reader builds a relationship with characters over time. Throughout the exhibition we encounter sculptures, animation, paintings, and textiles containing active forms and figures performing within their panels and waiting to be interpreted by viewers of all ages.

The works of contemporary Canadian artists Whess Harman, Hannah Jickling and Reed H. Reed, Guná Jensen, and Cindy Mochizuki are shown alongside works from the Artists for Kids’ Permanent Collection. The perspectives of elementary and secondary students across the Lower Mainland are featured through textile artworks and zines.

We acknowledge the support of the Canada Council for the Arts.
The Art of Conversation features artwork by over 20 Canadian artists, exploring the role of art as a platform for communication. The Art of Conversation draws conversational threads between the works in the gallery, highlighting art’s potential to facilitate and provoke dialogue. The perspectives and artistic conversations of elementary and secondary school students are featured through original writing and art.

Explore The Art of Conversation in 3D! With this matterport tour, take a virtual walk through the gallery and zoom in to learn about each artwork.

We acknowledge the support of the Canada Council for the Arts.
Katie Kozak and Lucien Durey, Candelabra (still), 2020, single-channel video with sound, 4:15 min, looped. Courtesy of the Artists.