Madrona Gallery

Madrona Gallery Madrona is an art gallery in downtown Victoria, BC focusing on historic & contemporary Canadian art.

Madrona Gallery represents a broad spectrum of Sculptors and Painters from around the country. We work very hard to represent both emerging local talent and well established artists from around the country. We have a stable of about 20 artists that we promote through organized exhibitions throughout the year.

Just arrived at the gallery: Sell Me, Keep Me, Give Me Away, But Don’t Throw Me Away by Jutai Toonoo.Powerful, introspec...
05/27/2026

Just arrived at the gallery: Sell Me, Keep Me, Give Me Away, But Don’t Throw Me Away by Jutai Toonoo.

Powerful, introspective, and deeply personal, this serpentine sculpture reflects Toonoo’s approach to contemporary Inuit art. Rather than depicting only what is seen, Toonoo explores what is felt: confronting themes of identity, social change, and human struggle with emotional honesty. In this work, the title itself becomes part of the experience, evoking questions of value, attachment, and survival.

Born in Kinngait, Jutai Toonoo (1959–2015) began to carve at just seven years old under his father’s guidance. Toonoo became one of the most important voices in contemporary Inuit art. His work challenged expectations of Inuit subject matter through raw, unidealized imagery and fearless self-expression. His work has been exhibited internationally and is held in major collections including the National Gallery of Canada, the Art Gallery of Ontario, and the McMichael Canadian Art Collection.

Image: Jutai Toonoo, Sell Me, Keep Me, Give Me Away, But Don’t Throw Me Away, 13.5 x 13 x 7.5, Serpentine

Don’t look now! Or do… 👀 The trounce alley window installation is up for Sean Yelland: Don’t Look Now, opening June 6. J...
05/26/2026

Don’t look now! Or do… 👀 The trounce alley window installation is up for Sean Yelland: Don’t Look Now, opening June 6. Join us for the opening reception on June 6, 1–3 PM, with the artist in attendance.

Yelland is a Toronto-based painter known for transforming everyday urban scenes into moments of quiet tension and intrigue. Working from photographs, he heightens colour, light, and reflection, creating paintings that feel both familiar and uncanny.

Wingstand by Saimaiyu Akesuk is an example of the artist’s playful and contemporary approach to art. Using bold colour, ...
05/22/2026

Wingstand by Saimaiyu Akesuk is an example of the artist’s playful and contemporary approach to art. Using bold colour, rhythmic patterning, and simplified form, Akesuk transforms a winged figure into a dynamic composition filled with movement, symmetry, and whimsy. The work reflects her distinctive visual language, where animals and birds are vibrant, hybrid, stylized forms alive with personality and energy.

Born in Iqaluit and raised in Kinngait (Cape Dorset), Saimaiyu Akesuk was inspired by fellow artist Ningiukulu Teevee after taking a class together, developing that influence into a style uniquely her own.

Image: Wingstand, 22 x 15 inches, Coloured Pencil, Ink

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“October, Lake Baptiste” is a striking example of A.J. Casson’s deep connection to the landscapes surrounding Algonquin ...
05/21/2026

“October, Lake Baptiste” is a striking example of A.J. Casson’s deep connection to the landscapes surrounding Algonquin Park. Painted circa 1959, this large-scale work captures the fleeting warmth of early October: golden birch and maple trees glowing before autumn fully settles in. From a raised vantage point, Casson leads the viewer through a vibrant forest toward the still blue waters of Lake Baptiste and the monumental hills beyond, balancing movement, colour, and quiet atmosphere.

A founding member of the Group of Seven, A.J. Casson became known for his refined depictions of Ontario villages and landscapes. Baptiste Lake was one of his favourite painting locations, inspiring works over several decades beginning in the 1940s. As noted by biographer Paul Duval, “Some of Casson’s finest canvases were based on sketches from Baptiste Lake.”

Image: A.J. Casson, October, Lake Baptiste, 30 x 36 inches, Oil on Board, c. 1959

Pulling Away by Sean Yelland transforms an ordinary streetscape into a layered meditation on intimacy, loss, and urban l...
05/19/2026

Pulling Away by Sean Yelland transforms an ordinary streetscape into a layered meditation on intimacy, loss, and urban life. In this symbolically charged scene, a couple embraces in front of a closed down seduction shop with an escape room sign on one side, and a discount store promising “Good Buys” on the other. Through these carefully observed tensions, Yelland invites viewers to consider the complexities of connection, departure, and the emotional undercurrents hidden within everyday moments.

A Toronto-based painter, Sean Yelland is known for finding the uncanny within familiar urban settings. Working from photographs, he translates scenes into meticulously rendered paintings where intensified colour, heightened light, and suspended stillness create an atmosphere of voyeurism and quiet intrigue. Pulling Away is a significant work in his upcoming exhibition, Don’t Look Now.

Sean Yelland: Don’t Look Now
June 6 – 20
Opening Reception: June 6, 1–3 PM
Artist in Attendance

Image: Pulling Away, 40 x 40 inches, Oil on Canvas

Tamara Bond’s Planet Earth Series #44 is an energetic and intuitive composition that balances spontaneity with structur...
05/15/2026

Tamara Bond’s Planet Earth Series #44 is an energetic and intuitive composition that balances spontaneity with structure. Layers of gestural mark-making, looping forms, and vibrant colour fields collide across the surface, creating a sense of movement and emotional intensity. The work feels both playful and atmospheric, inviting viewers to move through shifting moments of chaos, rhythm, and harmony.

Based in Victoria, B.C., Tamara Bond is known for her expressive abstract works that merge painting, drawing, and collage. Her practice often explores themes of connection, nature, memory, and emotional landscapes through an instinctive visual language. Across her Planet Earth Series, Bond uses layered textures and bold gestures to create compositions that feel deeply personal while remaining open to interpretation.

Image: Planet Earth Series #44, 18 x 24 inches, Mixed Media on Paper, 2026

Pitseolak Qimirpik’s Untitled (Animals, Transformation, Flower) is a vibrant and imaginative composition where animals, ...
05/13/2026

Pitseolak Qimirpik’s Untitled (Animals, Transformation, Flower) is a vibrant and imaginative composition where animals, humans, spirits, and plant forms merge into a dreamlike landscape. The work moves fluidly between the natural and supernatural world, reflecting Inuit oral traditions where transformation between human, animal, and spirit forms is possible.

Born in Kinngait (Cape Dorset), Nunavut, Qimirpik first became known for his sculpture before gaining recognition for his graphic works. Coming from a celebrated family of carvers, he learned by observing artists around him from a young age. Recent exhibitions and publications have highlighted his shift into drawing, where his bold colours and surreal compositions have brought a playful energy to his art.

Image: Untitled (Animals, Transformation, Flower), 20 x 50 inches, Coloured Pencil

Jack Shadbolt’s Forgotten Garden (1994) unfolds as a dreamlike landscape where fragmented forms, organic shapes, and viv...
05/11/2026

Jack Shadbolt’s Forgotten Garden (1994) unfolds as a dreamlike landscape where fragmented forms, organic shapes, and vivid colour collide in a dense, almost mythic space. The painting reflects the expressive visual language Shadbolt developed over decades, balancing abstraction with references to nature, memory, and the human figure. Swirling passages of blue, violet, crimson, and earth tones create a composition that feels alive and constantly shifting, inviting viewers into a terrain between reality and imagination.

A major figure in Canadian modernism, Shadbolt was deeply shaped by his experiences on the West Coast, his studies in Europe and New York, and his wartime service documenting World War II through sketches and paintings. Born in England and raised in Victoria, he studied alongside influential artists including Fred Varley and was profoundly impacted by Emily Carr, whom he met in 1930. By the late 1940s, exposure to Picasso, Surrealism, and early Abstract Expressionism helped push his work toward the highly personal, symbolic style seen in paintings like Forgotten Garden. Throughout his career, Shadbolt represented Canada internationally, including at the Venice Biennale and São Paulo Biennial, and was appointed an Officer of the Order of Canada in 1972.

Image: Forgotten Garden, 49 x 56 inches, Acrylic on Canvas, 1994

Joe Coffey’s Maisy captures the personality and presence of its subject with remarkable precision. Set against a luminou...
05/08/2026

Joe Coffey’s Maisy captures the personality and presence of its subject with remarkable precision. Set against a luminous yellow ground and framed by a halo-like circle, the goat becomes both portrait and icon: playful, dignified, and deeply observed. Coffey’s handling of texture and light brings an almost photographic realism to the work, while the simplified backdrop gives the painting a contemporary, graphic clarity.

Based in British Columbia, Joe Coffey is known for his striking realist paintings of animals and rural subjects. His work often explores the relationship between humans, animals, and the environments they share, combining technical skill with subtle humour and emotional warmth. Through carefully rendered detail and strong compositions, Coffey elevates everyday encounters into memorable portraits full of character.

Image: Maisy, 36 x 49 inches, Oil on Canvas, 2022

Address

606 View Street
Victoria, BC
V8W1J4

Opening Hours

Monday 11am - 5pm
Tuesday 10am - 5:30pm
Wednesday 10am - 5:30pm
Thursday 10am - 5:30pm
Friday 10am - 5:30pm
Saturday 10am - 5:30pm
Sunday 11am - 5pm

Telephone

+12503804660

Website

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