Upcoming Exhibitions & Events
FALL 2026
Stitching and Rhythm: Textiles and Music-Inspired Artwork from McIntosh’s Permanent Collection
Curated by Trica Johnson
Micheline Beauchemin, Robert Bozak, Duncan de Kergommeaux, Murray Favro, Pat Gibson, Sara Hartland-Rowe, Kirtley Jarvis, John MacGregor, Johnnene Madison, Sasha McInnes, Jessie Oonark, Jamie Q, Mary Yuusipik Singaqti, Michael Snow, Takao Tanabe, Amanda White
artLAB Gallery
Exhibition: September 03 – 24, 2026
Reception: Thursday, September 10 from 6-8PM
Stitching Music and Craft: Friday, September 18 from 3:30–5:30PM
“Stitching and Rhythm: Textiles and Music-Inspired Artwork from McIntosh’s Permanent Collection” is an exhibition of artwork coinciding with the Faculty of Music’s symposium “Music, Craft, and the Fibre Arts: Textures in Conversation” taking place at Western University from September 18-20, 2026. The interdisciplinary events of the symposium explore creative and scholarly exchange around the rarely studied intersection of music, craft and fibre art and how over centuries they have interwoven, influenced and reflected on each other. Artworks from McIntosh Gallery’s Permanent Collection were chosen for their use of fibre art materials and traditions as well as artworks that have strong musical reasons for being. Bringing them together, in the artLAB, has created a playful visual opportunity for more Textures in Conversation.
In partnership with:
Music, Craft, and the Fibre Arts: Textures in Conversation.
September 18-20.
We welcome you to join us at Western University’s Don Wright Faculty of Music and the Faculty of Arts & Humanities in London, Ontario for Music, Craft, and the Fibre Arts: Textures in Conversation.
This 3-day interdisciplinary festival-symposium will bring together musicians, fibre artists, crafters and scholars to share knowledge and discuss the connection between these artistic fields.
It will feature musical performances, an art exhibit, community crafting and three days of academic presentations. These events will take place in Western's Music Building and John Labatt Visual Arts Centre.
The event is free and open to everyone.
For more information on the festival-symposium.
Cultivating the Past: Soil Legacies and Our Future Climate
Works by Dr. Geneviève Metson, Danielle Petti , Laura Lima Nishida, Sophia Slabon
Curated by Dr. Geneviève Metson, Danielle Petti, and Natalie Scola
Exhibition: September 03 – 24, 2026
Reception: Thursday, September 10 from 6-8PM
Cohen Commons
Closing Panel Discussion: Monday, September 21 from 2:30 - 3:30PM
Weldon Library, Scholar’s Square
Image caption: breaking ground for the living lab, Digital Photograph, Danielle Petti, 2026
Cultivating the Past: Soil Legacies and Our Future Climate brings together art, biogeochemistry, and ecology and explores the entangled histories and futures of land, knowledge, and creative practice. This exhibition daws from the history of the land of Western University, examining processes of change from both environmental and human actions. Contemporary artworks by Danielle Petti are made from foraged natural pigments, integrated with photographic processes to foreground transformation, instrumentation, and connection through the interplay of light, water, and soil. Archival materials trace local histories of agriculture, soil management, and environmental change, revealing the lasting legacies of the soil and how they continue to shape environmental futures. At the core of the exhibition is the Sustainable Resource Management Living Lab, a collaborative site where researchers and community members study nutrient cycles in urban agriculture under shifting climate conditions. Through shared experimentation and water flow observations, the lab aims to model how urban green spaces can better contribute to responsible care for the land. Surrounding the Lab, Laura Lima Nishida’s mural anchors these inquiries, making visible through colour and light the invisible underground world and the atmosphere around us; essential elements to the flora and fauna we depend on. This exhibition invites viewers to recognize their own roles within these interconnected systems and to imagine more reciprocal relationships with the land in urban gardens via experimentation, artistic intervention, and documentation.
Cultivating the Past will be on display at the Cohen Commons (Visual Arts Building) from September 3rd - 25th. An opening reception will be held Thursday, September 10th from 6:00-8:00pm in the Gallery. A closing panel discussion with all of the artists and scientists involved in the show on Monday the 21st from 2:30 to 3:30pm. The panel will be held in Weldon Library’s Scholar’s Square and facilitated by Dr. Kirsty Robertson, professor in the Department of Visual Arts and Director of the Center for Sustainable Curating.
Cultivating the Past is funded by the Western Sustainability Fund, the Department of Geography and Environment Student Donation Fund, the NSERC Discovery Grant, and the Canadian Innovation Fund (John R. Evans Leaders Fund). The exhibition is supported with materials from Western University Libraries Archives and Special Collections, the Dr. Laurie L. Consaul Herbarium (Department of Biology, Western University) and the Centre for Sustainable Curating.
