This year's art season brings bold ideas and local voices to the fore

Tashi Farmilo

Themes of belonging, nature, and imagined futures take centre stage in Gatineau’s 2026 visual arts programming. The season features ten exhibitions across two municipal galleries and introduces Saturday hours at Galerie Montcalm for the first time. With a focus on accessibility, public engagement, and artistic range, the lineup showcases a mix of established and emerging artists working in both contemporary and fine craft practices.

Galerie Montcalm opens the year with Voir bleu, a major exhibition drawn from the Collection Loto Quebec. Curated by Manon Pouliot, head of the collection, the show explores the symbolic, political, and emotional power of the colour blue through more than 30 works by Quebec artists. The exhibition is structured around four themes: abstract blue, nature blue, optical blue, and socially engaged blue. Together, they offer a layered reading of the colour across generations and styles.

The show includes some of the most influential names in Quebec art history, such as Serge Lemoyne, Fernand Leduc, Françoise Sullivan, and Guido Molinari. It also highlights regional voices like Pierrette Lambert, Dominique Plastre, and Denise Tremblay, all based in the Outaouais. Voir bleu also marks over 45 years of the collection’s support for visual artists across the province. The exhibition runs from January 30 to March 29. A public vernissage will take place on Thursday, January 29, from 7 to 9 pm. Admission is free and no reservation is required.

“Hosting Voir bleu gives the people of Gatineau access to one of the most significant corporate art collections in Quebec,” said Isabelle N. Miron, Chair of the Arts, Culture, Letters and Heritage Commission. “It’s a rare opportunity to encounter modernist legacies alongside the perspectives of regional artists in a poetic and politically attuned dialogue.”

Manon Pouliot described Voir bleu as an exploration drawn from the nearly 4,800 works in the Collection Loto Quebec. “The selected pieces highlight the diversity of styles that run through Quebec art, while echoing the history of the colour blue, which holds a special place for the collection,” Pouliot said.

The year continues at Galerie Montcalm with Grand Nord by Montreal-based documentary photographer Valérian Mazataud, on view from April 10 to June 7. Known for long-form projects on migration, climate, and social justice, Mazataud brings a journalistic approach to visual storytelling. From June 18 to August 22, Terre d’accueil by Komi Seshie explores the emotional and political realities of displacement and belonging. Then Utopies for tomorrow, a group exhibition featuring approximately 30 artists, runs from September 10 to October 23 and examines possible futures and changing relationships with the world. The gallery’s season closes with Sown in the stars, here are some flowers to remember me by, on view from November 5 to December 18. This solo show by multidisciplinary artist Alexia Kokozaki offers a poetic meditation on memory and material.

At Espace Pierre Debain in Vieux Aylmer, the focus is on fine craft and collaborative practices. The season opens with Mesclun d’égarement by Joanne Gauthier, from January 14 to March 15. Her porcelain and enamel piece The cabbage tongue sets the tone for a year of conceptual depth and material refinement. The schedule continues with Nature sous tension by Christiane Roy, on view from March 25 to May 24. This is followed by État Plasma, a collaboration between Gabriel Fortin and Mariane Tremblay, from June 3 to August 16. A group exhibition of Gatineau-based artists titled Rien n’est figé will run from August 26 to October 11. The season concludes with L’Âme de la forêt, on view from October 21 to December 17. This installation by Marie Drolet and Oleksandr Polishchuk, working as L’atelier de l’Aube, reflects on the forest as both a physical and symbolic space.

“Art must be accessible and alive in everyday life,” said Miron. “By extending opening hours and offering themes that speak to a wide audience, we hope these spaces become points of connection, reflection, and discovery.”

All exhibitions are free and open to the public. Full programming details and gallery hours are available at www.gatineau.ca/arts