Summer 2025 Exhibitions at the Owens Art Gallery

Christopher Pratt, Suburbs Standing West, 2002, oil on canvas, Collection of the Owens Art Gallery, purchased with funds from the Friends of the Owens Art Gallery and the Ruth Lockhart Eisenhauer Art Fund. Photo: Roger J. Smith. © Estate of Christopher Pratt, 2002

Directions

June 25 – September 28, 2025
Owens Art Gallery, Mount Allison University, Sackville, NB
Curator: Roxamy Ibbitson

The first Director of the Owens Art Gallery was appointed in 1967. Since then, there have been five, full-time Directors and one Interim Director. This exhibition offers a glimpse into the important role directors have played in building the permanent collection. Curated and installed by Roxamy Ibbitson, Preparator/Registrar at the Owens for over forty years, Directions highlights some of the 3,000 plus works acquired over a fifty-eight-year period. It examines how each director worked within policy to improve representation and address the social issues of their time. It thus reflects the diversity of the collection and pays homage to the past while embracing the present.

Alan Syliboy, Two Eels and Yellow Spirits, 2024, acrylic on canvas, Collection of Dr. Laurie Stanley-Blackwell and John D. Blackwell. Photo: Roger J. Smith

Alan Syliboy

July 13 – September 21, 2025
Artist Talk: August 3, 2025 @ 11:00am
Owens Art Gallery, Mount Allison University, Sackville, NB
Organized in collaboration with Sappyfest 2025

Alan Syliboy is an established Mi’kmaq artist who was born and raised in Truro and lives at Millbrook First Nation. He looks to the Indigenous Mi’kmaq petroglyph (stone etchings) tradition for inspiration and developed his own artistic vocabulary out of those forms. Working in acrylic and mixed media, he creates vibrantly coloured images exploring the themes of family, searching, spirituality, struggle, and strength. Alan Syliboy and the Thundermakers are performing during Sappyfest (August 1 – 3, 2025).

We would like to acknowledge that the Owens Art Gallery, Mount Allison University, is located within the traditional territory of Mi’kma’ki, the unceded ancestral homelands of the Mi’kmaq. Our relationship and our privilege to live on this territory was agreed upon in the Peace and Friendship Treaties of 1725 to 1752. Because of this treaty relationship, it is to be acknowledged that we are all Treaty People and have a responsibility to respect this territory.

Owens Art Gallery
Mount Allison University
61 York Street
Sackville, NB, E4L 1E1
506-364-2574
owens@mta.ca
www.owensartgallery.com
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Monday to Friday, 10:00am – 5:00pm
Saturday and Sunday, 1:00pm – 5:00pm
Admission is Free

The Owens is partially accessible. The stairs from the entrance nearest the University Chapel have a handrail. There is also ramp access at this entrance, however, the ramp is steep. The stairs to the entrance off York Street have a handrail, but no ramp, and are covered with temporary wood treads. The main floor of the Owens is wheelchair accessible. Our second-floor gallery and gendered bathrooms are located in the basement and are not accessible. Two flights of stairs lead to each of these floors. LED lights are used throughout the building. The Owens welcomes guide dogs and other service animals. The closest accessible parking spaces are located on York Street across from the Owens. For detailed information on venue access, please visit our Accessibility page. If you would like to visit the Owens at a quieter time, or when all staff and visitors are masked, private visits can be arranged from 9:00-10:00 am on weekdays. If you have any questions about your visit, please email owens@mta.ca or call (506) 364-2574.