The Gallery Gift Shop at Chemainus Theatre Festival is one of the best shopping experiences around. This special place is known by visitors and locals as a wonderful spot to find quality artwork, gifts and more. Whether you are perusing during intermission, or shopping the wonderful boutiques of Chemainus, it is easy to find a special treasure.

If you have not been in the gift shop lately, there is a new addition to the existing 100+ works of local BC artisans: the Gallery Farm Market. You will find an assortment of delectable goodies from local suppliers – a great way to support the theatre and Vancouver Island’s finest farms.

In particular, Yellow Point Cranberries resides just north of Chemainus – beyond the delicious, classic cranberry sauce, there are jellies, mustard, and chutney. These make a great addition to any table the next time you are entertaining.

For the foodies in your life, there is ‘Old School Coffee Salt’ – this unique blend pairs espresso with local sea salt to add flavour anytime, whether as a rub for grilled meat or being sprinkled onto desserts or baking. There are other salt blends, olive oil, honey, salmon, and maple syrup. Stop by soon to see new additions and visit the rest of the gift shop to see the ever-changing assortment of items that have made the Gallery Gift Shop one of the best stops in Chemainus for shopping!

Chemainus Theatre is a constantly changing space. The stage changes, of course, to take us to different places and times through the magic of the sets, costumes, and stories. This year it has been a pub in Dublin, an historic recording studio, a convenience store in Toronto, and now a high school. The menu in the Playbill Dining Room evolves to reflect the current production and the seasonal foods sourced from farms on Vancouver Island. The walls throughout the theatre, gift shop, and lobbies are constantly changing as well. During every show, there is a new art exhibit creating a novel experience for patrons as they wander the lobby during intermission.

Coming up for the second half of summer, Chemainus Theatre is welcoming Steve Coffey. His work evokes the changing, wide-open prairie skies, with dark swirls of clouds or bright colour-filled vistas, his paintings draw you in. We encourage you to take your time viewing his works, as the light and textures of Coffey’s paintings will draw you in. For inspiration, he uses a technique he calls “Memory Polaroids,” drawing from his past and present day. In an article in Galleries West Magazine Coffey states: “As far back as I can remember I’ve been a sky watcher. It’s such a kaleidoscope of colour.”

Steve Coffey will be here for an artist meet and greet on Wednesday July 18^th between 5 and 6 pm his work will be on display throughout the Chemainus Theatre until September 1^st. For more information on his work please visit the Gallery Gift Shop website.

A Vancouver Island expressionist oil painter, a former NHL goalie, and a talented husband and wife duo will be featured in the Chemainus Theatre lobby and Gallery Gift Shop during the run of ‘Cornwalls’ All-Inclusive Cancun Christmas’.

The Cornwall Family are true Canadians and the art you can explore throughout the theatre will be too. Richard Brodeur played for seven seasons as a goalie for the Vancouver Canucks and is now exploring his greater Canuck identity through his art. By utilizing oils, acrylics, and watercolours to create abstract paintings as well as images of ‘Canadiana’– fishing villages in Haida Gwaii, lakes and orchards of the Okanagan, and ports and coves of Nova Scotia.

Brian Scott has a well-recognized style on Vancouver Island and beyond. His use of colour is well-known – wild and wonderful mixes of fanciful, fun and exciting hues that bring the west coast fishing boats, architecture and tumbledown buildings of our beloved coastal British Columbia into a new perspective.

Garry and Bly Kaye are a husband and wife set of talented artists living on Saltspring Island. Garry is a third-generation Islander and Bly hails from the countryside of Quebec. Garry prefers painting and works twists the often overlooked mass of impenetrable underbrush to focus on the intricate detail yet subtle beauty the island has revealed to him. Bly is currently immersed in an exploration of the effects of layering hand painted archival tissue papers fairly painstakingly onto canvas to form landscape images.

Come see this impressive display at the Chemainus Theatre beginning on Opening Night, November 17^th.