By Beth Stewart
Kick off the month with a Community Art Crawl on Thursday, June 4, 2026. From 6 to 9pm, art lovers can discover makers, creators, and performers all along Dundas Place (between Richmond and Clarence streets).
(Doug Mitchell in front of “Ambient Sticks”, acrylic on basswood, 2012. Photo courtesy of Michael Gibson Gallery.)
In conjunction with Art Crawl, Doug Mitchell is doing an Artist Talk at Michael Gibson Gallery, 157 Carling St, from 7-8pm on his Recent Works show. The London, Ontario, artist works in painting, sculpture, sound, and photography. His current pieces investigate the colour spectrum and were influenced by his extended observation of light reflecting through prisms in his studio. Also on display is Mitchell’s multi-panelled “map” of the forks of the Thames River in which he layers images, maps, and text. Recent Works is at MGG until June 26. For more info, visit: http://www.gibsongallery.com/
Art Crawl is a recurring event on the first Thursday of the month, from April to November. If you are an artist who is interested in participating, visit https://www.tapcreativity.org/community-art-crawl for guidelines. There is no cost to participate and no registration required.
Museum London’s Summer Launch Party, 421 Ridout St. N., is on June 11, 2026, from 7 to 10pm. At this pay-what-you-can at the door event, visitors can explore all three floors of the Museum, meet featured and visiting artists and curators, and dive into some hands-on creative activities. There will be food, a cash bar, and a live set with DJ Harina of OA(SIS).
(Amanda McCavour: Double Shadow, 2025-26, thread, digital embroidery, free-motion machine embroidery, appliqué, hand stitching, nuno felting, pins. Photo courtesy of Museum London.)
While there, be sure to see Double Shadow, a site-specific installation by Toronto-based textile and embroidery artist Amanda McCavour. Bringing together more than 400 stitched elements, the installation transforms the Museum’s Atrium into a field of lace-like forms. Double Shadow continues at Museum London to March 14, 2027. For more information, visit: https://museumlondon.ca
(Poster for the Community Art Installation Project. Image from Woven into Myself (2025) by Mackenzie Daniels.)
A Community Art Installation Project featuring work by Kristi White, Mackenzie Daniels, and Mike Cywink that highlights stories of Indigenous culture, history, and community takes place on June 12, 2026, from 11am to 12pm at RBC Place, 300 King Street. It includes live music and remarks from the artists and from City representatives.
Also, at RBC Place on June 12, 2026, is Murals in Motion. From 11:30am to 2pm, on the Encore Terrace, this one-of-a-kind summer lunchtime event will see four local artists transform blank boxes on wheels into vibrant murals. Watch their work unfold while enjoying lunch from local food vendors, drinks from the licensed bar, games from Downtown London, and summer beats from a guest DJ. For more information, visit: http://www.londonarts.ca
(Abel Gingerich and Mike Sloane, “Who Knew”, 2026, magazine clippings, 9 by 12 inches. Image courtesy of TAP Center for Creativity.)
The opening reception for Dear Abel / Love Mike takes place at TAP Centre for Creativity, 203 Dundas St., on June 13 between 2 and 4pm. Focusing on the act of correspondence, the paintings, mixed media, and sculptures allow the public access to friendly dialogues and the inner workings of relationship building between artists.
“Able” is Abel Gingerich, a multi-disciplinary artist living and working in London, Ontario. His body of work includes paintings inspired by real-life scenes, including garbage, concert venues and liminal spaces, covering themes of consumption, self-destruction and third spaces.
“Mike” is Mike Sloane, who has published scholarly articles and book chapters on topics ranging from trash to veganism.
Dear Abel / Love Mike continues to July 4, 2026. For more information, visit: http://www.tapcreativity.org/
(Julia Ismambetova, “High Above I”, 30 x 30”, acrylic on silk. Image courtesy of Westland Gallery.)
Where I Like to Be with Kim Atlin, Julia Ismambetova, and Tracy Bultje continues to June 20, 2026, at Westland Gallery. This show brings together works that feature places people like to be and includes cityscapes, riverside vistas and forests.
Need more land? Westland has Made in Canada, a group show celebrating Canadian landscapes by Canadian artists, from June 23 to July 18, 2026. For more information, visit: westlandgallery.ca/
(Natasha Beaudoin, “Wordle 1,208 5/6”, oil, airbrush, chalk pastel, and oil pastel on canvas, 203 by 203 cm, 2025. Image courtesy of McIntosh Gallery.)
At McIntosh Gallery, exhibitions by Natasha Beaudoin and Eric Allan Cameron continue to July 3, 2026.
Beaudoin’s Refracted Realities demonstrates how painting can engage the emotional and psychological conditions of contemporary digital life. The exhibition draws on the visual language of historical paintings and recontextualizes it through the cultures shaped by screens and social media. Natasha Beaudoin is an MFA candidate in the Department of Visual Arts at Western University. Refracted Realities is her MFA Thesis Exhibition.
Cameron’s Distant Sun brings together new oil paintings that distill night skies, distant horizons, and bodies of water into restrained, atmospheric compositions. Eric Allan Cameron is an MFA candidate in the Department of Visual Arts at Western University. Distant Sun is his MFA Thesis Exhibition.
For more information, visit mcintoshgallery.ca/
(Promotional image from Michelle Wilson’s Those in Glass Houses. Image courtesy of Forest City Gallery.)
Michelle Wilson’s Those in Glass Houses continues to July 23, 2026, at Forest City Gallery, 1025 Elias St. In this exhibition, Wilson investigates an unusual component of colonial rule – the greenhouse – which was a crucial tool for transporting plants and people around the globe. Collaborating with family members, Wilson merges personal anecdotes with critiques of the British empire, the trade of exotic flora, and the abduction of children. For more information, visit: https://www.forestcitygallery.com/
Finally, Kellogg’s Art Comp 2026 continues to September 7, 2026, at 100 Kellogg Lane. Touted as Canada’s largest Art Competition, this exhibit features works by 100 artists displayed for 100 days in spaces throughout the building. For more information, visit: 100kellogglane.com/events/art-comp-2026
By Beth Stewart
Beth Stewart is a writer, educator, and visual artist. She has a B.A. and a B.Ed. from the University of Windsor and a Diploma in Art Therapy from Western University. Beth has worked as an Art Therapist with Canadian war veterans and as a Secondary School Teacher of art and English for the TVDSB. She retired in 2024.
Beth was the arts editor at Scene Magazine from 2004 to 2006. She founded Artscape Magazine in 2006 and served as its editor until 2008. In addition, Beth wrote on the arts for Lifestyle Magazine from 2006 to 2017 and served as the copy editor for The Beat (in print) from 2009 to 2013.
As a visual artist, Beth works mainly in dry media and favours coloured pencil. Over the past decade, Beth’s focus has been on wild and domestic birds. Beth is a member of the Coloured Pencil Society of America, the Gallery Painting Group, the Eclectic Collage Collective, the Lambeth Art Association, and a founding member of the Coloured Pencil Artists of Canada group.
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100009620916363
The Beat Magazine 2025 