Sheila Kernan | Refresh

Sheila Kernan | Refresh
Solo Exhibition
August 8 - 22, 2026
Main Gallery
3045 Granville Street, Vancouver
Opening reception: Saturday August 8, 2-4 pm


Bau-Xi Vancouver is thrilled to present Refresh, the new solo exhibition from Canadian mixed media artist Sheila Kernan. For this new collection, the Calgary based artist continues her fascination with and love for the wild landscape of the West Coast. Through meticulous collaging of photographs and sketches as her initial reference material followed by the orchestration of carefully blended painting techniques in the final works, Kernan captures the essence of its familiar forms with saturated colour and graphic, expressive painterly gestures to create scenes that feel both familiar and otherworldly. 

Conceived as an invitation to pause and reset, Refresh considers painting as a space of visual renewal and a temporary retreat from the noise of contemporary life.


Artist statement:

My landscapes are places I wish I could visit - they are constructed worlds born from the spirit of the West Coast, shaped from imagined collages filled with longing and light.
I’m obsessed with the process of physically making paintings: the push to perfect technique, to invent new ways of seeing, and to create something that feels both fresh and familiar. This pursuit costs me everything - each piece demands obsession, every waking moment tuned to detail, balance, and contrast.

But beneath it all, I’m pointing to something quieter: the need to refresh. Like the comfort of a beloved film, these works are an invitation to pause, to reset, and to step away from noise. In the play of white, in the sharpness of value, I hope you find a moment of calm - a breath, a reset, a quiet place you’ve never been, but always needed.

-Sheila Kernan, 2026


VIEW THE FULL COLLECTION