Jack Shadbolt, Night Garden Transformations, 1973-89, archival pigment print of lithographs, 39.5 x 63 x 1 in., Collection of Artists for Kids and the Gordon Smith Gallery, reflected in Alex Gibson, Image of a Garden Lattice, 2026, stainless steel, 72 x 108 x 0.05 in., Courtesy of the Artist.
Photograph by Dylan Maranda

Opening Reception: April 10th, 2026 | 6 – 8 pm

Curated by Andrea Valentine-Lewis

Curatorial Fellow

Panel Discussion: June 6th, 2026 | 1 – 3 pm

Corey Bulpitt

Andrew Dadson

Alex Gibson

Chantal Gibson

Tiziana La Melia

veto monteiro

Bill Reid

Jack Shadbolt

Gordon Smith

Manuel Axel Strain

Isabel Wynn

In One Hundred Artists Deep, eight local artists were invited to create new work in response to artworks from the Artists for Kids Permanent Collection by founders Bill Reid (1920–1998), Jack Shadbolt (1909–1998), and Gordon Smith (1919–2020). Each of these artists left an enduring legacy, not only through their artistic practices but through their deep commitment to arts education.

Over the course of their lives, Reid, Shadbolt, and Smith taught and mentored thousands of young artists and apprentices. Their ideas, values, and approaches to making continue to circulate—sometimes visibly, sometimes quietly—through subsequent generations of artists.

The eight participating artists were selected for the strength and diversity of their practices, as well as for their sensitive and intuitive approaches to art-making. They were invited to respond to works by Reid, Shadbolt, and Smith from the Artists For Kids Collection, with full freedom in how that response took shape. The historical works and the contemporary responses are presented together in the gallery, creating a space for conversation across time.

The exhibition’s title is drawn from a phrase that Smith often used, saying he was “a hundred artists deep” and stood “on the shoulders” of artists past and present. Every artist emerges from a layered history of influence—artistic, personal, familial, educational, and cultural. One Hundred Artists Deep reflects on this accumulated inheritance and the many ways artistic knowledge is carried forward.

Artistic Approaches in Dialogue with Jack Shadbolt

Moderated by Curatorial Fellow Andrea Valentine-Lewis

June 6, 2026 | 1:00–2:30 PM (Doors at 12:30 PM)

Join us for a compelling conversation that brings contemporary artistic voices into dialogue with the legacy of Jack Shadbolt. Artistic Approaches in Dialogue with Jack Shadbolt centres on the creative processes and research practices of two artists featured in One Hundred Artists Deep: Alex Gibson and Chantal Gibson (no relation). Both artists undertook deep engagement with selected works by Shadbolt from the Artists for Kids Collection, drawing from their distinct histories, identities, and artistic practices.

Through their sculptural responses, Alex and Chantal offer expanded perspectives on Shadbolt’s work and its resonance in 2026. Moderated by Curatorial Fellow Andrea Valentine-Lewis, this talk invites audiences to consider how contemporary art responds to artistic legacy not as something fixed, but as material to be questioned, reshaped, and revalued in the present.