New Year, New Art
Katrina Ebuenga, Staff Writer
Starting fresh this new year means unveiling new art within the city.
With a fresh art rotation comes new instalments and exhibitions, which are ready to keep the ball rolling on creativity in Calgary.
Located in familiar spaces, such as Contemporary Calgary and the Esker Foundation, brand-new exhibitions are ready to be unlocked and explored.
Through government-allocated funding and various non-profit societies, 2026 is forecasting new artists in Calgary.
Centre city banners
Through Calgary Arts Development, the Centre City Banner Program displays artwork on bridge poles entering the city. This gateway draws viewers’ eyes toward talented artists, opening the door to the growing art culture in Calgary.
For the 2025-2026 year, local artist Michelle Ku crafted banners that evoke nostalgia for fellow Calgarians. By encapsulating playful scenes inspired by her childhood memories, Ku is able to create a dreamy entrance for the city’s core.
Inspired by the mind-body-spirit connection, Ku sets up the art space for viewers to engage with other art curations in the city.
These can be found at city entry points, such as Centre Street Bridge, Reconciliation Bridge, MacDonald Avenue Bridge, and Mewata Bridge.
Contemporary Calgary
Connections to nature and our role in the environment arise in the new art installations at Contemporary Calgary.
Open from Dec. 5, 2025 to March 15, 2026, Entwined and Nelly-Eve Rajotte: Trees communicate with each other at 220 hertz, curated by Mona Filip, engages viewers with a different perspective towards the land. The exhibition includes 19 different artists and collectives, all working independently to create a collaborative gallery.
Embodying relationships with nature is the focal point of these new installments, with no limitations to keeping them in the internal spaces of the gallery.
Viewable from the building’s facade, Calgarian artist Tyler Los-Jones displays his work, Water’s brief surfaces – Roundleaf Orchid, as a counterpart to his interior artwork in the ring gallery.
Like Los-Jones’ work, the rest of the collection, handpicked by Filip, spotlights how nature is not limited to enclosed spaces and is gravely affected by society’s actions.
The inspirations for these works draw from environmental concerns, with the exhibition bringing awareness to the impact of human actions, which emphasises the importance of prioritising environmental longevity.
Alongside Los-Jones, there are dozens of exhibition artists being featured this year, covering a range of creative outlooks.
Some explore the links between environmental concerns through the use of technology and found materials, displaying the interconnectedness of our world and the wonder of life. Others use the lens of transformation and rebirth through life, reusing materials and giving new life to objects and highlighting the cyclical nature of life.
With so many artists lined up in the upcoming exhibition, there are endless creative narratives to explore this new year.
City banner, “Walk With a Friend,” by Michelle Ku.
Photo courtesy of Calgary Arts Development /
Calgaryartsdevelopment.com
The Esker Foundation
Shifting from naturalistic forms of art, the Esker Foundation features four different artists focusing on life’s complexities, externally and internally.
Although the Esker Foundation is currently closed for installation, the new exhibitions are set to open on Jan. 23. They feature artists such as Anthony Cudahy, an American figurative painter, Alexandre Pépin, a French-Canadian visual artist, Justin de Verteuil, a Düsseldorf-based artist, and Magalie Guérin an artist that explores the mixture of textures, shapes, and colours within form.
With four different artists all inspired by personal takes on the complexities of life, viewers are able to unfold the many layers of life through different lenses.
With free admission, Cudahy and Pépin will open on Jan. 23, followed by de Verteuil and Guérin opening on Jan. 24 until April 26.
Exploring themes such as queer intimacy, vulnerability, and exploration of different forms through shapes and colours, the upcoming exhibition offers an alternative way to perceive everyday life.
Sparrow Artspace
Sparrow Art Society is a non-profit organization that encourages community creativity through their Sparrow Artspace, which expands the creative process to the public.
Located in Bridgeland, opportunities to grow and explore your own creativity can be experienced within their studio, bringing the community together through art.
Throughout February, the studio will run a free, drop-in studio residency, experimenting with different artistic processes. The studio is available to the public, inviting anybody interested in starting a creative journey.
Along with the open studio, residence artists Colleen Rauscher, Anna Young, and Brenda Mansfield will present their approaches to experimenting with traditional and non-traditional art forms, in both collaborative and individual pieces.
Starting new is always the best way to discover and rediscover creative paths, and Calgary’s upcoming art exhibits and events have your back this winter and spring.
