Past Exhibitions
Downstream Where the Waters Mix
May 24 - December 15, 2025
Curated by lead visionary artist, Nadine Spence, the project connects artists and Indigenous communities across B.C. through culture, arts and ceremony to restore relationships between generations with the water, lands and wild salmon. Featuring bentwood chests and boxes, woven blankets, carving, art, and regalia, this exhibition focuses on personal, family, and community healing journeys in a safe and respectful space that does not oppress the truth and realities of Indigenous Peoples of the past or in the present day.
Housing Values
February 20 - April 2024
Housing is the hottest topic around these days. Everywhere you turn, people are talking about housing but it’s not a new concern. How much, where and what people live in has been debated since New Westminster was founded in 1861. Housing Values is a new exhibit presented by the New Westminster Museum & Archives, examining ideas around housing in New Westminster and how cultural values, economics and history influence where and how we live in this city. The exhibit opens in October in honour of the United Nations’ World Habitat Day.
Reconciling
February 16, 2022 – September 2023
Through three installations, Reconciling addresses truths attached to acts of reconciliation. Haida/Nisga’a artist Luke Parnell explores a feeling of disenchantment through his piece Neon Reconciliation Explosion; the downed statue of Judge Begbie addresses the imposition of foreign laws on a land; and the 215 shoes placed at New Westminster’s cenotaph reflects our community’s response to the Residential School legacy in Canada.
Celebrating Black History in Canada through Tessellation and Portraiture
Moved by a push for greater social justice, New Westminster Secondary School Art students researched prominent figures from Black History in Canada and share their contributions in black and white tessellation patterns and portraits. Equal parts black and white, these works challenge a Eurocentric-lens that is too often applied when discussing history by featuring People of Colour and Black Canadians in an equally starring role. Each student provides a thoughtful artist statement with their portrait.
This exhibition replicates the original class work, design, and display.
The 215
Air Hugs
March 31 – September 5, 2021
A new exhibit on the community’s resilience during the pandemic.
You Are What You Eat: Community Food Security
May 16 - December 1, 2019
Stories from the past and present in New Westminster to help us understand how people eat in our community.
Getting the Word Out
October 25 - April 28, 2019
From the first cumbersome printing press dragged over the stumps and hills of the budding city, this exhibit shows New Westminster’s past of fake news, clickbait and alternative facts.
.jpg)
Our Living Languages: First Peoples' Voices in BC
The Heat Is On: Keeping Warm Then, Keeping Cool Now
November 7, 2019 - May 2, 2021
An Ocean of Peace: 100 Years of Sikhs in New Westminster
ਸੁੱਖ ਸਾਗਰ: ਨਿਊ ਵੈਸਟਮਿਨਸਟਰ ਦੇ ਸਿੱਖਾਂ ਦੇ ਪਿਛਲੇ ੧੦੦ ਸਾਲ ਦਾ ਇਤਿਹਾਸ
.jpg)
The Long Hours: Art in the BC Penitentiary
August 2018 - July 2019
.JPG)
People Gotta Move
July 5 - November 16, 2018
Be/Longing
February 17 - October 7, 2018
Bottoms Up:
The Cultures of Drink in the Royal City
The Cultures of Drink in the Royal City
Planning New West:
A History and Future of Urban Development in New Westminster
June 1, 2017 – January 21, 2017
Witness Blanket
December 5, 2016 - April 28, 2017
Ornamenting the Ordinary: Crafts of South Asia
September 10, 2016 – January 2, 2017
Branching Out: Plants in New Westminster's History
June 2 – November 20, 2016
The Living Archive
June 23 - August 21, 2016
Architectural Gems in the Royal City
September 17, 2015 - May 8, 2016
Our Working Waterfront, 1945-2015
July 9 - October 27, 2015
Hair Apparent: A Hairy History of New Westminster
April 23 - June 21, 2015
Baskets for Barter
November 29, 2014 - January 24, 2015
Wait for Me, Daddy
October 4, 2014 - August 16, 2015
