Each year, people from a multitude of backgrounds across Dalhousie and the University of Kings College come together to celebrate a uniting passion: art.
This December, the Dalhousie Art Gallery hosts its 70th Annual Student, Staff, Faculty and Alumni (SSFA) Exhibition and proves not all artists wear their craft on their sleeves.
The freshly painted gold walls set the stage for the milestone theme: Golden Hour. Gallery Director and Curator Pamela Edmonds selected the theme for how it “offers a unique chance to see each other’s artwork, and the campus, in a new light.”
The exhibition displays nearly 100 submissions from more than 50 artists, many of whom pursue art as a hobby. In her reception address at the show opening last Thursday (Dec. 4), Edmonds noted that curating Golden Hour was about finding a balance between the different media — painting, photography, sculpture, textiles and video — as much as it was the individual stories and fields in which the artists come from. The harmony is “giving each other enough space while still letting them speak to one another” she says.
The annual exhibition is one the gallery’s longest-running traditions.
From terra firma to the sky
Among this year’s contributors is Annika Benson, a fourth-year PhD student in Biomedical Engineering who debuted her piece, “The Misty Isle.” The photograph, printed on silver halide paper, was taken during a trip to Scotland, where she and a group of friends managed to catch a golden moment of light amongst the fog.
Even as a PhD student, Benson carves out time to practise photography. “Despite doing science, I still think of myself as an artist first,” she says. “It’s always been a goal to have my art displayed at some point.”
“The Misty Isle.”
Now, “it’s a bucket-list item checked,” she says.
Dalhousie Art Gallery Staff Brigitta Zhao, a longtime aspiring artist, contributed her mixed-media piece “Meteoroid Migration.” The work took shape in 2021 amidst the pandemic when Zhao grappled with loneliness and questions of belonging.
Originally from China but having migrated multiple times since, Zhao became drawn to the idea of the universe as a space big enough to hold the stars, planets and people seeking their place.
“It was a way that made me feel like I belonged somewhere,” she says. ‘
“In traditional Chinese literature, there’s an idea of using the moon as land and the clouds as staircases,” she says in regard to the centre’s circular shape, representing a planet. “It’s a romantic way of thinking about the human relationship with the sky.”
It was a way that made me feel like I belonged somewhere.
For Zhao, Golden Hour echoes her reflections on movement, belonging and illumination — both celestial and human.
“Meteroid Migration.”
Art as solace
First-year Medicine student Chester Hewlett showcased acrylic paintings, representing two defining moments in his life. The first painting “Titanic Shores,” named after a beach in Ghana, where he spent much of his childhood, reflects a reconnection with his roots. “I had been chasing so many things and been distracted,” he says. “[It] made me realize that it’s the people that I’m here with, the relationships that I have, that truly matter.”
The second painting, “When all was still,” marks a golden moment of solitude for Hewlett when he decided to stop everything, quit his job, and try something new. “I decided I was going to do medicine and I was going to pursue art,” he says. “And those are the two things I do for myself.”
Dalhousie alum Athar Qureshi, who holds a master’s degree in Health Informatics, has contributed to the exhibition for the past 13 years. This year, his acrylic dot-filled mixed-media piece “Countenance” explores identity, drawing inspiration from traditional African masks. “We all have different layers we are wearing,” he says. “We are all hiding something.”
For Qureshi, a database analyst at a hospital, art is a form of meditation where he can take his mask off.
He devotes significant time to his creations, spending more than 100 hours on his displayed piece alone. His golden hour, however, shines outside the sun’s operating hours.
“I sit down Friday, Saturday, Sunday nights at two in the morning, putting dots on dots on dots,” Qureshi says.
The diverse exhibition asks visitors, artists and hobbyists alike are invited to reflect on their own golden hour and see things in a new light.
Golden Hour: The 70th Annual Student, Staff, Faculty and Alumni Exhibition, runs until December 21, 2025 at the Dalhousie Art Gallery.
The gallery is open Wednesday to Sunday and admission is always free. For hours and directions, visit the Dalhousie Art Gallery website.