Engage with contemporary art through changing exhibitions, permanent artworks, and events like talks, tours, and artmaking days with friends and family.
Surrey Art Gallery is a contemporary art museum that specializes in digital art. Since 1975, more than 10,000 local, national, and international artists have shown their work here. The Gallery also offers art classes for all ages and skill levels so you can unleash your inner artist and explore your creative side. Drawing benches are available for you to sketch the art on display when you come for a visit—bring your own materials (pencils, paper, and coloured pencils) and ask for a bench at the front desk when you arrive.
Located in beautiful Bear Creek Park on the unceded territories of the Salish Peoples, including the q̓ic̓əy̓ (Katzie), q̓ʷɑ:n̓ƛ̓ən̓ (Kwantlen), and Semiahma (Semiahmoo) nations, Surrey Art Gallery is part of the dynamic Surrey Arts Centre that is also home to Surrey Civic Theatres’ Studio & Main Stage theatres and a Gift Shop and Art Rental program run by the volunteer-based Surrey Art Gallery Association (SAGA). In addition to the Gallery’s current exhibitions, there are many artworks for you to enjoy at Surrey Arts Centre and in the park, such as Maurice Van Der Beke’s popular spinning sculpture Mandala After Prayer Wheel, Poetry Rock by Rev. Dr. Byung Sub Van, and striking vinyl window murals by Drew Atkins, Atheana Picha, and Leslie Wells.
In regards to digital art, Surrey Art Gallery has been a leader with past initiatives including UrbanScreen (an offsite award-winning art venue) and its onsite, now retired TechLab that the Gallery has recently published a book about, reflecting on two decades and more than 60 artist projects. When it first opened in 1999, the TechLab was among the first spaces in a Canadian art institution to show media art.
The TechLab continues to inform the Gallery’s present-day programming as it transitions into a responsive, multi-functional space for the creation and presentation of participatory artworks, artist-led workshops, and residencies.
The TechLab also influences the Gallery’s future iteration as the Interactive Art Museum (anticipated to be three times the Gallery’s current size in Surrey City Centre). The learnings of the TechLab will inform the new facility, in which, inspired by extraordinary artists, visitors will be empowered to play, learn, and connect with art and each other.
While the digital art world will play a leading role in moving the Gallery into the future, Surrey Art Gallery will always continue to support and showcase the brilliant work of Surrey’s local artists and international contemporary artists in all mediums.
Admission to Surrey Art Gallery is free!
Visit Surrey Art Gallery’s website for a comprehensive list of what’s on.