Exhibitions – Cape Breton Centre for Craft & Design
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Exhibitions

Girlhood: as we were taught

Cape Breton Centre for Craft & Design is pleased to welcome Girlhood: as we were taught curated by Kelsey Watson, beginning October 5, 2026. Join us for the opening reception on Thursday, October 8, 2026 at 5:00 p.m. in the Centre’s Loft.

Girlhood begins with watching. We watch the people around us. Our mothers, grandmothers, sisters, friends, and communities. We learn how they create, carry traditions, navigate expectations, and care for others and for themselves. Some lessons are intentional. Some are simply absorbed.

Girlhood: as we were taught explores how these lessons move through generations. The exhibition considers what we inherit, what we carry forward, and what we choose to change. Drawing from family histories, cultural knowledge, domestic life, motherhood, and childhood experiences, the artists reflect on the ways traditions, stories, and ways of making and caring become part of who we are.

Across the exhibition, making becomes a way of remembering and reimagining. The works explore memory, identity, and care while honoring what has been passed down and questioning the expectations that shape what we keep.

Girlhood isn’t something we outgrow. We continue to watch, learn, and absorb from those around us. What we inherit becomes part of how we understand ourselves. We choose what to keep, question, or transform, and in turn, we become part of what the next generation watches.

Artists include:

  • Kristi Farrier
  • Maggie MacCormick
  • Caitrian MacNeil
  • Nancy Oakley
  • Ally Parsons

Girlhood: as we were taught will be on display at the Centre from October 5 – December 5, 2026. 

For more information, contact 902-270-7491 or INFO@CAPEBRETONCRAFT.COM.

A Shared Pulse

Cape Breton Centre for Craft & Design is pleased to welcome A Shared Pulse, curated by Kelsey Watson, beginning August 4, 2026. The closing reception will take place on Thursday, September 24 at 5:00 p.m. in the Centre’s Loft.

A Shared Pulse brings together artists working in textiles, paper, sculpture, ceramics, film and video to explore the relationship between tidal cycles and human experience. The exhibition considers water as both a physical force and powerful metaphor. The ebb and flow of the tide offers a framework for thinking about the rhythms that shape our lives: inhale and exhale, abundance and absence, certainty and vulnerability. Together, the artists consider how these natural cycles are reflected in our lives and how living in coastal communities continues to guide the ways we create and connect.

Artists include:

  • Coleen Davidson
  • Kristi Farrier
  • Corey Katz
  • Shauna MacLeod
  • Nancy Oakley
  • Jody Racicot
  • Sarah Sears
  • Anna Sprague

A Shared Pulse will be on display at the Centre from August 4 – September 26, 2026. 

For more information, contact 902-270-7491 or INFO@CAPEBRETONCRAFT.COM.

Ground Rules: Materia

Cape Breton Centre for Craft & Design is pleased to welcome Ground Rules: Materia, curated by Fabiyino Germain-Bajowa, beginning April 16, 2026. The opening reception will take place on Thursday, April 16, 2026 at 5:00 p.m. in the Centre’s Loft.

All movements–from geographical transitions across land to shifts in political climate–are made up of moments. Year to year, day to day, minute by minute, the decisions we make and experiences we share come together to shape our collective reality. The very substance of our future is perpetually being constructed by details so miniscule, at a scale so overwhelming to perceive, that it is often easier not to think of them at all. In Ground Rules: Materia, twelve artists reimagine such minutiae through a range of artforms including ceramics, textiles, painting, sculpture, and soundscapes. Reflecting on the shared and individual experience of a five-day residency in Cape Breton Highlands National Park, these artists bring our focus to the present moment and to the power it holds in determining our future. Together, their works demonstrate the innate possibility for change found within the smallest moments of our day and in the land on which we create.

Artists include:

  • Diana Brown
  • Elise Campbell
  • Ashley Anne Clark
  • Miranda Crabtree
  • Daniel Edmonds
  • Kristi Farrier
  • Caoife Garvey
  • Teresa Jolliffe
  • Mary Larade
  • Liam Ross
  • Cyd Sparrow
  • Catherine Vardy

Ground Rules: Matiera will be on display at the Centre from April 16 – June 26, 2026. 

For more information, contact 902-270-7491 or INFO@CAPEBRETONCRAFT.COM.

SHIFT Canada

Cape Breton Centre for Craft & Design is pleased to welcome SHIFT Canada to the Loft exhibition space, beginning February 5, 2026. The opening reception will take place on Thursday, February 5, 2026 at 5:30 p.m. in the Centre’s Loft.

SHIFT Canada began in October 2019 when five makers from Scotland travelled to meet five makers in Nova Scotia. During an initial ten-day period of meetings, creative exploration and critical review, four collaborative pairings emerged, plus an unexpected fifth pairing. Due to the Covid-19 pandemic, the Canadian counterparts’ reciprocal visit to the Scottish Highlands in Spring 2020 was cancelled. However, makers embraced the challenge and moved their contact online to collaborate with very positive results.

Collaborating makers:

SHIFT Canada will be on display at the Centre from February 5 – March 28, 2026. 

For more information, contact 902-270-7491 or INFO@CAPEBRETONCRAFT.COM.

Past Exhibitions